12 Chinese seamen charged
By Redempto D. Anda
The 12 Chinese nationals whose boat got stuck in the Tubbataha Reefs on Monday night were slapped with charges of poaching and other violations of the marine park’s rules.
The 12 Chinese nationals whose boat got stuck in the Tubbataha Reefs on Monday night were slapped with charges of poaching and other violations of the marine park’s rules.
The Philippine Coast Guard will help refloat the Chinese vessel Min Long Yu which ran aground on Monday night at the Tubbataha National Marine Park in the Sulu Sea, according to the PCG commandant.
Officials of the Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) will not ask for more than the $1.4 million (about P60 million) fine slapped on the United States following the grounding of its warship in Tubbataha Reef.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday said it respected the US Navy’s decision to relieve four officers after one of its vessels damaged the Tubbataha Reefs but stressed that Manila needed to conduct its own probe of the incident.
The Philippine Navy on Thursday said it had deployed vessels to the Sulu Sea to intensify its watch on the Philippine backdoor amid a standoff between Malaysian security forces and a group of armed Filipinos in Lahad Datu town in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah.
Defense officials on Tuesday asked the United States to submit its salvage plan for the grounded USS Guardian for approval before undertaking a delicate salvage operation that would involve hoisting the stricken vessel onto a barge.
An international environment conservation group yesterday urged the US Navy to do the right thing and finance the restoration and continued protection of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park after its minesweeping vessel ran aground in the area two weeks ago.
The US Embassy on Monday said the US Navy had removed all potential environmental hazards, including 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel, from the ship USS Guardian which ran aground on the Tubbataha Reefs on Jan. 17.
The penalty for the damage caused to the Tubbataha Reefs by a US Navy minesweeper is non-negotiable, Transportation Secretary Joseph E.A. Abaya said Sunday.
An earlier plan to drag the stuck US minesweeper Guardian off the reefs of Tubbataha, where it has been stuck for eight days, was ruled out on Thursday and authorities decided to lift the vessel onto a barge.
A team of marine scientists and divers from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) left for the Tubbataha Reefs Thursday to assess the damage caused by the grounding of a US warship there a week ago.
The USS Guardian has damaged “more or less 1,000 square meters” of the Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea, the spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
