Cebu university students, professors in trouble for killing 8 endangered birds for research paper

Black Shama (Copsychus Cebuensis) also known as “Siloy” (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

Three former biology students and their professors in Cebu City were charged with violation of the law on wildlife protection for cutting up eight Black Shama birds for a research project to find out what they eat.

The birds, locally known as Siloys, are endemic or native to Cebu, and found in dwindling forest patches.

The Black Shama is an endangered species and should not have been killed, said the criminal complaint filed by the Protected Area and Wildlife Division (PAWD) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 7.

The college students, who had a permit from the DENR 7, said they thought they already had the agency’s go-signal to dissect the birds to study their diet. The birds were caught in protected forests of Tabunan in Cebu City and southern towns of Alcoy and Argao.

Their thesis “Gut content composition of Cebu Black Shama” was submitted to the biology department of Cebu Normal University as a thesis requirement for their graduation last March 2014.

But the PAWD said the gratuitious permit issued in January 15, 2014 for the conduct of scientific research does not sanction killing the birds.

“We read and reviewed (the study) and gravely found out that the students together with their advisers violated the terms and conditions in their Wildlife Gratuitous Permit y killing/dissecting eight (8) heads of Black Shama (Copsychus cebuensis), an endangered species which was not stipulated in their permit,” said Rainier Manlegro, a technical staff member of the PAWD , who filed the complaint on Sept. 3 with the Cebu City Prosecutors Office.

MISCOMMUNICATION

During a technical conference in the DENR office before the case was filed, a lawyer of one of the professors said the problem arose from “miscommunication” by the parties on how to secure the permit. He said the activity was done for science research, and not to exploit wildlife.

The bodies of the eight Black Shama birds were stuffed and mounted. DENR 7 asked that the taxidermied models be turned over to the agency after discovering the violation.

Named respondents were former biology students Ninokay L. Beceril, Elrich D. Sydney Barinque and Ephem Jun A. Fernandez and their thesis advisers Edward Laurence L. Opena, Richard B. Parilla, Nimfa R. Pansit, Joezen D. Corrales and Elena Lozano.

The advisers are professors in CNU except for Parilla who served as their research mentor from the University of San Carlos (USC).

The student researchers said Parilla often went with them on field and dissected the birds himself with the students’ assistance. The birds were dissected as soon as they were captured, according to Beceril.

Opena is chairman of the CNU biology department and head of the faculty panel that approved on April 4 the study submitted as a course requirement for undergraduate research.

PENALTIES

The eight were charged with violation of Section 27(a) of Republic Act 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act. The penalty, if parties are found guilty, is imprisonment of four years and one day to six years, or a fine of P50,000 to P500,000, or both at the discretion of the court.

The special law passed in 2001 states that it is unlawful to willfully and knowingly exploit wildlife resources and their habitats.

Under illegal acts listed in Section 27, it is unlawful to kill and destroy wildlife species except in five instances, for example, “when the wildlife is killed or destroyed after it has been used in authorized research experiments.”

Other exceptions are: 1) when it is done as part of the religious rituals or established tribal groups; 2) when the wildlife is afflicted with an incurable communicable disease; 3) when it is deemed necessary to put an end to the misery suffered by the wildlife; 4) when it is done to prevent an imminent danger to the life or limb of a human being.

The CNU research was not authorized, according to the DENR. The students expressed regret that they were not told directly by anyone in the DENR that they could not pursue the study or else they would have chosen another topic, according to the minutes of a June 5 technical conference at the DENR.

The students said they relied on the approval given by the Central Cebu Protected Landscape-Protected Management Board (CCPL-PAMB), when they appeared on October 2013 with Parilla to present their research proposal.

The multi-sectoral board is headed by DENR Regional Executive Director Isabelo Montejo.

The board issued a resolution recommending DENR to issue a gratuitous permit for the proposed thesis “Diet and Food Preference of Cebu Black Shama in Cebu Island”.

The DENR 7 later pointed out that the final study that was submitted was “Gut Content Composition of Cebu Black Shama in Cebu Island” and that the permit did not mention anything about killing the birds.

SAME METHODOLOGY

Beceril in an interview said only the title of the thesis was changed, not the methodology which includes dissecting the birds to find out what they had eaten. He said this methodology was discussed when they presented the proposal to the PAMB.

The three students were able to graduate in March and currently hold jobs in the private sector.
In an interview, one student recalled that they were eager to do the study knowing there was a gap in field research about the diet of the Black Shama.

He said the group honestly thought the DENR had given clearance to go ahead with the project when they discussed it with PAWD head Ariel Rica last year.

They started field work soon after the PAMB-CCPL board meeting since they were on a timetable to meet graduation requirements and understood that the gratuitious permit would follow later.

“We were so passionate about the project we even planned to have a continuing study for conservation to protect the Black Shama,” said Beceril, who now works as a lab analyst in a private company.

“We were so grateful and honored to do the study, contribute to the DENR. We were just students.”

COLLABORATE

Beceril, said a friend introduced the group to Parilla, a biology professor of USC who was doing research on the Black Shama, and agreed to do a “collaborative study” with them.

The students’ final research study showed that the Black Shama feeds on insects such as ants, beetles and termites.

Bibiana Isok, CNU vice president for academic affairs, told CDN the school has not been remiss in reminding faculty and students to follow ethical research guidelines.

“We encourage and intensified our research but we have been very prudent about research ethics. We encourage tandem research with students and teachers,” she said in an interview.

A memorandum of agreement (MOA) was drafted for CNU and the DENR for the Black Shama research but the document did not have the signature of DENR 7 head Montejo.

The students said they submitted the document to a DENR staff member who promised to take care of obtaining his signature.

The students said their methodology of examining the contents of the birds’ stomachs was approved by their thesis advisers.

PERMIT TERMS

The research was presented last March 1 in a forum at the USC Talamban campus for the 26th Annual Fr. Heinrich Schoenig Biology Symposium where the methodology caught the attention of researchers of the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation. They asked why Black Shama birds were killed in the process.

Foundation representatives led by Lisa Paguntalan attended the March 5 technical conference in the DENR office where the lapse was discussed.

The DENR gratuitious permit issued to the students reads:

“The permittees shall collect a maximum of three heads of Black Shamas per study site only (specified as Alcoy, Argao and Tabunan), a total of nine heads; provided that the permittees shall release the captured species after acquiring the needed samples.”