Tuko or Tokay Gecko are mostly found in warm countries, like here in the Philippines. When I was a kid and usually spending my summer vacation at our province in Tarlac, I can see Tukos everywhere. My cousins who live there even told me that its bad luck to see one, which is why I usually close my eyes every time I spot a Tuko moving in a field or at the trees. Tuko eats mosquitoes or termites so they help the environment to be Dengue free.
Nowadays, folks at different provinces are hunting for Tuko, because one Tuko that weighed 400gms and above is equivalent to more or less $1,oo0,000 that’s already around 50M in Philippine Peso. The selling price depends on the weigh of this creature.
How did the price reached this high?
It’s because it is believed to have medicinal properties, it is said that a Tokay Gecko can cure cancer and even Aids. They said that it’s tongue has chemicals to cure these diseases. The selling price depends on the size of the creature because the larger it is, the bigger it’s tongue would be.
The Government said that it’s ILLEGAL to sell Tokay Geckos in the Philippines. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said selling and buying tuko is a violation of the Republic Act 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001. As of now, Gecko is not yet included in the list of endangered species but they ARE already part of the threatened species because of the Gecko Hunting here and there. The penalty if you were caught selling and hunting is very LIGHT… it’s just one month and one day to six months imprisonment and a fine of not less than P5,000 to P50,000.
Here is my personal thoughts about this rage:
- Since Tokay Gecko’s price can already make a thousand Filipinos became millionaires, why does the Government just make a Gecko farm that will benefit everybody.
- If you breed Tokay Geckos, they will not be endangered. So why, make a law to have just one Gecko for every household to breed? Just like we do for Chickens and Pigs?
- Or give the job to the Government. If they will be the one to sell and breed the Geckos, poor Filipino (may) will have at least more funds for public hospitals, educations, agriculture, defense (which we badly need at the Spratly island now).
- Why can’t the Government just get a scientist and do the research here. If it’s true that it can cure Aids and Cancer, people around the Globe with these diseases will visit the Philippines and it means more work for Filipino people here.
- Gecko hunting I know is bad and against the law, but so does Graft and Corruption so I think the Government should do something about it. BREED a few Tokay Geckos, sell them and put the profit not only in our pockets but also to improve the environment and the Filipino people.
- If the Government REALLY want this Gecko hunting to be stopped then why doesn’t they make the penalty higher and not the one mentioned above.
- I want to make myself clear I AM NOT PRO GECKO HUNTING but I just want to point out too how we Filipinos will be benefited if we will do this right!
Did I make any sense here? What do you think?
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I’m a geckophobic and wow seeing the figures above makes me wanna go to a psychologist. Joking aside, I think geckos should be labeled endangered before they soon become one. We have plenty of ‘tukos’ in our province because they are believed to bring good fortune for our family. Might be true. Whatever, I guess the selling with that incredible price tag is laughable let alone the so-called medicinal properties of the tukos. Chinese medicine is sometimes a mockery.
Nag-google din ako. Ang mahal pala no? Dapat din imonitor ng government to, baka bigla na lang silang maging endangered species.
kaya nga sabi ko dapat itaas nila penalty o kaya sila na mag breed para dumami at kumita ang Pilipinas
I have heard of that news din Ms.Levy hay life dati turtles ngayon naman mga tuko..pero on the other hand Ms.Levy you are right why not mag alaga na lang ang goverment alam ko may ganyang move sa mga crocodile farms but then again..basta wag nilang kurakutin hay etong bansa po kasi natin daming kurakot..and until now I don’t understand why their are such people who are corrupt walang mga konsensya..
makahanap nga ng tuko sa likod ng bahay joke lang po..para smile ka ms.Levy have a nice day po 🙂
I like you na Sie, lagi mo kasi ako binibisita… 🙂
hmm totoo kaya ito? kasi some people in bohol just bought tokay at 2000 per pc, sa bukidnon naman 60k lang
kung 400gm yung tuko e lugi sila kasi malaki daw talaga bentahan nyan…
I agree with your suggestion. Here in our house, there are plenty of tokay but it’s not easy to catch them as you coul;d get bitten.
hello mam levyousa ,parang harrypotter lang hehe…i agree in everything you said about this tuko hunting and selling ,the Government should do something about this legally, legalize this hunting and selling but make sure na that person is not just hunting but breeding para hinde maendangered ang tuko,,,just wanna share this,,actually when i heard about this i got intersted kasi dun sa old house namin may nanirahang tuko we had it for ore than a year evry night binubulahaw kami nito sa ingay ,pero di namin sya makita and takot kami kasi may story na dumidikit daw sa balat yun.,we saw that tuko when we were about to leave that haws and its larger than the usual maybe kung alam ko lang na it will cost a million i guess nasa 5M na yun hay sayang haha…but bawal na pala manghuli…aside from the reason na kaya eto binibili ng mga banyaga as a cure to cancer,,,may nagcomment din na they use the body of the tuko para lagyan ng drugs ang insides nito kaya they prefer na mas malaki…???
talaga? di ko alam yung tungkol sa drugs… hmmmp bago yang tsismis na yan ha 🙂
kung for medicine ang purpose nito bakit hindi sumikat na may cure na for AIDS? I think front lang ito and they use it for prohibited drugs. And ang unit ng transaction ay per grams… parang shabu lang, and ang price, parang shabu din.
anyway di pa naman natin alam kung totoo tlgng gamot bka rumor lng at saka my naging millionaire na nga ba jn hehehe
hai ms levy? im very confused about this tokay… buti nlang d2 sa site mo my tungkol ditong discussion. can i ask? is this rumor is true? tnx and God bless
actually athans, I don’t know! I just read about this and post my personal thoughts if ever this is true 🙂
Human are most cruel creature on earth
Hi Miss Levy,
I totally agree with everything that you said, just the other day my friend and I are arguing about it. And I told her The Government should allow people to sell tokay to help them live , instead of the other way around . This is a great opportunity for us with Toko that weight 400 or so, right? It could really help the people, but for what I see our Government just want us to suffer and be poor all the time. This is so unfair because animals are suppose to be here for people to eat, to use etc. And in our place , some kids just kill them all the time, I don’t think that even if we sell some that they would be extinct in Philippines because they only wants the bigger ones anyway, there are thousands in our place but small so we just let them be. Some people just killing them .
All in all in my opinion our Government Do Not want the Philippine People to live better. They want to see us starve and just like that forever..Thanks for your blog.
I agree with what you said here.
Our people in the farm tried catching toko but it’s actually quite difficult to catch them especially the big ones. I don’t think they will be ever extinct as we have so many here running around.
I am from Nepal. if any body interested in tokek i can sell