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PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – Armed elements of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Philippine Navy (PN), together with the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), raided the Elephant Island here Saturday and arrested about 70 edible bird’s nest gatherers and watchers.
The 70 gatherers and watchers were taken to a Philippine Navy boat and brought to Puerto Princesa City. They were charged with violating forestry laws.
Elephant Island is one of the islands in Taytay with caves where expensive edible bird’s nests can be gathered.
The nest from a bird locally known Balinsasayaw is popular in Chinese restaurants, especially overseas.
The gatherers, however, said the raiders harassed them by firing at them upon reaching the island without warning.
Small boats owned by the gatherers bore bullet holes allegedly from the firearms of the CIDG and the Navy men, according to Mayor Roberto Rodriguez of Taytay town in Palawan.
Rodriguez said the act was uncalled for if the agencies were implementing Republic Act 9072 or the National Caves and Cave Resources Management and Protection Act.
“It is clear that they harassed these poor people. We are being bullied here. It is a big insult,” he said.
Because of RA 9072, the management of the caves was transferred from local government units to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, except for Palawan.
According to PCSD, it was just implementing RA 9072 as mandated by the new law.
It said it sought the help of the CIDG and the Navy.
But Rodriguez said PCSD has no right to encroach on the island because it was under the jurisdiction of the municipality. Taytay derives about P2.5 million a year from edible bird’s nest gathering permits.
“We don’t want it to be turned over to PCSD because we also have a power and right (to it) under the Local Government Code,” Rodriguez said.
Before the raid, Rodriguez and other municipal mayors appealed to PCSD to defer the enforcement of the implementing rules and regulations of RA 9072.
He argued that the law would take away income from the LGUs.
The League of Municipalities in Palawan also opposed the implementation by PCSD through a position paper it submitted to PCSD.
“If there are agencies more concerned with the protection of the caves, these are the local government units,” Rodriguez said. The PCSD said it had given Taytay town enough time to follow the law but it received information that gathering of edible bird’s nest was still continuing on the island so they were forced to act swiftly.
PCSD also confiscated from the gatherers a chainsaw and 11 motorized banca (canoes).
