Ex-hunters help EDC protect warty pigs
Ed Permangil and Iñigo Orias work full-time to prevent trappers, hunters and poachers from denting wild pig populations in Leyte.
The Visayan Warty Pig (S. cebifrons) is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as critically endangered.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF EDC
Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the country’s largest renewable energy generator, has tapped former forest hunters in its biodiversity program that protects the endangered Philippine warty pigs living near or around its geothermal sites in Leyte.
A documentary video of the project identifies one of the hunters as Ed Permangil, who spent 30 years trapping Philippine warty pigs in the mountains of the province for their meat. He has dismantled 700 traps so far which angered other trappers, according to the video.
Working with Permangil is another former hunter, Iñigo Orias.
The two work full-time to prevent trappers, hunters and poachers from denting wild pig populations in Leyte.
Permangil was deputized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as a patrolman of the Barangay Forest Protection Brigade. His role is to enforce Republic Act 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.
Under the said law, a person found guilty of killing a threatened species by the court may be fined P20,000 to P1 million and/or jailed for one to 12 years, Emerson Sy, a wildlife researcher, said.
“Wild pigs serve an important ecological purpose as they help regenerate forest habitats through soil aeration and seed dispersion,” said former DENR wildlife resources division chief Atty. Theresa Tenazas.
The Philippines hosts five wild pig species and they’re all threatened with extinction. Four — Philippine Warty Pig (Sus philippensis), Oliver’s Warty Pig (S. oliveri), Palawan Bearded Pig (S.ahoenobarbus) and Visayan Warty Pig (S. cebifrons) — are endemic and found nowhere else on Earth. The Bearded Pig (S. barbatus) is found in Tawi-Tawi, plus other islands in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The Philippine Warty Pig, Oliver’s Warty Pig and Bearded Pig are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as vulnerable, the Palawan Bearded Pig as near threatened and the Visayan Warty Pig as critically endangered.
“We work closely with local communities so warty pigs will always be protected,” Nelmar Aguilar, EDC’s watershed management officer for Leyte, said.
“Beyond sustainable development, we need regenerative development to maintain the balance of life on Earth,” he said.
Jing Villamente