trouble for the Cebu City Zoo (Philippines)

Chlidonias

Chlidonias

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Cebu City, province on collision course over zoo property - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

A legal tussle looms anew between the Cebu City government and the Cebu provincial government over the city zoo property in Barangay (village) Kalunasan, Cebu City.

This came after the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) approved a resolution on Monday authorizing Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to terminate the province's agreement with the Cebu city government on the use of the city zoo property in Kalunasan.

PB Member Agnes Magpale said the province needed the property to install a women's crisis center which has been delayed for four years.

“This (the city zoo) has been the only deterrent to the construction of the crisis center,” Magpale said.

At City Hall, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the Capitol has to present a court order before the city gives up its claim on the Cebu City Zoo.

“The idea is a legal issue I will let my lawyers deal with it. But they have to get a court order,” Osmeña told Cebu Daily News.

The PB resolution authorized Governor Garcia to start recovery of the city zoo lot.

PB Member Juan Bolo said the area is no longer feasible for use as a city zoo since it is “near thickly populated residential areas and government institutions like the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) and the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC).”

Garcia said she agreed that a women’s crisis center is “more beneficial” to the community.

“We can put up a zoo in another area, but one that will really operate as a zoo and one that is operated by the province of Cebu,” she said.

On October 14, 1963, the Cebu provincial government under then Cebu governor Francisco Remotigue donated two parcels of lot to the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP).

These are lot 1298 with an area of 222,110 square meters and an adjacent lot of 3,160 square meters also known as lot 1303.

A portion of lot 1298 with an area of 70,000 square meters that was excluded from the donation was set aside for a city zoo.

The deed of donation that Remotigue entered into with the BSP stated that a seven-hectare portion of lot 1298, specifically the gully and ravine can be set aside for the Cebu City Zoo which was then located at Fort San Pedro.

Bolo's resolution cited paragraph 2 of the deed of donation as proof that the zoo property is owned by the Cebu provincial government and that the lot is excluded from the deed of donation.

“The setting aside of said portion for the use, operation and maintenance of the Cebu City zoo is a unilateral and gratuitous act of the Province of Cebu, which granted a benefit or advantage but vested and created no right in favor of the Cebu City Zoo or any other person for that matter, could be unilaterally withdrawn by the Province of Cebu in the exercise of its rights as owners thereof,” Bolo’s resolution read.

However, Bolo said the title of the zoo property was “mistakenly” included in the properties whose titles were transferred to the BSP.

Just recently, the BSP and the Cebu provincial government entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for the return of donated lots no. 1298 and 1303 and the relocation of the BSP campsite to another location.

“There has never been a donation made to other persons or entities involving said area of 70, 000 sq. meters and said portion is still a property of the Province of Cebu for all intents and purposes,” Bolo’s resolution said.

Magpale said the women's crisis center is especially urgent in light of the recent rescue of a woman resident of Barangay Bitoon in Dumanjug who was victimized by an illegal recruiter in Manila.

Cebu Vice Governor Greg Sanchez said the Cebu City government should care for the animals that would be displaced by the lot transfer.

Capitol consultant Jon Sepulveda said they will appeal to the Cebu city government to return the Cebu City zoo property.

Sepulveda said if the Cebu city government refuses, they will issue a demand letter to them.
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Its hard for me to portray my thoughts in detail, hmmmmm, I usually know Cebu city as a place for eskrima, but what they bring forward actually has a point behind it.
 
A strange mix of short-term gain politics and corruption in Cebu. A distinction for a need for a womens' crisis center and the needs of its city zoo.

No mention of a good conservation zoo funded properly by the Municipality or their duty to protect the environment and care for sustainable development.

Cebu has seen large scale habitat encroachment and the authorities should know better. Only NGO's can change this tactic and if we would like to have situations like these changed we should put our money where our mouths are.

Exactly as municipalities and legal authorities hardly care for their environment and their rare and elusive flora and fauna is the Phillipines in danger of loosing all and sundry.

In order to educate the general public we need good zoos in these locations. Western world zoos and individuals should assist where possible instead of criticising the easy targets .....!
 
dragon(ele)nerd said:
How well is Cebu city's zoo breeding in general?, Poor, average?
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When I was there it wasn't too good. And I'm not thinking about breeding but just basic animal care. But some years ago so perhaps it changed to the better?

edit: These photos are not new but they illustrate my experiance there:

Welcome sign: 102_4452
Lories: 102_4408
Macaques: 102_4441
Crocodile: Philippine Freshwater Crocodile (Buaya)
Sailfin Lizard: 102_4411
Brahminy Kites: 102_4423

New macaque (no better than 2005 photo):
Philippine Macaque (Ungoy)
 
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Awesome photos, thanks, didn't know that Buaya was crocodile in fillipino as well as Bahasa,
 
I keep saying - while not closing my eyes to the need to upgrade zoo and aninal management capabilities - that unless we start supporting upgrading sub-standard zoos in range countries where biodiversity loss is greatest and people are poverty-stricken we will never succeed in saving endangered species or peoples' awareness thereof. Zoos are prime motivators for conservation education and instiling into locals an awareness on how special their flora and flora and thus their environment really is. We are never going to save Philippine wildlife and rainforest by just breeding in far-off range countries. We need to support these zoos and not slag them for a lack of finance, indifference by municipalities, uneducated visitors and sub-standard housing of wild animals.

So, give it up and do something useful instead! ;)
 
jelle said:
I keep saying - while not closing my eyes to the need to upgrade zoo and aninal management capabilities - that unless we start supporting upgrading sub-standard zoos in range countries where biodiversity loss is greatest and people are poverty-stricken we will never succeed in saving endangered species or peoples' awareness thereof. Zoos are prime motivators for conservation education and instiling into locals an awareness on how special their flora and flora and thus their environment really is. We are never going to save Philippine wildlife and rainforest by just breeding in far-off range countries. We need to support these zoos and not slag them for a lack of finance, indifference by municipalities, uneducated visitors and sub-standard housing of wild animals.

So, give it up and do something useful instead! ;)
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Some zoos need to be closed. If this zoo hasn't improved since my visit, it belongs in that category. The Philippines already have successful facilities that have bred several rare species (Philippine Eagle Owl, Philippine Eagle, various parrots, Visayan Hornbill, bleeding-hearts, Philippine Crocodile, Visayan Warty Pig, Philippine Spotted Deer and more) so there are people there that know what they're doing. Some of these facilities are not accessible to ordinary visitors (like Birds International, on some points controversial, but probably the biggest facility for captive breeding of birds in the world), but others are (like the Crocolandia Foundation and the Negros Forests and Ecological Foundation Inc). Improve those facilities further and get rid of the bad zoos that

1) Don't give any valid environmental education to their visitors.
2) Actually participate in the extinction of species by getting them from the wild without giving them any real chance of captive breeding.
3) Don't show any clear signs of wishing to improve (something as basic as removing garbage from animal enclosures and adding a few branches to the bird cages doesn't cost much and can be done even by zoos with the least funding).
 
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