By Lalaine M. Jimenea
Palompon, Leyte, Philippines News and Features
PALOMPON, LEYTE – Police in this town confiscated from residents of Brgy. Mazawalo on August 11, 2009, Tuesday, at around 10:59 in the morning the already butchered meat of four dolphins said to have been caught in the waters of Villaba, Leyte.
Nobody in the village has owned up to the crime, said the frustrated police chief of this town, saying they are facing a blank wall in their investigation over the slaughter of the friendly fishes.
Sr. Insp. Federico Sanchez, chief of police, said that they received a text from a tipster about the dolphins. When they arrived at the village, people gathered in a clearing with a water pump in the middle of four houses immediately scampered away. Nobody was caught and none of the residents are cooperating with their investigation.
They confiscated from the site the equivalent of 134.75 kilos of dolphin meat, aside from the heads.
Sanchez said that the containers where the dolphin heads and meat were placed had the initials “MRTES” but nobody is shedding light on what it stands for, or who it belongs.
Sanchez added that even the informant who texted them about the butchered dolphins is not answering his inquiries to help pinpoint the owners or culprits. Even the barangay chairman of the coastal village, he added, claims not to know anything about the dolphins or who butchered them.
He also gathered that dolphin meat is considered exotic food by some residents in the town. He, however, bemoans their being killed saying he had personally observed them to be very gentle and friendly during a trip to Kalanggaman Island.
Dolphins or “lumod” in the local parlance are listed as endangered species and is prohibited by Philippine law from being caught or butchered.
Meanwhile, municipal agricultural officer Francisco Sanico and the town’s fishery officer Felipe Muya have recommended that the dolphins be buried and rendered useless for food.
Sanchez, on the other hand, said that despite the lack of cooperation of the residents, his giving away of his personal cellphone number to residents during their regular “pulong-pulong” or dialog has apparently worked. Obviously, he said, the person who texted them got his number from one of these dialogs.
Meanwhile, the chief of police added that he is intensifying anti-crime measures in the town, adding that on August 11 alone, they also caught a drug pusher and a young man for illegal possession of firearm.
During an “Operation Bakal” drive he said, at around 9:20 in the evening at the public market area, they recovered from one Laido Nilo Lloveras y Hermoso, a student and resident of Guiwan I, a caliber 22 “paltik” revolver with seven live ammo and an empty shell.
Also, on the same day, in cooperation with Sr. Insp. Jesus Son of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), they busted suspected drug pusher Maria Eva Abenoja, in her 30’s and a resident of Guiwan II. During the buy-bust operations, they confiscated eight sachets of shabu (methampethamine hydrochloride) with street value of P4,000.00.
The police have filed two cases against her, one for pushing and another for possession.
4 dolphins found butchered in Palompon
it's not worth it jud nga patyon ang dolphins. di man ta sila made for food. wa sila nakuntento ug isda lang nga gagmay?
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