DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Efforts are underway to further protect a 7,000-hectare sanctuary of the Philippine eagle on the Mt. Hamiguitan range in Davao Oriental.
Philippine Eagle Foundation Inc. (PEFI) executive director Dennis Salvador told The STAR that the city government of Mati in Davao Oriental has spearheaded the initiative to ensure that the sanctuary of the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), considered to be the world’s second largest eagle, is protected.
A comprehensive ecological management program, Salvador said, has been drawn up for the eagle sanctuary, involving both economic and development projects for the community and training of volunteer forest guards who would look after the area.
The Asiaticus Management Corp. (Amcor) has also pledged to protect the eagle sanctuary which is located within its six-kilometer radius mining concession area.
Jayson Ibanez, PEFI director for research and conservation, said a three-year-old eagle named Cabuaya, offspring of eagles Cabu and Aya, was monitored to be staying in Sitio Magum, Barangay Macambol, which is within Amcor’s Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) area where the firm is presently doing preparations for its laterite nickel mining operation.
Ibanez said Cabuaya has been in the area since October last year and is being constantly monitored through a transmitter implanted in the eagle.
Cabuaya is reportedly the first wild juvenile eagle in the world that is being studied by scientists in its wild environment.
Arvin Carlom, Amcor’s community relations officer, said they have spent for the delineation of the eagle sanctuary that falls within its concession area, and will also adopt a forest and mountain within the mining site that will serve as eagle habitat.
If the protection of the Philippine eagle and Amcor’s operation in the area succeed, Mati City Mayor Michelle Rabat said this will be a first in the country where environmental protection and mining operation complement each other, contrary to the perception that mining wantonly destroys the environment.