Lawmakers alarmed over ‘tuko’ hunting, trading

Lawmakers over the weekend expressed alarm over the prevalent hunting and trading of geckos in rural areas.

Reps. Mel Senen Sarmiento and Teodorico Haresco of Ang Kasangga party-list urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to look into the massive and indiscriminate trading of geckos—known in the country as “tuko.”

Sarmiento said such activity might lead to the extinction of the said reptile, which is known to feed on insects such as mosquitoes and flies, and cause irreversible effects on the environment.

According to Sarmiento, the Internet and even some of the country’s top buy-and-sell magazines are flooded with classified ads on gecko trading, some of which even claim to represent the World Health Organization.

The said advertisements claim that geckos have potent medicinal properties and are being bought by pharmaceutical companies who are developing medicines for cancer and even the dreaded Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

Sarmiento reported that the cited advertisements even offer to pay as much as P3 million for a single live gecko that weighs 400 grams and up. Because of the alleged value offered, gecko hunting has become prevalent in certain rural provinces.

However, there are no records yet of anyone becoming millionaires because of gecko trading, according to the lawmaker.

“Whether or not these ads are authentic or not, this indiscriminate poaching of geckos have very serious and long-term implications on our ecosystem. Our tukos are a key element in balancing our ecosystem,” Sarmiento said.

For his part, Haresco said that geckos were nature’s most effective weapons against insect overpopulation and their extinction would certainly offset the country’s biodiversity.

“There is a need for the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] to look into this gecko-hunting frenzy and possibly get into the bottom of these claims on the alleged medicinal properties of this lizard. The DENR should now move to save the tuko from total annihilation,” Haresco stressed.

He also noted that not a single pharmaceutical firm or official scientific and medicinal research organization have confirmed the medicinal values of geckos.

Haresco said that while the Philippine gecko was not included in the list of endangered animal species, the DENR could classify them as part of the “Other Threatened Species” because of the recent gecko-hunting frenzy.

He said that he would file a measure that would seek to re-classify the gecko as endangered to protect the lizard from total extinction.

Haresco cited that Paragraph E and F, Chapter IV of Republic Act 9147 provided that the trading of wildlife and collection, hunting or possessing wildlife, their by-products and derivatives are considered illegal acts.

For illegal acts under paragraph E (trading), penalties/fines can be imprisonment of 10 days to one month, or a fine of not less than P200 or not more than P20,000, if inflicted or undertaken against other wildlife species.

For illegal acts under paragraph F (collection, hunting or possession), imprisonment of one month and one day to six months and a fine of not less than P5,000 to P50,000 will be imposed if inflicted or undertaken against species as other threatened species.


BY RUBEN D. MANAHAN 4TH