DENR-8 steps up drive to protect Phl Eagle

TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Region 8 had intensified its campaign to protect and preserve the Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi), the national bird that has been tagged as critically endangered.

DENR-8 Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca said his office had stepped up its campaign for the preservation of the Philippine Eagle in the region following reports of sighting of the national bird in the forests of Samar Island.

"I am urging and soliciting support from the local government units, stakeholders, private groups or organizations and the public for the preservation of the Philippine Eagle," he told The Freeman.

Sibbaluca said the Philippine Eagle, a gift of nature and a unique heritage for the Filipinos, is the largest bird in the world with a wing span of two meters and a height of one meter.

He said the bird, which was first spotted in Paranas town of Samar on June 15, 1896 by a British naturalist John Whitehead, was thought to have been extinct in the island, but recently sightings have been reported, prompting the DENR-8 to move for its protection and preservation.

A team composed of members of 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.

The sightings were in the thickly forested Barangay Buluan of Calbiga town in Samar and within the Taft Forest Wildlife (Philippine Eagle) Sanctuary in Taft town of Eastern Samar, during an expedition from September 19 to October 4, this year.

Sibbaluca said the lives of the Philippine Eagle and other wildlife in the area would depend on the condition of the forests in the island, which is their habitat, thus the DENR-8 has been campaigning also for the preservation of the forests here.