Talisay to seek payment from Chinese cargo ship

CEBU, Philippines - Instead of filing a case against M/V Majuro, the Chinese cargo ship that rammed Talisay City’s marine protected Lagundi Reef in March 5, 2009, the city will once again try its luck to negotiate with the ship’s company for a settlement.

This was arrived at after city legal officer Owen Algoso told the city council, during its regular session yesterday, that the city has no budget for the P1 million filing fee and for the litigation expenses later on.

Algoso, who was summoned by the council to shed light on the matter, explained that he already had gotten the go signal from Mayor Socrates Fernandez as early as last year to go ahead with the filing of a civil case against MV Majuro captain Chen Guangming, who was imprisoned for two days after the incident: the ship owner; the local agent of the ship, and all other parties that should be implicated in the case, but the lack of budget for the filing fee had prevented him from doing so.

He said budget officer Edgardo Mabunay told him that last year the city had no budget for it. Early this year, Algoso said he had also asked Mabunay again if the city could allocate P1 million for the filing fee for the case, but he was turned down for the second time.

The city lawyer told the council that he has already exhausted all his efforts to try to arrive at a bargain deal with the other party, but as of yesterday, it has not offered a deal with the city government.

“I’ve been negotiating with them since last year, pero wala. They instead sent us a letter agreeing to settle the issue, but they can’t give an amount,” said Algoso, who himself agreed that a case be filed against the parties.

If the case would be filed, Cheng and party would face violation of RA 9147 or the Wildlife Conservation Act for destroying endangered species in the Lagundi Reef where MV Majuro, under the captainship of Cheng, ran aground in this protected seabed.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), which conducted an assessment of the area shortly after the incident, estimated that roughly 3,800 square meters of the three-hectare reef was damaged. The damage, the BFAR assessed, is about P800,000, plus, the heritage and ecotourism value of the reef, which is P51 million.

When they learned of the total amount of the damage, the lawyers of the MV Majuro sent their own divers to make their own assessment.

Algoso said the ship’s firm immediately sent him a letter after that, and described the P61million damage as an “exaggeration” and “unsubstantiated.”

Edmundo Arregadas of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, who was also invited yesterday by the council, explained that the amount was arrived at not basing on the actual damage, but considering other “assumptions” such as the time it will take for the city to rehabilitate the area, which is at least 25 years for the corals; the “opportunity lost” or the income which should have been earned by the city from divers” among other matters “not limited to the actual area.”

Outgoing councilor Shirley Belleza, who was the former chairman on council committee on Tourism and proponent of the resolution for the filing of the case against MV Majuro, said the city was supposed to open the

Lagundi Reef to divers in Mach 26 last year.

But because MV Majuro had rammed it, the opening was postponed, she said.

Vice Mayor Alan Bucao, for his part, inquired about the chances of winning the case.

But Dr. Noel Alonzo, chief coastal resource management section of BFAR, assured that the chances are “big” as there are enough evidence to support that several live corals were mashed because of the incident. “Expert witnesses” however will help in winning the case, he said.

City Councilor Bernard Odilao, former chairman on council committee on Environment, also shared Bucao’s point in re-opening the table for negotiation first, “then we file the case as soon as we see that they are not amenable to it.” – THE FREEMAN