Skipper of boat with abandoned pangolins faces charges

The Philippine Coast Guard in Palawan is eyeing charges against the skipper of a Manila-bound cargo vessel where 23 pangolins (scaly anteaters) were recovered last Saturday. 

 

Coast Guard Palawan head Commodore Enrico Evangelista was not satisfied with the claim of Menandro Fabul that he did not know who left the anteaters on the ship, radio dzBB's Carlo Mateo reported Wednesday.

 

Fabul is the skipper of the M/V Maria Lydia, which was docked at Coron in Palawan when a Coast Guard team discovered the anteaters aboard it last Saturday.

 

The Coast Guard team found the anteaters after receiving a tip from a concerned citizen that the cargo vessel was taking them to Pier 2 in Manila's North Harbor.

 

As of Wednesday, however, one of the 23 pangolins had died.

 

Meanwhile, Evangelista said he has ordered the Coast Guard in Coron to dig deeper to see who is behind the illegal trade of endangered species such as pangolins, pawikan (turtles) and mynah birds.

 

He also said the Coast Guard has trained its K9 units to sniff out endangered species.

 

The discovery of the pangolins came days after 400 boxes of frozen pangolins were found aboard a Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground at Tubbataha Reef last April 8.

 

The 12 Chinese aboard the vessel were arrested and are now detained at the Palawan Provincial Jail after being charged for poaching and attempting to bribe park rangers. 

 

On the other hand, the April 8 incident came three months after the grounding of the minesweeper USS Guardian at Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage Site. —KG, GMA News