8 lawmakers raise funds to preserve RP eagle

DAVAO CITY — Eight young congressmen have raised funds to beef up efforts to preserve the almost-extinct Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga Jefferyi) through an education program for children.

Initiated by Davao City second district Rep. Vincent Garcia, the lawmakers raised P750,000 which will be used to put up a children’s exhibit area at the Philippine Eagle Center in Malagos District here.

The amount was turned over to officials of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), which runs the Malagos Center, last Aug. 30.

The project involves a children’s discovery room comprised of six modules which will have, among other things, display boards and three-dimensional fiberglass figures of trees, lizards and vines, and touch-screen computers for the enjoyment and education of the Malagos Center’s young visitors.

Expected to be completed by November, the children’s exhibit area will also feature stuffed specimens of the Philippine eagle and its eggs and feathers. There will also be a fiberglass representation of a forest.

Besides Garcia, the seven other congressmen involved in the education project are Gilbert Remulla (second district, Cavite), Juan Miguel Zubiri (third district, Bukid—non), Del de Guzman (Marikina), Kim Bernardo-Lokin (party-list, CIBAC), Ed Chatto (first district, Bohol), Eileen Ermita-Buhain (first district, Batangas) and Joel Villanueva (party-list, CIBAC).

Former Camarines Norte third district Rep. Felix William Fuentebella also helped in the project.

There are reportedly 500 pairs of Philippine eagles in the forests of Samar, Leyte and Mindanao.

The Malagos Center houses 29 Philippine eagles, while the University of the Philippines in Los Baños, Laguna has two.