PH Embassy in Singapore Celebrates PH Eagle Week

From left: Mr. Avinash Vetrivel Aravindan, Jurong Bird Park Philippine Eagle Junior Keeper; Third Secretary and Vice Consul Joy Anne B. Lai, Head of Economic, Cultural and Filcom Section; Ms. Rosellie L. Bantay, Cultural Officer; and Mr. Elden Venus Gabayoyo, Mandai Wildlife Group Animal Care Manager, pose outside the Philippine Eagle Exhibit with Philippine eagle Geothermica in the background on 01 July 2022. (Singapore PE photo)

The Philippine Embassy in Singapore, through its Cultural Section, held activities in celebration of the Philippine Eagle Week (PEW),  with the theme, “Kapayapaan at Kalayaan: Ang Agila at Mamamayan, May Kaugnayan”,  in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF), and Jurong Bird Park (JBP) in Singapore.

In 2019, as part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the establishment of Philippines-Singapore bilateral relations, Singapore’s JBP welcomed a pair of  critically endangered Philippine Eagles, Sambisig and Geothermica, the first and only Philippine Eagles to be housed outside the Philippines as part of a recovery plan. The birds are in Singapore under a 10-year renewable conservation breeding loan agreement signed between the DENR and the Mandai Wildlife Group. Any future offspring of the eagles will be returned to the Philippines to contribute to the sustainability of the species’ population under human care.

Students of HFSE International School watch the interactive storytelling activity in their classroom. (Singapore PE photo)

During the PEW, JBP shared information and fun facts about the Philippine eagle to raise awareness about their plight in the wild. The Philippine Embassy in Singapore also shared in its official social media accounts Mandai Wildlife Group’s Instagram stories which featured the updated situation and daily lives of the pair of eagles.

As a culminating event for the PEW, the Philippine Embassy partnered with HFSE International School for a hybrid interactive storytelling activity, entitled “Fly Malaya, Fly”, prepared by the DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) as part of DENR’s conservation efforts to instill awareness and appreciation of the Philippine eagle, on 01 July 2022. Primary and Secondary School students joined the activity which included a video on the release of Philippine eagle, Salagbanog, on 13 June 2022, into the wild after undergoing an 18-month rehabilitation program.

Hybrid interactive storytelling event held in the Philippines and Singapore with Philippine Embassy representatives, Third Secretary and Vice Consul Joy Anne B. Lai and Ms. Rosellie L. Bantay (2nd from left, top row); Ms. Ninalyn Sulit Cacananta (3rd from left, third row), HFSE Founder and Managing Director; Christina Bacolod Labrador (4th from left, top row), School Principal; Ms. Maria Lourdes Almeda (3rd from left, top row), ecosystems research specialist of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) and Philippine eagle conservation focal person; Mr. Jayson Ibanez (2nd from left, bottom row), Director of Research and Conservation at the Philippine Eagle Foundation; and Mr. Elden Venus Gabayoyo (left, top row), Mandai Wildlife Group Animal Care Manager. (Singapore PE photo)

Mr. Jayson Ibañez of the PEF talked about the important role of indigenous people and forest guards as eyes and ears of the forest. Mr. Elden Gabayoyo, Mandai Wildlife Group Animal Care Manager, gave a brief update on Sam and Geo and invited the students to visit the pair at Asia’s largest bird park. DENR-BMB will also be donating to HFSE coloring books on the Philippine eagle.

The PEW is celebrated every June 4-10 of each year by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 79, series of 1999.


For more information, visit https://www.singaporepe.dfa.gov.phhttps://www.philippine-embassy.org.sghttps://www.facebook.com/PHinSingapore or https://www.instagram.com/phinsingapore/.

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