Philippine Eagles: Super Bulalo champions?
I watched highlights of the 59th Super Bowl championship in the US where the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. Though I’ve been following Liverpool’s football (aka soccer) team lately, I can’t seem to resist watching the latest Super Bowl game.
As a nice break in-between projects, I took the Philadelphia Eagles logo and transformed it into one showing an eagle I’m most familiar with: the Philippine Eagle.
Ever since I joined the Haribon Foundation, one of the oldest conservation groups in the Philippines, I became more and more fascinated and concerned with the plight of our National Bird. It’s one of the largest eagles in the world, typically compared to other eagles by height or length. They’re monogamous and paired until one of them dies, and they can only be found in Luzon, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao.
There’s no such thing as a Philadelphia eagle, but the team’s namesake logo is derived from the bald eagle, which indeed can be found in Philadelphia and the rest of the United Sates and into Canada. In the 1960s around 400 bald eagle breeding pairs were left in the United States, or about 800 bald eagles ready to mate and spawn the next generation. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act in the US, that number eventually increased to an estimated 70,000 breeding pairs today.
Unfortunately the Philippine eagle is not doing as well in the Philippines. In fact, there are only 400 breeding pairs in the Philippines today, around the same estimated amount of bald eagles in the United States back in the 60s. Obviously, the Philippines is an entirely different situation and country all together, but the solutions so far (or lack thereof) have not done enough to help increase their species populations.
Funny thing, money is
As I was finishing up the logo, I thought back to all the funny super bowl advertisements that come up during the big game every year. I also realized that millions and millions of dollars must go into the production and airing of these commercials. I looked into how much companies spend every year for Super Bowl advertising and I found that it cost them $650 million dollars in 2024 alone.
As a long-time environmental advocate, I would learn about conservation financing and fundraising from time to time. I understand that in order for conservation to work, it costs money to educate, hire, and organize people to work together over the course of time. I found research made in 2006 by the Resources, Environment and Economics Center for Studies, Inc. (REECS) entitled “Saving the Philippine Eagle: How Much would It Cost and are Filipinos Willing to Pay for It.”
According to REECS, P1.13 billion pesos was required to provide education, habitat preservation, critical habitat protection, among other line items for the conservation of Philippine Eagles in the Philippines for one decade.
- Education:
- Teachers’ Education Php 5,560,000
- Broadcasters’ Education Php 2,560,000
- Hunting/Gatherer’s Education Php 2,380,000
- Forest resources users’ Education Php 3,010,000
- Habitat preservation:
- Field Research Php 33,680,000
- Protected Area Establishment Php 100,000,000
- Comprehensive site development Php 480,000,000
- Population augmentation:
- Conservation breeding (5 eaglets) Php 10,000,000
- Pre-release (site characterization) Php 5,000,000
- Post-release Monitoring Php 40,000,000
- Limiting or modifying human activity and development
- Management of Philippine Eagle Php 300,000,000
- Critical habitat protection:
- Critical Habitats (Livelihood support) Php 150,000,000
- TOTAL (over a period of 10 years) – Php 1,132,190,000 (1.13 billion pesos) or 19.4 million USD.
As mentioned earlier, companies spent an estimated $650 million U.S. dollars on in-game advertising during the Super Bowl in 2024. Just 3% of this amount (about 19.4 million USD) is enough to conserve Philippine Eagles in the Philippines, in collaboration with local communities and government agencies for 10 years. Yet this is based on 2006 data, so chances are it might be more expensive today.
With funding for climate action and environmental conservation costs either cut down by right-wing politics or swindled by corruption, Philippine Eagles might eventually be relegated to zoos and breeding centers… or totally extinct forever.
So are Filipinos willing to pay for Philippine Eagle conservation?
In 2006, the researchers found that Filipinos would rather support humanitarian efforts than environmental ones. This is understandably so, because the links between natural resources and human welfare and health are not well communicated. In fact, such environmental advocacies are even suppressed by right-wing policy makers. In reality, helping the environment also means helping humanity. What is the use of economic growth if the natural resources used to feed it are not conserved?
Despite this, the researchers did find that many Filipinos knew what the Philippine eagle was, and that there was still a number of people, albeit a small number, who thought it was important to support Philippine eagle conservation.
As an artist, I always watch commercials and companies with a hint of envy. I occasionally work for corporate clients, but not as often as before. I know how much money goes into making advertising vs. making advocacy campaigns. The gap is as wide as the gap between the “rich and poor”.
I dream of a world where people can still enjoy big sports events on television while being healthy enough to play outside, running under tall trees, swimming in clean rivers and beaches, and breathing fresh air while commuting to work or school on environment-friendly mass transit. And yes, with Philippine or bald eagles soaring above them in the sky.
Until then, I will remain entertained by sports whose apparel I cannot afford. My attention has been had, but my concern for people and the planet will still continue until we all win.
