Sanchez Mira town and the Grey-faced Buzzard

The municipality of Sanchez Mira is located in the province of Cagayan. It is intermediated by two gateways namely, the city of Laoag in Ilocos Norte and Tuguegarao. In my only visit to this town last March 23-26 I discovered that there are interesting things in Sanchez Mira other than its tourism attractions and laid back setting. Situated in the northern tip of the Philippines, this municipality had been hosting flock of Grey-faced Buzzard (Butastur indicus), a migratory raptor wintering in the Philippines being part of its migration flyway.

Sanchez Mira successfully embedded its existence with Grey-faced Buzzard, making it a flagship species of the town which eventually underscored wildlife conservation and avian tourism. The leaders here, headed by Mayor Abraham Bagasin, injected a notion that development should not impair nature, something that other leaders should look into and emulate.

No wonder, Sanchez Mira was the perfect venue for the 4^th International Summit for Grey-faced Buzzard and other Migratory Raptors. This event spanned for four years already and hosted by different countries such as Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. Several conservationists and bird enthusiasts from these countries convened in Sanchez Mira on March 23-25 for rigorous discourse, fostering alliances, and promoting sustainable practices in wildlife conservation and nature-based tourism.

Personally, this summit has rewired me to my childhood experience with Grey-faced Buzzard and other common resident raptors in the Philippines. We call this bird TIKWI, while the other raptor Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus) was locally christened as BANOG. Yes, we patterned our childhood game to these two – Tikwi-Banog. The two reasons I enjoyed so much as a kid in the countryside before now serve as reasons of my passion for conservation.

Anyway, what I got out of that summit? Definitely a lot, but I was impressed with the declaration which I got involved with as participant, which is to:

 

1. Sustain information, education and communication movements every year, and institutionalize wildlife studies in the academe.

2. Advocate for science-based legislation on the local level, complementing our countries’ national laws on wildlife protection, with special focus on the Grey-faced Buzzard and vulnerable or endangered migratory raptors and their habitat.

3. Weigh the impact of local development plans and investment plans and recalibrate these to ensure the scientific placement of clean energy and commercial or residential land use, in such a way that will not jeopardize habitats of the Grey-faced Buzzard and other migratory raptors and birds.

4.  Innovate programs and protocols for ecotourism, based on sincere deference for wildlife movement within their habitats, as well as on respect for local culture.

It is commendable that Sanchez Mira hosted the summit with a lot of learning points to ponder. First, they make Grey-faced Buzzard a flagship species of its town when the bird is still classified as Least Concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Here I realized that it does not necessarily take for a species to be Endangered of Critically Endangered to be conserved and protected. Second, wildlife should be treated as an important piece of creation which in my opinion should as well be accorded respect by protecting their habitat in a circular approach. Instead of building cages as shelter why can’t we expand our forest ecosystems so that these wildlife species will flourish and can multiply naturally? It is about time to erase that tradition of utilizing wildlife as a commodity for fund-raising project.

I am one with Engr. Arthur Ibañez of Cagayan State University in saying that the Grey-faced Buzzard is not just a bird; it is a testament to our shared responsibility towards the natural world. It is therefore imperative to provide these creatures an unhindered sky where they can soar without the threat of fear.

Again, I am gratified by Director Tanya R. Tan of Department of Tourism XI for subsidizing my expenses to this trip, enabling me to visit other popular places in Luzon particularly in regions 1 and 2. And to my mayor in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur Jose Nelson Z. Sala, Sr. through Municipal Administrator Omar Jason Martel for granting my request to join a very important event.

This will always be a great start to establish comprehensive effort for conservation and ecotourism. I promise to always be an agent for good things happening in the future.