Davao City: The Stars of the Philippine Eagle Center!

Guys, I would like you to meet some of my feathered friends at the Philippine Eagle Center...


Zamboanga and partner

















Aling Naty






















Dakila

















And my favorite feathered celebrity is...


Pag-Asa:  Child of Junior and Diola




Pag-Asa



The First Eagle.

Back in 1971, a 26 year old businessman by the name of Arturo Garcia watched nonchalantly as a vendor walked past him with a basket in tow. Spying what looked like a fluffy chicken in the makeshift cage, he asked to see what was inside.

The fluffy chicken turned out to be an eaglet. The trader explained that it came from some hunters in the mountains. They had shot an eagle, they said. But for days after the shooting, another eagle was seen repeatedly returning to a tree in the vicinity where the first one had fallen. They surmised, correctly, as it turns out, that there probably was a nest with an eaglet in the tree. Retrieving it, the hunters then gave the chick to the trader to sell.

Arturo asked him how much he wanted to part with the eagle. “300 pesos” said the vendor. “Too much.” said Arthur. Finally, for the then princely sum of 250 pesos, the businessman owned what was then known as a “Monkey Eating Eagle” which he named “Vic-Vic”

Taking it home, he put the bird in a cage under a huge mango tree. His niece, DOT Reg. 10 Director Sonia Garcia, who lived next door, remembers the cage expanding as the bird grew in size, until the pen surrounded the tree.

About a year later he received a note from Charles Lindbergh, the famous American Aviator, asking whether he would be willing to give up the eagle for conservation efforts.
Faced with a note from the great man, he said yes. Much to his surprise and delight, Charles Lindbergh flew in all the way from his residence in New Jersey to personally receive the eagle from him. Mr. Lindbergh then turned it over to Jesus Alvarez of the Parks and Wildlife Commission.

Vic- Vic, who turned out to be a female, was entrusted to keeper Gonneforte Culiao. Mang Goning named her “Diola” after the woman who supplied him with the chicken meat to feed his ward. Diola remained with the Philippine Eagle Center and in January 15, 1992, hatched an egg that bore Pag-Asa, the first captive bred Philippine eagle in the world ! Within the same year, she bore another chick named “Pagkakaisa.”

Even after her death, Diola still never fails to awe visitors as her stuffed remains, with her impressive wingspan, is on display at the Philippine Eagle Center.

*This story originally appeared in the Asian Spirit in flight magazine and has morphed into several versions that was picked up by another in flight and local mags.