BOHOL'S alienated settlers who have owned the lands as their own since 45 million years ago now finds a wider home: some additional 167 hectares of forest lands about to be declared their sanctuary.   Community and Environment Natural Resources Officer Samuel Racho bared this during the weekly Kapihan sa PIA, a week after the country formally closed the environment month celebration.   The planned protection zone declaration set to be launched July 12 was long due and has been a Department of Environment and Natural Resources priority since the Philippine Tarsier Conservation Project took off, Racho said.   He however said not until Congressman Edgar Chatto interceded for the tarsier conservation did the funds for the declaration get in.   The declaration further expands the ranges of the rare tarsius, one of the oldest surviving primates that have retained its form since then.   Endemic to the greater Mindanao faunal region which encompasses the islands of Bohol, Samar, Leyte, Mindanao then connected by the land bridges, the tarsier has since drastically reduced its population because of poaching, intrusion of human activity in their ranges and their critical adaptation to conditions.  

 An animal belonging to the primate family mammals is scientifically called tarsius syrichta because of its elongated and well-developed tarsals than can propel them about four meters away.   “If these rare endangered animals have been here for quite some time, it would be a shameful thing if we lose them in our generation because of neglect, a Boholano conservationist said upon learning of the news.   The conservation area declaration puts new interest into the otherwise timberlands of Corella and Sevilla where a forest shared by four barangays is identified. Tarsiers consider secondary forests as its home.   Racho named portions of barangays Canangcaan and Canapnapan of Corella and Can-agong and Abucay Norte of Sevilla within the protected area.   “With the declaration preparation, we are coordinating with the local government units and the non-government and people's organizations working in the place to set up the mechanisms,” DENR information officer Corazon Colarines said.     According to Racho, upon declaration, the Protected Areas Management Bureau governs the project and suited options could be put in place when communities start a management zoning of the 167 hectares.