Phl to destroy seized elephant tusks

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine government will destroy about five tons of confiscated elephant tusks with an estimated value of $10 million in support of global effort to end the illegal trade of wildlife species, a senior government official said today.

Philippine Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the seized ivory will be crushed by a road roller and burned in the presence of foreign experts and anti-ivory trade advocates on June 21 at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City, Metro Manila.

"Our decision to destroy these ivory that entered the country illegally is to show to the whole world that the Philippines will not tolerate illegal wildlife trade," Paje said.

In 1989, the Geneva-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) banned the buying and selling of ivory to combat a massive illegal trade that caused dramatic declines in elephant populations throughout Africa in the 1970s and 1980s.

CITES said the high demand for ivory found in elephant tusks drives the killing of the animal, especially in Africa.

CITES is an international agreement adopted in March 1973 to regulate worldwide commercial trade in wild animal and plant species. The current black market price for ivory is reportedly $2,000 per kg.

In 1997, the Conference of Parties of CITES included the Philippines as one of nine countries of priority of concerns as regards illegal ivory trade, particularly its role as a trade route and transit country for elephant tusks.