PH gov’t asked to shun US military access amid Tubbataha issue

 News
Jan 042014
 

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12:31 pm | Sunday, January 5th, 2014

This undated handout photo released on March 30, 2013 by Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows the stern of the USS Guardian before being lifted by a boat crane during its salvage operation at Tubbataha reef, in Palawan island, western Philippines. AFP PHOTO/PCG

MANILA, Philippines – Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) asked the government on Sunday to abandon military access negotiations with the United States after it was revealed that the US has yet to pay for the damage caused by their ship on the Tubbataha Reef.

“The US government has made it abundantly clear that our relations are unequal. It has not paid a single centavo for the destruction caused by the USS Guardian on the Tubbataha Reef. It has made a mockery of our laws,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said in a statement.

The group chided the PH government for not aggressively pursuing the damage claims, adding that there were many opportunities to do so, including US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the country last month.

“Why allow the US increased military access to our country when the US clearly disregards the protection of the environment? Why allow de facto basing when these ships pose a threat to the environment? It does not make any sense,” Reyes said.

The two countries have started negotiations on a framework agreement for the increased rotational presence of US troops in Philippine soil. It is in line with US plans to realign their troops in the Asia Pacific amid continuing territorial disputes in the region.

Last Thursday, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said the US has not paid the P58.3 million fine for the damage caused by USS Guardian on the Tubbataha Reef.

Bayan said the amount is not enough. They are asking for a fine “12 times the initial estimate of the Philippine government” in their petition for a Writ of Kalikasan.

 

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Militants challenge US gov't to heed SC order on Tubbataha Reef grounding

 News
Jun 242013
 
Militants challenge US gov't to heed SC order on Tubbataha Reef grounding

Militant groups on Monday challenged the US government to heed a Philippine Supreme Court order for it to comment on a writ of kalikasan petition earlier filed in connection with the grounding of the US navy ship USS Guardian at the Tubbataha Reef last January. Salvador France, vice chair of the fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), said the US government should no longer invoke international treaties to skirt the SC ruling. “The US government must respond to and account for their crimes against the people and the environment. That is simple as ABC, nothing more, nothing less. The incident merits the filing of criminal and other appropriate charges against officials and the 79 other crew of USS Guardian and the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defense Treaty between Manila and Washington,” said France. Earlier reports claimed that the high court had issued a resolution directing the US government and Malacañang, as well as Cabinet and military officials to file a comment on the petition filed last April 17 by a group of two Catholic bishops, environmentalists, activists, and lawyers. Supreme Court Public Information Office chief and spokesman Theodore Te could not immediately confirm if such a resolution had been issued. The US servicemen named as respondents in the petition were Navy officials Scott Swift, Commander of the US 7th Fleet; and Mark Rice, commanding officer of the USS Guardian. For his part, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes welcomed Read More …

US urged to comply with SC order to comment on Tubbataha case

 News
Jun 242013
 
US urged to comply with SC order to comment on Tubbataha case

By Tetch Torres-TupasINQUIRER.net 2:42 pm | Monday, June 24th, 2013 In this photo taken on March 30, 2013, and released by the Philippine Coast Guard on Monday, April 1, 2013, the stern of the USS Guardian, a U.S. Navy minesweeper, is transferred to another ship after being lifted out of the water at the Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage site, in the Tubbataha National Marine Park, southwest of the Philippines. Tubbataha park superintendent Angelique Songco said the fine for damaging the protected coral reef would be about 24,000 pesos ($600) per square meter, so the U.S. could be facing a fine of more than $2 million. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Left leaning fisherfolk group called on the US government to comply with the Philippine Supreme Court’s order to comment on a petition calling for a filing of criminal, administrative and civil cases against those responsible for the grounding of the USS Guardian last January 17 in Tubbataha Reef. “The US government through its embassy in Manila should respond to the Supreme Court and refrain from invoking several concerns that would make it very difficult for concerned groups which filed the petition,” Salvador France, vice chair of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said in a statement Monday. “The US government must respond to and account for their crimes against the people and the environment. That is simple as ABC, nothing more, nothing less. The incident merits the filing of criminal and other appropriate charges against officials and Read More …

USS Guardian grounding blamed on officers, gear

 News
Jun 212013
 
USS Guardian grounding blamed on officers, gear

By Nikko DizonPhilippine Daily Inquirer 3:31 am | Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 In a photo released by the U.S. Navy, the mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian sits aground in this Jan. 22, 2013 file photo on the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Lack of leadership and faulty navigational equipment led to the grounding of the former USS Guardian on the Tubbataha Reef last January, which could have been prevented, according to the official report of the United States Navy. “The USS Guardian leadership and watch teams failed to adhere to prudent, safe, and sound navigation principles which would have alerted them to approaching dangers with sufficient time to take mitigating action,” concluded  Adm. Cecil Haney, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, in the 160-page document. “The watch team’s observations of visual cues in the hours leading up to the grounding, combined with electronic cues and alarms, should have triggered immediate steps to resolve warnings and reconcile discrepancies,” Haney said. The US Pacific Fleet Public Affairs Office on Friday released a press statement summarizing the US Navy’s report on the results of its investigation into the minesweeper’s grounding on Tubbataha Reef. A link to the summary version of the report was also available online. Haney described as a “tragic mishap” the Jan. 17 grounding of the US vessel in the World Heritage Site, which destroyed more than 2,000 square meters of prized corals that would take years to rehabilitate.   Preventable mishap “This Read More …

BI wants to take custody of Chinese pangolin poachers if they post bail

 News
Jun 132013
 
BI wants to take custody of Chinese pangolin poachers if they post bail

The 12 suspected Chinese poachers whose vessel ran aground on Tubbataha Reef in April should be placed in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration if the Palawan court handling the case allows them to post bail, a bureau official said Thursday.   According to BI spokesperson Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, the bureau has already informed the Palawan court in a letter dated June 6 that if the 12 individuals are released, they should be turned over to Immigration authorities.   “In the event the court release the 12 poachers on bail, the BI has grounds to keep them in detention because they are undocumented aliens and they did not pass through the Immigration inspection when they entered,” she said. Mangrobang added that the BI, which has already issued a deportation order against the 12, would hold them while the case is being resolved. “It is one thing that they have a deportation order and another if the deportation order would be implemented,” she said. The 12 have been charged with poaching, illegal possession of endangered wildlife and attempted bribery of park officials. The Philippine Coast Guard discovered hundreds of frozen pangolins, individually wrapped in plastic and hidden in sacks, in the cargo hold of the suspected poachers’ vessel as it sat grounded on the reef. Pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are a threatened species and are covered by the Wildlife Protection and Conservation Act of the Philippines. In China, the pangolin’s meat and scales are are believed to have medicinal properties: the scales Read More …

PCG report on grounded US ship due

 News
May 242013
 
PCG report on grounded US ship due

Philippine Daily Inquirer 6:39 am | Saturday, May 25th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is expected to release next week its report on the grounding of the US Navy minesweeper, the Guardian, at the Tubbataha Reef last Jan. 17. According to PCG spokesperson Commander Armand Balilo, the report is about 90-percent complete. It will be submitted next week to Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya who will then forward it to President Aquino. According to Balilo, the report will include what actually happened or what caused the incident, as well as measures and recommendations to prevent its recurring. The 68-meter long Guardian ran aground at the Tubbataha Reef and damaged more than 1,500 square meters of the reef, which the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has declared a World Heritage Site. The Guardian was cut into pieces and removed from the reef last March 30. The US government has committed to rehabilitate the portion of the reef that was damaged by the Guardian but its discussions with the Department of Foreign Affairs on the matter have been kept confidential. Tina G. Santos Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: Commander Armand Balilo , Philippine Coast Guard , President Aquino , Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya , Tubbataha Read More …

Coast Guard finalizes report on USS Guardian grounding

 News
May 212013
 
Coast Guard finalizes report on USS Guardian grounding

The Philippine Coast Guard is now finalizing its report on the grounding of the minesweeper USS Guardian at Tubbataha Reef last Jan. 17 and will soon submit it to Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya. Administrative sanctions for those found liable may be included in the final report of the Coast Guard’s Marine Casualty Investigation Team, radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo reported Wednesday. Once he goes over the report, Abaya is expected to submit it to President Benigno Aquino III, the dzBB report added. Last April, the Philippine Maritime Casualty Investigation Team (MCIT) received relevant documents on the incident from the US Navy. The USS Guardian ran aground at Tubbataha Reef last Jan. 17, and damaged 2,345.67 square meters of the reef. It was cut and removed from the area last March 30. A news release from the Tubbataha Management Office said the fines for the Jan. 17 grounding may amount to P58.4 million ($1.5 million). On the other hand, the Department of Foreign Affairs said the MCIT’s safety inquiry also aims to identify measures the Philippines and US may adopt to prevent a repeat of the incident. —KG, GMA News

Unesco sending marine experts to Tubbataha to assess damage

 News
Apr 292013
 
Unesco sending marine experts to Tubbataha to assess damage

By Jerry E. EsplanadaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 7:25 pm | Monday, April 29th, 2013 Tubbataha Reefs. YVETTE LEE/CONTRIBUTOR MANILA, Philippines — The Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is sending a team of experts to Tubbataha Reef to assess the damage wrought by the grounding of the USS Guardian, a US Navy minesweeper, in January. This was confirmed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Monday by Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, director of the Unesco Dream Center in Manila and wife of Heherson Alvarez, head of the Climate Change Commission, an agency attached to the Office of the President. Guidote-Alvarez said Unesco’s World Heritage Center was also organizing a “five-day meeting of marine experts aimed at strengthening conservation and management practices at Tubbataha Reef National Park.” “The meeting will be held in Puerto Princesa City from May 20 to 24,” she said, quoting Dr. Hubert Gijzen, director of the Unesco Regional Science Board for Asia and the Pacific and Unesco representative to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor Leste and Brunei. Gijzen apparently responded to Heherzon Alvarez’s call for an “independent assessment” by Unesco of the damage caused by the Guardian after it got stuck on the reef for over two months. Tubbataha Reef is located in the Sulu Sea 98 nautical miles southeast of Palawan. Alvarez, a former senator, early this year said Unesco “would be in the best position to estimate the required amount for the total recovery of the damaged reef and the amount of work and time this will Read More …

US Reiterates Commitment to Address Grounding of USS Guardian, Full Cooperation on Independent Probe by PH

 Entertainment
Apr 032013
 

WASHINGTON DC (2 April 2013) – Reiterating Washington’s apology over the grounding of the USS Guardian, Secretary of State John F. Kerry today assured Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. Del Rosario that the United States will cooperate with the Philippines in addressing issues related to the damage caused by the incident on Tubbataha Reef. “Secretary […]

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