The International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) has given prosecutors permission to use a previously recorded statement from a witness in the murder and crimes against humanity trial of Former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (F.P.R.R.D.). In a ruling released on Oct. 2, Trial Chamber III agreed to the prosecution’s request to submit the written testimony of a…
Resplendent Reemergence
Photo via Inquirer.net
From the quiet mists of the wild arose a new light. That which was once doomed to be consigned to oblivion is now unearthed, startling many with this joyous revelation. For that elusive avian with its highly distinctive red patch has captured the hearts of many.
The survival of the Leyte bleeding-heart dove was a tenuous, fragile hope that refused to break, yet most believed that it had already disappeared, choosing to surrender to the known truth, considering that its last known sighting was in 1918 by ornithologist Ernst Hartert, a century past today.
How fortuitous it is, then, that such a miracle was caught on camera rewarding Marvin Sarmiento and his team’s utter dedication on this arduous campaign. Proving that their prolonged suffering in the perilous wilds for a glimpse was not for naught.
As per the Philippine News Agency, the Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland (LSBP) must now be protected with greater effort, for the peatland itself is one of the few viable habitats that is able to support the birds’ growth and allows them to truly spread their wings and thrive.
Yet, the land is currently degrading, for decades of land conversion and drainage have clearly taken their toll. It has left the land severely parched, leaving it highly susceptible to peat fires, increasing habitat loss and environmental disturbances.
Just recently, in April, devastating peat fires wreaked havoc and utter ruin in LSBP and Agusan Marsh, causing the enactment of a national peatland policy for their protection. Through its ruin, the world would lose a major mitigator of climate change, floods and droughts.
This rediscovery is not just a miracle, but rather, it is nature itself telling us to stop twiddling our thumbs waiting for a sign, and get up. Get up and make a difference in any way that you possibly can: by being informed, helping with conservation efforts or donating money so that it may be used to preserve their habitats. The conservationists did not struggle so desperately to rediscover them, beyond all shadow of doubt, solely for a few uncaring individuals to ignore it, because it curtails the convenience of their daily life.
