Hi all. I returned home yesterday from a Philippines birding trip. This was very successful in regard to the birds we saw, however in Mindanao we encountered a problem in a supposedly safe area in the north of the island, on Mt Kitanglad. It appears that the army mistook our party for a group of NPA guerrillas that they were pursuing through the mountain forest. The article in the attached url gives an outline of what occurred. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/11413212/British- birdwatchers-caught-up-in-Philippines-gun-battle.html Our party was comprised of 3 Danish birders, 2 British and a British guide, myself plus our local guide and one of his sons. The local guide Carlito was severely wounded when he was shot in the left arm , not right arm as it states in the article, he has undergone surgery in nearby Cagayan de Oro, and is now recovering. He will need ongoing surgery for a shattered arm, and the army is taking care of his needs. Carlito is a well known bird guide in the area and runs the lodge on Mt Kitanglad, the only accommodation in the area. We were there to see Philippine eagle, this was our second day in that particular site, very near the eagle viewing location. It is a shame that Carlito has, at least for the moment, lost his livelihood and good health, and birders who have seen him finding and identifying birds on Mt Kitanglad will be very concerned about his situation. The immediate future of birding on the mountain is probably doubtful as well. I will be keeping in contact in with people in the Philippineswho can tell me and the other birders in the group how Carlito is progressing. We all decided to continue on our scheduled 5 day trip to Palawan after the incident, it was a good decision, we were able to discuss what had happened and work ourselves through the detail, to debrief a lot with people who had been through the same experience. It was very bonding for all of us. The birds and scenery in Palawan were also nice, it helped end the trip on a more positive note. No eagle though! Richard
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Dear Richard, deeply sorry to hear about your troubles and especially the terrible news about Carlito. I had the privilege of meeting him is 2010 when I first went to Mindanao (we had decent, if distant views of the Eagle back then). He does fantastic work on Kitanglad I wish him a speedy recovery. I was in Mindanao again this time last year. We spent 5 days in PICOP and then the plan was to travel to Davao for 2 days to see the nesting eagles on Mt Apo. However while we were still in PICOP I had word from our Davao-based guide that there were issues with access because of alleged NPA activity in the area. Other less circumspect groups ignored this — putting it down to an invention by local politicians jealous of payments to villagers for access — and sailed through without problems. However we decided not to go because of the chance that the rumour was true and the dire consequences if it were (not to mention the other political issues that ignoring the local Captain might cause for subsequent groups). Despite being utterly gripped off at not being able to photograph the Eagles we remain content that it was the right call, and your harrowing tale only confirms that. Cheers, Ian On 22/02/2015 9:14 PM, Richard Johnstone wrote: — Prof. Ian Reid ARC Laureate Fellow School of Computer Science University of Adelaide Adelaide, 5005 ph: +61 (08) 83132135 www: http://cs.adelaide.edu.au/~ianr
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Yes terrible for Carlito and yet another problem for the area but put into context as to why this would happen and why the army are so sensitive and could make mistakes: I was there from 14 January till 3 February. On 25 January many police and soldiers were sent to arrest a known Islamic terrorist in Mindanao. Somehow the operation was either astonishingly bungled or corruptly sabotaged at a high level. 44 police officers were somehow ambushed and all murdered by a quite sophisticated “terrorist” group. Anyway the country is really shocked by this. When the bodies were returned, the President chose to go to a prior event of the opening of a new car factory, rather than change his arrangements to attend this event. This insensitivity seems to have caused quite some outrage. He did attend a later commemoration. See e.g. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-29/philippines-mourns-44-police-killed-in -botched-anti-terror-raid/6055900 and http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-26/dozens-of-philippine-police-officers-k illed-in-clash-with-rebels/6046870 The situation there is complex. This was only a few days after the country obsessed over the visit by the pope. I could possibly had gone to Mindanao, I had seriously considered it. As it has some great birding opportunities and in particular the Philippine Eagle centre there, at the time of this botched military angle. I was very glad I didn’t. Would be too much risk and too expensive. I had received conflicting advice of the safety of going to Mindanao. My friend there was constantly fearful of me wandering around with my binoculars and would I be in danger from being ambushed, robbed or taken hostage. Nothing bad did happen to me. We are lucky in Australia to hardly have these fears. Instead I went with my friend to Palawan island and that is a very pretty and peaceful place, most people are very nice and helpful…… The big risk there (as in all of the Philippines), surviving being on the road, then being approached by lots of poor people trying to sell trinkets and avoiding the monkeys……. The only Philippine Eagle I got to see was the one in Manila, in the Aquino zoo. Poor bird has been there for 19 years but looks in excellent condition what an impressive bird. In two trips of 3 weeks, I found only very few wild raptors (though lots in zoos). Philip —–Original Message—– Julie Neumann Sent: Monday, 23 February 2015 6:04 AM Cc: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Wow Richard! What a hair raising experience. Nice to know that you all carried on to Palawan with true twitching courage. Interesting to hear that you were able to debrief with others who had shared the same experience, implying that it is not so rare. I feel very sorry for Carlito but have no desire to go looking for that lovely critically endangered Philippine Eagle. Julie On 22/02/2015, at 9:44 PM, Richard Johnstone wrote:
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Wow Richard! What a hair raising experience. Nice to know that you all carried on to Palawan with true twitching courage. Interesting to hear that you were able to debrief with others who had shared the same experience, implying that it is not so rare. I feel very sorry for Carlito but have no desire to go looking for that lovely critically endangered Philippine Eagle. Julie On 22/02/2015, at 9:44 PM, Richard Johnstone wrote:
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