2 of 11 poachers caught off Palawan deported

MANILA, Philippines - Two minors caught with nine other Chinese poaching off Palawan were deported to China on Tuesday.

He Zhuang and Li Xiang Hui were deported at around 11 p.m. on May 13, according to Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokesman Ma. Angelica Pedro.

Immigration officers escorted them on board a Philippine Airlines flight after the Palawan regional trial court had turned them over.

The names of He and Li have been included in the immigration blacklist for being illegal entrants and for poaching in Philippine waters.

Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison and Deputy Commissioners Abdullah Mangotara and Ronaldo Ledesma signed the deportation order.

Mison said the BI could not deport the nine other Chinese unless the court resolved the criminal cases against them.

The court allowed the nine to post bail of P30,000 each for poaching and P40,000 for taking endangered species.

Mison identified the nine Chinese as boat captain Chen Yi Quan, chief engineer Chen Ze Hao, and crewmen Shi Xian Xiong, Shi Liang Duong, He Chuan, Huang Ji Xuan, He Sheng Bao, He Yuan Cheng, and Lu Chuan Fang.

Mison said the BI has a pending request for the court to turn them over once they have posted bail since they are all subject for deportation.

They will also be banned from re-entering Philippine territory after they have been deported.

Online petition

More than a thousand netizens are supporting an online petition for the government to prosecute the Chinese caught poaching hundreds of turtles off Palawan.

“We strongly urge the authorities in Palawan and the national government, especially President Benigno Aquino III, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the  Department of Justice, and the police to be strong in the face of undue pressure,” read the petition in Change.org.

Save Philippine Seas started the petition, which had over 1,700 supporters.

Among the signatories are environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa and marine conservationist Anna Oposa.

“We, citizens of the Philippines, hereby stand by our government and express our fullest support for the immediate prosecution of the Chinese nationals with their shameless Filipino collaborators arrested for the capture of over 500 endangered marine turtles in our seas,” read the petition.

Petitioners said the poachers violated national and international laws like the Wildlife Conservation Act, the Fisheries Code, and the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species.

Petitioners called “barbaric” the act of piercing the eyes of the marine turtles and tying them through their eye sockets to prevent them from escaping.

“We congratulate and applaud the Philippine National Police Maritime Group Special Boat Unit for seizing the Chinese fishing boat and apprehending its crew to enforce maritime and marine conservation laws,” read the petition.

“As the richest marine waters on Earth, we Filipinos must take the lead in marine law enforcement.”– With Janvic Mateo