Kapit Tuko for Sale? Geckos High Prices, Unverified Cure but Illegal

It's not a rumor but actually true that the lowly philippine gecko, locally called tuko as onomatopoeia from the sound they make, is fetching tens of thousands of pesos offered by illegal wildlife traders and traffickers.

kapit tuko caught on camera by Tutubi inside the duck walk tunnel on Corregidor Island (what is the scientific name of gecko/tuko?)

Why the geckos are fetching high prices for the underground black market of the wild animals, not limited to Aranque Market in Manila or Cartimar in Pasay City, some say it's due to it's use in Chinese medicine as cure for AIDS (particularly the gecko's tongue), while some claim it can even cure cancer.

Some even claim that the real reason for the high demand is that some pharmaceutical companies are doing research on the invisible super glue of the tuko on it's feet that enable them to cling to vertical surfaces without falling off (from where the slang phrase kapit tuko got its meaning)

Note that capturing/trading/buying/selling of wild animals, including geckos are illegal, particularly protected and endangered species. You can be jailed for trading or selling them.

Lastly, to give some sort of political significance, at least Sen. Miguel Zubiri was honorable enough to resign from his post as senator of the Republic of the Philippines. He may be a beneficiary of the election cheating in 2007 but give him the benefit of the doubt that he has a hand in the "Maguindanao massacre" of 2004 and 2007 national elections.

Migz Zubiri is not a kapit tuko, in a world full of despicable, kapit tuko and balimbing politicians. those despicable politicians should be the ones hunted down to extinction!