Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia warned on Tuesday that the full force of the law will be imposed on persons and companies involved in the illegal trade of giant clams (taklobo) following the arrest of five individuals from Barangays Day-as and Catarman in the town of Cordova were at least P36 million worth of fossilized giant clams were seized.

“For those continuing to involve in this illegal trade of giant clams,the full force of the law will be imposed on you,” Garcia said.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) recently apprehended the suspects and BFAR Fisheries Resource Protection Group (FRPG) Officer Crejay Lacena, in a separate interview, disclosed that their office has already came out with a watch list on towns in Central Visayas were there is illegal trade on giant clams.

Garcia insisted that giant clams are “protected species” (endangered) thus it is in the law that we have to protect them.