A young Indigenous farmer from Bukidnon who is credited with pulling a wounded Philippine Eagle away from a swarm of monkeys could soon receive formal recognition from the country’s highest lawmaking body.
Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri lodged Proposed Senate Resolution No. 519, which calls on the chamber to commend 21-year-old Marvin Linoy for what the measure describes as courage and heroism in shielding one of the nation’s most imperiled birds. The resolution frames the rescue as a contribution to safeguarding a species that conservationists say is running out of time, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature listing the raptor as critically endangered and only around 400 breeding pairs believed to remain in the wild.
The incident traces back to July 3 in a forested stretch near the Sawaga River in Barangay Dalwangan, Malaybalay City. By the account carried in the resolution, Linoy had been gathering passion fruit when unfamiliar noises drew his attention to roughly 30 monkeys swarming the grounded eagle, which was caked in soil and shaking.
To break up the attack, Linoy imitated a barking dog, a tactic that scattered the animals. He then draped fern leaves over the bird’s eyes to keep it still and wrapped it in his jacket to steady it while he waited for help. Junissa Valdueza Docenos and Sanny Docenos assisted during the rescue, according to the resolution.
Zubiri’s family carries deep roots in Bukidnon, where his father once served as governor and where his mother was raised.
The bird was eventually handed to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and passed on to the Philippine Eagle Foundation. The foundation reported that the adult female had been suffering from dehydration and wounds crawling with maggots by the time it reached specialists.
Not everyone accepts the version of events that made Linoy a viral figure. The Philippine Eagle Foundation has cautioned that the eagle’s physical state points to a longer and grimmer ordeal than a sudden monkey ambush. Foundation research director Jayson Ibanez told BusinessMirror that a troop of monkeys ganging up on an eagle runs counter to everything researchers have documented, noting that monkeys instinctively flee from the predator. Ibanez said the natural tendencies or instinct of monkeys are to run away from the eagles, and that it is possible the bird was caught in a snare and had been helplessly trying to escape for days already. He pointed to nylon burn marks on the eagle’s foot as evidence it had been ensnared in a trap set for deer or wild pig.
Veterinary findings deepened the mystery. X-rays revealed two airgun pellets lodged inside the eagle’s body, indicating she had been shot before falling to the ground. Community environment officer Dennis Juab told GMA News that the wounds were not recent, describing them in Filipino as embedded but showing no fresh point of entry.
The eagle, named Sawaga-Dalwangan after the site of its recovery, was transported to Davao City for continued treatment and rehabilitation. The forests where it was found sit within the Mount Kitanglad Range Natural Park, an area that has served as a documented Philippine Eagle breeding territory since 1986.
