File:Philippine Eagle-Owl - Bubo philippensis - Ninoy Aquino Parks & Wildlife Center 03.jpg

English: Philippine Eagle-Owl[1]The Philippine Eagle-Owl (Bubo philippensis) is an vulnerable species of bird belonging to the Strigidae family. It is endemic to the Philippines, where found in lowland forests on the islands of Catanduanes, Samar, Bohol, Mindanao, Luzon, Leyte and possibly Sibuyan. It is known locally as the “kuwago” or “bukao”.

Ninoy Aquino Parks & Wildlife Center[2] (NAPWC) is a 64.58-hectare (159.6-acre) zoological and botanical garden located in Diliman,[3] Quezon City,[4] the Philippines. It was named after Benigno S. "Ninoy" Aquino, Jr.[5] The Ninoy Aquino Parks & Wildlife Center has a lagoon, an aquarium, a playground, botanical garden and a Wildlife Rescue Center, which the Department of Environment and Natural Resources[6] uses as a temporary shelter where confiscated, retrieved, donated, sick, abandoned, and injured wild animals are placed to be taken care of. The park houses several indigenous plants and animals such as crab-eating macaques,[7]

water monitors[8], Philippine deer, [9] binturongs,[10] Palawan bearded pigs[11] and several varieties of birds.[12] [13] The Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center (NAPWC) traces its beginning as a portion of the 197.8 hectares Quezon Memorial Park (QMP) which was covered under Proclamation No. 42 dated July 5, 1954. With the issuance of Proclamations Nos. 481 and 616 respectively, the park’s area was reduce 64.58 hectares. The larger areas were allocated for Philippine Science High School and the National Government Center which was later on subdivided and developed as the areas occupied by the Central Bank of the Philippines, Lung Center, Kidney Center, and Lungsod ng Kabataan (Children’s Hospital). To date, the NAPWC covers only 22.7 hectares. July 25, 1970, the park was inaugurated and opened to the public by the then President Ferdinand Marcos and the Vice President Fernando Lopez. In May 25, 2000, the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center was disestablished as protected area and shall be known as DENR-Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center by virtue of Proclamation No. 312. In August 21, 2002, Proclamation No. 312 was amended by changing the name of DENR-Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center to Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center by virtue of Proclamation No. 238. At present, the 22.7-hectare NAPWC is under the management and administration of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau-Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) by virtue of Proc. No. 723 dated 25 October 2004 by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Said proclamation established the park as a protected area and a component of the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS). Coordinates: 14°39'2"N 121°2'38"E[14]A manicured park where you can spend an unhurried day playing with the kids, reading a book, or just be with nature. There is a small lake surrounded by walkways, tables and benches where people come to picnic. A restaurant is also located nearby for refreshment. Kids can have fun visiting the crocodile, Philippine eagle, Burmese python, parrots, peacocks, monkeys, deer and other animals at the mini zoo and wildlife rescue center.[15] First established in July1970, the NAPWNC was proclaimed as a protected area in 2004 under Republic Act 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act.[16] [17]