CEBU, Philippines – DENR-8 urges public to help preserve forests in Samar Island.
Following reports of sightings of the Philippine Eagle at the Samar Island National Park, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Region 8 renewed its call for the public to help in the preservation of Samar’s remaining forests, which serves as the habitat of the national bird.
DENR-8 Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca told The Freeman that a team from the Philippine Eagle Foundation and the Institute of Biology of the University of the Philippines-Diliman has sighted twice and reconfirmed the existence of the national bird in the forests of Samar Island.
Sibbaluca said the team, during its expedition from last September 19 to October 4, reported sightings of the Philippine Eagle in the densely forested Barangay Buluan in Calbiga town and within the Taft Forest Wildlife (Philippine Eagle) Sanctuary in Taft, Eastern Samar, both within the SINP.
The Philippine Eagle was first spotted in Paranas town of Samar on June 15, 1896 by a British naturalist John Whitehead.
Sibbaluca said the existence of the Philippine Eagle in Samar forests was also reported in the early 1980s and in 1997, prompting the then president Joseph Estrada to declare the 3,720 hectares of Samar forest as Taft Forest Wildlife (Philippine Eagle) Sanctuary on July 31, 1999 by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 155.
The existence of the Philippine Eagle and other wildlife in the area however depends on the condition of the remaining forests in the island, he said, adding that its presence indicated the rich biodiversity of the area.
Sibbaluca said the participation of the public and other stakeholders would be crucial in the preservation of the forests in the island and the continued presence of the national bird in the area. The DENR could not do it alone, he added.
The Philippine Eagle, already a critically endangered species, is a giant raptor endemic to the Philippines.