Surprisingly, The Jakarta Post - the largest English language newspaper in Indonesia - picked up the story without providing additional details or verifying if the astonishing story is indeed true:Ī giant gecko, weighing 64 kilograms, was recently found in Kalakbakan, Malaysia – an area that shares a border with Indonesia – and was sold for RM64 million (US$19.5 million), Tribun Kaltim newspaper reported Friday. PinoyMoneyTalk did a bit of online research and it seems to us that the current frenzy over the sale and trade of tuko in the Philippines stemmed from a news report published more than a year ago in an Indonesian newspaper claiming that a 64-kg gecko was sold for $20 million.Īccording to a report by Indonesia’s Tribun Kaltim newspaper in May 2010:Ī giant gecko weighing 64 kilograms, found in Nunukan-Malaysia border in Kalakbakan, was eventually sold for RM 64 million ($20 million).Īccompanying the news report is a picture supposedly of the giant gecko (shown above). You’ve probably seen such lines in classified ads websites, watched the reports on TV about the supposed “tuko trading,” or heard the rumor from a neighbor or friend, but is it really true?Ĭan tokay geckos or tuko - supposedly with their medicinal properties that can cure AIDS or HIV - really be sold for hundreds of thousands or even millions of pesos?
