Poe sounds alarm over critically endangered Mindoro tamaraw

MANILA, Philippines — The critically threatened Mindoro tamaraw, the country’s endemic symbol, could disappear unless authorities make a stronger effort to address habitat loss, poaching, and inadequate conservation funding, FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-List Rep. Brian Poe said in a recent privilege speech he delivered before the House of Representatives.

“I stand before you not just as a legislator, but as a Filipino grieving for a piece of our heritage that is slipping through our fingers,” Poe said.

More than 10,000 tamaraws once roamed Mindoro in the early 1900s, he pointed out. But by 2025, their population had fallen to roughly 300. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Mimaropa has since recorded a 12-percent increase, bringing the estimated population to 425.

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But despite the increase, Poe stressed that the figure remains dangerously low.

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READ: Tamaraw population in Mounts Iglit-Baco rises 12% in 2026

Habitat destruction

He underscored the contradiction of celebrating the tamaraw as a national symbol while its population remains threatened in the wild.

He pointed to continuing concerns over slash-and-burn farming, land grazing, agricultural expansion, and livestock diseases, which continue to place pressure on the species and its habitat.

For Poe, the tamaraw’s struggle reflects the country’s effort to protect its own natural heritage.

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“Where’s justice for our own treasure?” he asked.

The lawmaker stressed that the tamaraw, the Philippines’ largest wild land mammal, is found nowhere else in the world. Its distinctive V-shaped horns and resilience, he said, have come to represent qualities associated with the Filipino character.

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But habitat destruction is steadily threatening the species. Poe cited pressures on the Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park, Aruyan-Malati, and the Upper Amnay Watershed, including unregulated kaingin, resource extraction, and agricultural expansion.

Illegal hunting

The threat is not new, Poe said, recalling that a devastating rinderpest outbreak in 1930 wiped out thousands of tamaraws.

Today, however, he said disease is only part of the problem, with the expanding human footprint becoming an increasingly serious threat to the species.

Illegal hunting remains another concern despite existing wildlife protections. Poe cited Republic Act No. 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, and RA 1086, which prohibits the killing of tamaraws.

He also recalled incidents during the pandemic lockdowns in which a subadult tamaraw and a yearling were reportedly shot and slaughtered by poachers, with the meat dried for sale.

“They made our national treasure into tapa,” Poe said.

READ: How people are driving the tamaraw to extinction

‘Chronic underfunding’

In his speech, Poe also put the spotlight on the people who work on the ground to protect the species: the Bantay Tamaraw rangers under the Tamaraw Conservation Program and indigenous Mangyan communities, including the Tau-Buid, who share ancestral lands with the animals.

The rangers patrol a 75,000-hectare landscape, monitor tamaraw populations and genetic concerns, and confront threats from armed poachers.

He described the rangers as working in difficult and dangerous conditions, often with inadequate equipment and resources despite the risks involved in protecting the species.

Poe said their conservation efforts have been hampered by “chronic underfunding,” with pandemic-era budget cuts affecting their work and job security.

Poe said the government already has conservation frameworks that could guide stronger intervention.

Under the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP) 2024–2040, the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) estimates that around P92.8 billion annually is needed for biodiversity conservation nationwide.

For fiscal year 2026, however, the BMB is working with a budget of only P308 million, according to the speech.

The speech also cited the tamaraw Conservation Management Action Plan (TOMAP), which seeks to increase the tamaraw population to 2,000 by 2050.

Stronger efforts needed

Poe stressed that these conservation plans must be matched by enforcement, funding, and sustained government support. He called for stronger legislative and budgetary backing for conservation initiatives, including educational programs such as Dalaw-Turo and information campaigns.

He also urged the DENR, fellow lawmakers, and the public to strengthen efforts to protect the tamaraw and preserve its remaining habitat.

Poe ended his speech by urging the present generation to take responsibility for the species’ survival and ensure that future Filipinos inherit not just the memory of the country’s endemic pride, but a living one.

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“Let’s revive the forests of Mindoro. Let it not be written in history that the generation that had the tools to save the tamaraw was the very generation that watched it die out,” he said. /atm