3 cops cited for busting giant clam poachers

By: Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – A police chief and two intelligence operatives of Sagay City Police Station in Negros Occidental received medals for their successful operation against the hoarding of giant clams worth P5 million in the city in April 2019.

Police Major Antonio Benitez Jr., city police chief, and his personnel – Police Senior Staff Sergeants Ronie Sanico and JR Grande – received the PNP Merit Medal (Medalya ng Kagalingan) from Police Colonel Remus Zacarias Canieso, deputy regional director of Police Regional Office (PRO)-6, and Engineer Ariel Iglesia, regional director of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)-6.

The awarding was part of the flag raising ceremony at the PRO-6 headquarters in Iloilo City on July 1.

On April 11, authorities applied a search warrant for violation of Section 102 (fishing or taking of rare, threatened or endangered species) of Republic ACt 10654 (The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, as amended) against Felix Causapin, 60; Lito Cañete, 49; and Adan Atabelo, 54.

Police apprehended the trio for allegedly hoarding clams at Barangay Molocaboc since February 2019.

Recovered from the suspects were 127 pieces (1.5 tons) of fossilized giant clams locally known as “Manlot, which were already 50 years old.