Source : ABS-CBN, Philippines, 03 May '07
By : Sandy Araneta
  

The Philippines has become an increasingly important source and transit point for wildlife crime in the ASEAN region, the Supreme Court said in a report posted on its website yesterday.

In 2005, six tons of elephant tusks from Africa were seized in the Manila harbor by the Bureau of Customs.

Recently, 2,300 high-value fish including live grouper, red snapper, and 359 endangered Napoleon wrasse were seized from a 30-man Chinese fishing boat near the Tubbataha Reef Natural Park’s South Atoll.

Both cases are still unresolved, signifying an urgent need for understanding on wildlife crime and prosecution, said the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA).

In the report, the SC said PHILJA, its training school for justices, judges, court personnel, lawyers and aspirants to judicial posts, will host the first national "Judiciary Workshop on Wildlife Crime and Prosecution," in support of the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), at the PHILJA development center in Tagaytay City on May 10 to 11.

Taking part in the training are judges and prosecutors from areas identified by the government as wildlife crime hot spots such as Metro Manila and the provinces of Davao, Palawan, General Santos and Sarangani.

The workshop training will focus on prosecution, investigation, sharing of best practices, Philippine laws on wildlife crime, local and transnational cooperation with other agencies, and ASEAN-wide initiatives on the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

The workshop also aims to further develop and demonstrate the importance of an informed and aware judiciary in the prosecution of illegal wildlife traders.

It targets to guide the development of similar trainings to be conducted later on in Indonesia and Thailand under the ASEAN-WEN activities.

Among the speakers in the workshop will be from the United States Department of Justice, Supreme Court of Indonesia, US Agency for International Development, USAID Philippine Mission, Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (AECEN), US Embassy, and the USAID Regional Environment Office (Bangkok).

The ASEAN will be represented by Tatik Hafidz, senior officer-in-charge for ASEAN cooperation in combating transnational crime.

Key officials from the PHILJA and the judiciary will also participate in the workshop.

They are Supreme Court Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura, PHILJA Chancellor Ameurfina Melencio Herrera, former Solicitor General and currently University of Santo Tomas faculty of law dean and PHILJA remedial law department chairman Justice Alfredo Benipayo, and PHILJA constitutional law department chairman and Lyceum of the Philippines College of Law dean Pacifico Agabin.

Key officials from government agencies in the Philippines combating wildlife crime such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, National Anti-Environment Crime Task Force, National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Customs will also attend.

The ASEAN-WEN is an inter-governmental initiative of the ASEAN to combat wildlife crime.

Two international organizations, TRAFFIC and Wildlife Alliance, via a cooperative partnership with USAID, are providing technical assistance to government agencies that are implementing ASEAN-WEN.

AECEN, which is supported by USAID, in turn, works closely with ASEAN-WEN by supporting its activities.