Ni AARON RECUENCO
Nahuli ang isang 15-talampakan ang haba na buwaya na hinihinalang umatake at pumatay sa isang 33-anyos na mangingisda noong nakaraang linggo sa bayan ng Balabac sa katimugang Palawan.
50.78% examinees, pasado sa Nov. 2024 Licensure Exam for Agriculturists
Ayon kay Supt. Imelda Tolentino, tagapagsalita ng Police Regional Office (PRO)-4B, nagkasa ng plano ang mga tauhan ng Philippine Coast Guard, Balabac Policem at Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) upang mahuli ang buwaya kasunod ng napaulat na pagpatay umano nito sa isang mangingisda sa nasabing bayan nitong Nobyembre.
Sinabi ni Tolentino na naniniwala ang mga residente na kinain ng nasabing buwaya ang kanang braso at kaliwang binti ni Cornelio Bonete, bandang 3:00 ng umaga nitong Nobyembre 27, sa Barangay Poblacion 5.
Una nang iniulat ng ama ni Bonete na si Reynaldo na nawawala ang kanyang anak makaraang atakehin ng buwaya.
“Residents of Barangay Poblacion 5 heard a voice shouting and asking for help during the time he was attacked but nobody knows were the voice came from. The fishing paraphernalia were intact inside the motorbanca of the victim,” ani Tolentino.
“There was also a report that local residents saw a crocodile at the seashore biting a leg-like part of human body. His prompted the search and rescue as well as the operations to get the crocodile,” dagdag niya.
Kinabukasan, natagpuan ang bangkay ni Bonete, na walang isang braso at isang binti, sa Bgy. Malaking Ilog sa Balabac.
“The crocodile was captured at around 2:00 p.m. on December 1 at the mouth of a river in Barangay Malaking Ilog. It was transported earlier (Monday morning) using a police’s Maritime Group boat to the Crocodile Farm,” said Tolentino.
Batay sa paunang datos, ang nahuling buwaya ay may habang 15.6 talampakan, 29 pulgada ang lapad, at tumitimbang ng 500 kilo.
“The estimated age is 50 years old,” ani Tolentino.
