Pawikan guardians appeal for health support

By Jose Mari Garcia

Sunday 10th of June 2012

CITY OF BALANGA, Bataan, June 9 (PIA) -- As the migration and breeding period of the endangered pawikan approaches, volunteers from the Bantay Pawikan Inc. (BPI) in Morong town are appealing for health care assistance to aid them in protecting the threatened species during the typhoon season.

Physical ailments and absence of medical checkup have hindered the 17 volunteers of BPI from hunting down poachers along the coastal areas of Morong particularly in Barangay Nagbalayong, said BPI president Manolo Ibias.

Ibias disclosed that the group could mitigate better the “perennial problem” of poaching should their previous health benefits from the Bataan General Hospital (BGH) be returned.

“We need vitamins and medicine during the rainy season for colds and coughs because we charge into the rain to patrol,” said Ibias in an interview at the Pawikan Conservation Center in Brgy. Nagbalayong.

He said that September to February is the breeding season of the pawikan, wherein they swim ashore and lay an average of 100 eggs per nest.

Poachers, he added, dig up the eggs and sell them for P20 per three pieces. He said a poacher could dig six nests equivalent to 600 eggs per night during October to November, which is the peak of the nesting season.

According to Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office head Marilyn Tigas, the BPI volunteers can extend their request to the Provincial Tourism Office since their efforts are centered in protecting a tourist destination.

Meanwhile, Department of Science and Technology-Bataan director Rosalie Ona said that BPI should coordinate with BGH to return their health benefits and request for added medical support.

She said that in 2004, the volunteers each received a health card which could be used for four to five years of free hospital confinement, checkup, and medicine.

“This time, the provision of PhilHealth to senior citizen members of the group must be worked out. The volunteers should be entitled to an annual checkup and benefit from medical and dental missions. If not the volunteers themselves, their dependents could be covered,” said Ona. (CLJD/JMG-PIA3)