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Aman-made pyramid of corals rises from the bottom of the sea in Talisay city?s Lagundi Reef.
Talisay city marine workers said they were trying to ?save? corals damaged after a ship rammed the reef last March.
But a group of environmentalists warned that corals shouldn?t be ?landscaped? because this would just cause more damage.
?It wasn't done right,? said lawyer Rose Liza Eisma-Osorio, director of the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF).
?Even our marine biologists who dove there were shocked by what they saw.?
The discovery of the pyramid of corals was contained in an initial report released by the foundation, when they checked on the progress of the rehabilitation done on the damage caused by the bulk carrier MV Majuro which ran aground at the Lagundi Reef last March.
About 3,800-sq m of coral reef, part of Talisay?s protected areas, was damaged when the ship manned by Chinese Captain Cheng Cuang Ming, was maneuvered too close to shore last March 5.
During an initial coral assessment last April 2, CCEF divers found that the corals were ?landscaped? or ?rearranged? into pyramid patterns underwater.
Bong Nator, technical consultant on coral reefs of the Talisay City government, said they were merely trying to save the corals and the fish at the reef.
?We had to remove the paint from the ship because it was sulfuric. The corals are microorganisms. You have to separate this (paint) or else they will die,? said Nator, a scuba diving instructor for 42 years.
?You have to fix the corals into an upright position in order to save the fishes. The other (corals) are already pinned there and some have been reduced to rubble. The live corals were arranged in an upright position so we were able to save them,? he explained.
Osorio said their group went to Talisay City as part of a group of environmentalists, including lawyers, who volunteered to assist the local government.
?People were expecting us since we are the ones recognized in Cebu who have the monitoring methods, the skill, the capability to do the assessment,? she said.
?This is not our area of concentration. We work in south Cebu and Siquijor province, not in Talisay.?
She said they asked Talisay city to conduct an independent assessment on the damage done by the bulk carrier since the initial assessment by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, (BFAR) was not thorough.
The BFAR earlier reported that the reef damage covered about 3,800 square meters.
The damaged live coral cover was estimated to be 84.02 percent or 0.38 hectares with the time span of reef recovery pegged at 25 years.
The impact of the ship?s ramming killed two adult giant clams (scientific name: Tridacna squamosa).
Reef damage was estimated at P861,680, excluding its heritage value, the cost of environmental damaged rehabilitation and eco-tourism income generation per annum in this site for 25 years.
The Chinese ship crew paid $10,000 to the Talisay city government to pay for rehabilitation of the damaged reef.
Osorio said her group wanted to assess the extent of reef damage and recommend how to aid the reef's recovery so Talisay can claim more than $10,000.
Two years ago in Palawan, a ship ran aground and damaged sea corals. The local government was able to demand compensation for the true value of damage based on resource valuation analysis.
In the case of Talisay, the CCEF divers were shocked that the corals were formed into a pyramid.
?They have never seen something like that before. What we sometimes do is put matting on the reef to make the rubble stable. Sa paghimo nila ato, it's unstable. The corals would be pushed around and do more damage to the live corals,? she added.
?We do not know if they were live corals or they were the ones damaged by MV Majuro,? she added.
?Based on initial survey, there may have been fresh corals that were moved. Maybe they didn?t know. To the untrained eye, these corals would be just bato (stones),? she said.
?There are ways to do it correctly.? she said by using experts who know how to identify living and dead corals.
When the group wanted to make another dive in the site, Osorio said they were given the run around.
Nator explained that the CCEF divers violated the Talisay city ordinance during their dive in April.
?The Lagundi (Reef) ordinance says no anchoring is allowed. They anchored there,? he told Cebu Daily News.
?They are not marine biologists. They want to spend the government's money. They (CCEF team) asked for food, packed lunches last April 3,?he said in Cebuano.
He pointed out that the same group had filed a case against the Talisay City government. The group was very critical of Talisay?s response to the ship?s damage when the local government allowed the vessel to sail off.
(Environmental lawyer Benjamin Cabrido told Cebu Daily News in a text message that he had not filed a case against the Talisay City government.)
Talisay City Councilor Shirley Belleza, chairperson of the Tourism Heritage Council, said they welcomed any group that wants to help them rehabilitate the Lagundi Reef, which Talisay has been a heritage-protected area and an eco-tourism spot.
But she was wary, saying she, too, heard that the CCEF and Cabrido planned to sue the city government on the mishandling of the Lagundi Reef rehabilitation.
?We are confused by the stand of the CCEF. In a letter they said they want to be straightforward but the same group said they will file a case against Talisay,? she said. ?(But) I think we can make a dialog.?
City legal officer Owen Algoso said plans to sue the Chinese vesssel would push through. He was waiting for Nator's assessment on the cost of rehabilitation, heritage value and loss of income from Tourism-related activities, he added.
?There is no time frame (for us to file a case against the shipping company). If the report can be given tomorrow, we can file it right away. We just need all the documents before we go to court,? he said.
In the meantime, Belleza said the city government sets aside a quarterly budget for the maintenance of the Lagundi Reef.
?It is just a small amount, P100,000 and this should be used to purchase equipment, gears. But what we have done so far is build a guard house. We will be able to purchase other equipment soon,? she added.
Belleza described Nator as ?highly knowledgeable, technically knowledgeable about Lagundi Reef.?
?Walay instructor na wala niagi niya (There?s no instructor who hasn?t worked with him),? she added.
