PHILIPPINES
Inquirer
By Connie E. Fernandez, Jhunnex Napallacan
Inquirer Visayas
4:07 am | Thursday, September 27th, 2012
CEBU CITY—Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma has ordered an inventory of all ivory pieces owned by Msgr. Cristobal Garcia, whom National Geographic linked to the illegal ivory trade, to determine if these were acquired before 1981, the year the Philippines became a signatory to an international ban on ivory trade.
Palma on Wednesday said the Archdiocese of Cebu would cooperate in the investigation being conducted by the government and would not condone the illegal trade of ivory.
But Palma also took exception to the article’s alleged bias against Filipinos’ religious practices.
Msgr. Achilles Dakay, media liaison officer of the archdiocese, said the NatGeo article was biased and created the impression that Garcia had benefited from the killing of elephants so he could make ivory pieces.
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