Members of the current Katala Foundation successfully implemented
the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Program (PCCP) since 1998 on
Rasa Island, Narra, Palawan. The frame condition of this endeavor
was a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources – Protected Areas and Wildlife
Bureau (DENR-PAWB) and the Espace Zoologique, France through Marc
Boussekey, a French parrot specialist. This partnership has
continued with a new MOA between PAWB and the Katala Foundation,
Inc. PCCP is implemented in three municipalities in Palawan namely
Dumaran, Narra and Rizal and at Patnanungan Island, Polillo Group of
Islands.
Since then, the people involved in the project broadened their
scope of activities and institutionalized their efforts through the
involvement of now Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri, who visited the
Rasa project in the course of film-shooting for the TV documentary
“Team Explorer” at Studio 23.
Katala Foundation Incorporated (KFI) was then duly registered
under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 19,
2002 under SEC No. CN200253626.
The name Katala is derived from its local name of the Philippine
cockatoo Cacatua haematuropygia. The Philippine cockatoo is endemic
to the Philippines. It belongs to one of the rarest and most
threatened bird species globally; thus, classified critically
endangered by the World Conservation Union or the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
Main threats of its survival are poaching for pet trade, habitat
destruction and direct persecution.
Katala Foundation, Inc., a non-profit, non-stock,
non-governmental organization, has been active in protecting and
conserving wildlife, particularly the Philippine cockatoo and other
threatened endemic wildlife in Palawan.
Katala Foundation’s niche developed over years of researches,
advocacy and development works in order to protect and conserve the
biological diversity along with people. Its vision is to effect
conservation of biological resources through active community
involvement - conserving with people. To attain this vision, Katala
Foundation employs participatory and ecosystemic approaches to all
its programs and activities.
Vision and Mission
KFI’s vision is to effect conservation of
biological resources through active community involvement –
conserving with people!
Who are we?
Founding Members
Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri
President. Graduated Agri-Business Management at
the University of the Philippines in Los Baños; At age 39, is
the youngest to be elected as Senate Majority Leader since the
First Congress in 1946 and after World War II; served the 3rd
District of Bukidnon for nine years since the 11th
Congress in 1998.; father of the Biofuels Act of 2006; “father”
of the New Cooperative Code or RA 9520 or the Philippine
Cooperative Code of 2008; founded the Philippine Deer Foundation
and Katala Foundation; and served as a Governor of the
Philippine National Red Cross and active member of the Red Cross
Youth Committee and Concerned Divers of the Philippines.
Peter Widmann
Vice President. Graduated in
Biology at the University Hohenheim, Germany. In the past
eighteen years, worked in projects
related to biodiversity conservation, mostly in tropical Asia
(Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, China). Co-founder and
vice-president of the Katala Foundation. Programme leader of the
Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Programme from 1998 to 2007.
Currently working as adviser for Wildlife Management and
Conservation Biology at the Tanjungpura University in West
Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Indira Dayang "Yanyan" Lacerna - Widmann
Chief Operations Officer. Finished Mass
Communication from the University of San Jose Recoletos, MS in
Environmental Studies at the University of the Philippines in
Los Baños, Philippines; Diploma in Conservation Education at
Kent University, UK; eight years of working experience in
bilateral GTZ (German-Philippine) development project; and since
1999 managing the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Programme,
founding member and serving as Chief Operations Officer of the
Katala Foundation since incorporation in 2002
Sabine Schoppe
Secretary / Treasurer.
Graduated in Biology in 1990 and PhD in Biology in 1993 at the
Justus Liebig University In Giessen. Working in wildlife
conservation since 1994: Ornithological surveys in Panay& Negros,
Philippines (1994), community-based coastal resource management
in Leyte, Philippines (1995-1999), guest professor in aquatic
and marine biology at the Western Philippines University,
Palawan, Philippines (1999-2005), freshwater turtle trade
consultant of Traffic Southeast Asia in Malaysia and Indonesia
(2006), and since February 2007 Co-manager of the Philippine
Cockatoo Conservation Program. Project director of the
Philippine Freshwater Turtle Conservation Program. Founding
member of KFI and since December 2008 serving as Secretary of
the Foundation.
Deborah "Debbie" Villafuerte - van den Beukel
Trustee. Finished BS Environmental Science from
the Palawan State University and acquired units in MS Extension
Systems Management at the Western Philippines University; six
years of working experience as Administrative and Conservation
Education Officer in the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation
Programme (PCCP); scholar, Global Darwin Scholarship Programme
hosted by the Field Studies Council in UK; continuously working
as the Netherlands-based KF website developer and contributes in
making education and publicity materials, fund raising and
research; KFI's founding member and served as Secretary from
2001 to 2008.
Siegfred "Fred" H. Diaz
Trustee.
Finished BS Agricultural Engineering and a graduate of
Advance ROTC from the Palawan National Agricultural College (WPU).
Acquired units in MS Extension Systems Management at Western
Philippines University. Worked in Government offices (DAR, NIA,
LGU-Narra) and 4 years as Environmental Officer in a mining firm
based in Narra, Palawan; 3 years working experience in Bilateral
GTZ (German-Philippines) Development Project in Palawan. Late of
1998 started working with the Philippine Cockatoo Conservation
Program, now as PCCP – Field Operations Officer & KFI's founding
member.
PCCP team
Program Managers
Indira Dayang L. Widmann / Sabine Schoppe
Field Operations Coordinator
Siegfred H. Diaz
Administrative Officer / Education Officer
Maruji P. Manalo
Field Administrative Assistant
Ivy Regodos
Polillo Operations Coordinator
Flordeliza G. Dans
Field Officer
Michael Plazos
Turtle Caretaker
Diverlie Acosta
Bird Caretaker
Monico Beleg
Wildlife Wardens
Narra: Aguilardo Deig, Edwin Batac, Rogelio Cuyao, Loreto Alisto,
Bernito Basio, Danilo Villaruz, Lucito Dangis, Mario Batac and
William Deig
Dumaran: Tirso Sy, Orlando Balmonte, Eddie Derecho, Angelo Paduga,
Andres Aurello, Nestor Arzaga
