SC defers issuance of writ of kalikasan for Tubbataha protection

REEFS ON THE ROCKS A diver observes a sleeping shark on a ledge at the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park. Made up of two atolls, Tubbataha’s vertiginous walls are home to 12 species of sharks. Overfished because of the sharks’ valuable fins, Tubbataha offers one of the last guaranteed shark dives in the world. Although protected year-round by armed rangers who are stationed in two-month shifts, the reefs were defenseless against the rude intrusion of a US minesweeper three days ago when it ran aground in the Unesco-named World Heritage Site. YVETTE LEE/CONTRIBUTOR

MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has deferred the issuance of a writ of kalikasan for the protection of the Tubbataha Reef.

Instead, high court sources said respondents were ordered to comment on the petition filed by environmentalists, church leaders and militant groups who were asking the high court to file criminal, administrative and civil cases against individuals responsible for the grounding of the USS Guardian last January 17.

Respondents in the petition include Scott H. Swift, commandant USS Guardian, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. Del Rosario, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Jr., Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin, Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus P. Paje, Vice Admiral Jose Luis M. Alano, Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command, Armed Forces Of The Philippines, Admiral Rodolfo D. Isorena, Commandant, Philippine Coast Guard, Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista, Philippine Coast Guard Palawan, Major Gen. Virgilio O. Domingo, Commandant Of Armed Forces Of The Philippines Command, Lt. Gen. Terry G. Robling, Us Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, And Balikatan 2013 Exercise Co-Director.

Petitioners also urged the high court to provide the government with “primary and exclusive jurisdiction” over US officials named as respondents in the petition and nullify Article V or the Criminal Jurisdiction and Article VI of the Visiting Forces Agreement extending immunity to US Servicemen.

Petitioners added that there should also a determination of fine 12 times more than the initial estimate of the Philippine government of P58 million.

The petition was filed exactly three months since the grounding of the USS Guardian in the Tubbataha Reef, a protected area known as a United Nations Heritage Site.

Comparing valuations in the 2009 grounding of the USS Port Royal in Hawaii, the petitioners peg just and reasonable compensation for the damage to Tubbataha between $16.8 and $27 million, a far cry from the $1.4 Philippine government estimate. Four years ago under similar circumstances, the US Navy paid the state of Hawaii a total of $15 million for restoration and settlement, for damage to an Oahu reef; which while larger than Tubbataha, has not been identified as a World Heritage Site.

Petitioners cited that Tubbataha’s biodiversity concentration is 2.3 times more than that of the Hawaii reef.

They said not only the grounding but the salvaging and post salvage operations of the Guardian caused environmental damage even to nearby provinces such as Palawan, Antique, Aklan, Guimaras, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Zamboanga Del Norte, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.