LOBOC – Like Bohol then in 1854 become independent from Cebu province, caged tarsiers in tourist-related establishments here were freed July 22, 2011 in barangay Candabong of this town by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said Nestor Canda, Officer-in-charge, provincial environment and natural resources office. Stufftoy makers, however, are not happy about it. The release of the smallest primates to their natural habitat was witnessed by Assistant Sec. Atty. Michelle Angelica D. Go and Mr. Isabelito Tongco, representative of Gov. Edgar Chatto, Canda said. Canda said that some 35 tarsiers, including the one with a young sibling, formerly possessed by 12 establishments, jumped for their freedom into the woods. Earlier, DENR, particularly the Protected Areas for Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) which is in-charge of the wildlife, said that the agency has ultimately decided to get rid of tarsiers in captivity even if the firms are still having permits.

The release of the tarsiers to wildlife made the stuff toy makers based in barangay Bo-ol in this city where the Sandugo icons of Datu Sikatuna and Gen. Miguel de Legaspi are located sad. In an interview yesterday, two of the store owners who also into toy making industry, including stuff toy in tarsiers, said that it really affects their trade. Despite repeated calls in his mobile phone yesterday, Loboc Mayor Leon Calipusan did not respond to query or comment on the release of the tarsiers. The municipal council of Loboc town, earlier, passed Resolution No. 22-2009, requesting for freezing the Provincial Ordinance banning the display of the tarsiers in tourist belt establishment in the municipality. Provincial Ordinance No. 2009-005, “prohibiting the possession, display for viewing for commercial or business use, or any other purpose not included in the ordinance, of the Philippine Tarsier outside of its natural habitat and from Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary and imposing penalties thereof.”

The Loboc lawmakers expressed disappointment why the approval of the said Ordinance banning the Tarsier display in any river resorts here when in fact exemptions to keep the primate are already granted through issuance of a special permit by the DENR. The town officials argued that having Tarsier in their midst “help boost local tourist industry” because tourists easily and actually see the smallest primate. As a result, they generate incomes to the locality concerned and facilitate reduction of poverty because of local employment they provide. The Habitat Village Handicraft, Stuff Toy Makers and Suppliers Association (HVHASSA) based in Bo-ol district in this city, has appealed to provincial government to grant their plea for suspension of the Tarsier Ordinance enforcement. They claimed that their only livelihood through Tarsier stuff toy-making will be adversely affected if indeed the provincial government and DENR will enforce the prohibition of tarsier display. The association manifesto signed by 34 tailors and 13 suppliers pointed out that they are not against the preservation of the Tarsier but they just requested for retention of the primate in Loboc.

Earlier on, Tarsier operators German Palapar, Nerio Salaga and Victoriano Ponio said the measure “utterly deprived legitimate establishments” that operate the Tarsiers from what they claimed as “keeping and/or nursing Tarsiers.” Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta) population is said believed to be shrinking because DENR continues to issue permits allowing for possession and display of the primate for the tourists. Studies collaborated this because when tarsiers which are nocturnal are held in captivity they don’t live long. Tarsiers are indeed threatened by both demand for sightseeing by tourists and continued destruction of their habitat, said Nestor Canda, provincial environment and natural resources officer (Penro). He said that tarsiers are supposedly to rest during daytime because they are naturally nocturnal in their habitat. But what is happening now those in captivity are “stressed” and “threatened” because of hundreds of visitors come to see and “touch” them and their “ecological needs” distorted. (RVO)