Stop illegal salvaging of WWII wreckage in Leyte, group asks DENR

The Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCSSD) has asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to immediately issue a cease and desist order to prevent the salvaging of a World War II era shipwreck off Leyte that would adversely affect the livelihood of at least a thousand fishermen families along the coast.

The salvaging operations, which were previously halted due to wide media coverage, have reportedly been “renewed and pursued with vigor” – much to the dismay of the local residents.

In a letter to DENR Secretary Lito Atienza dated Oct. 16, PCSSD commissioner Yvette Lee said that salvaging operations resumed immediately after Secretary Angelo Reyes was transferred to the Department of Energy (DoE) two months ago.

The “salvors,” Lee noted, claimed to have secured a “permit” from Reyes but no one has been able to present or obtain a copy of it.

She even said that attempts to even go near the shipwreck site to look at the operations have been “thwarted by police escorts,” who are perceived to be acting as the “security agency” for the salvaging firm.

“I am appealing to you, in behalf of all these marginal fishermen, to issue an immediate cease and desist order to the salvaging activities and the transport of the metal that they have already taken out and to order an investigation into this matter,” Lee stated in her letter to Atienza.

Lee said she was contacted three years ago by a group of bantay-dagat volunteers based off McArthur, Leyte regarding the attempted salvaging of the WWII era shipwreck, which has been serving as underwater Historical Tourism Site and fisheries reserve for families along the 10 coastal barangays of San Pedro Bay.

Lee said these designations for the WWII era shipwreck are covered by two separate resolutions until the mayor, who also drafted and signed the resolutions creating them, revoked it.

Following wide media coverage, the salvaging operations were stopped. The salvaging firm then requested for a permit to salvage.

But the volunteers wrote then DENR Secretary Reyes to refuse the request, citing the shipwreck’s being a Historical Tourism Site and more importantly, a fisheries reserve that was serving the needs of over a thousand families along the coast.

Reyes consequently did not sign the request of the salvage firm.

However, the company is reportedly suddenly claiming to have secured a “permit” and resumed salvaging operations.

The ship has, in fact, been in the shipwreck area and has been loading retrieved scrap metal, which would be transported to and sold in Cebu, Lee noted.

Lee said a check with the DENR, particularly at the Office of Special Concerns director William Ragos, has disclosed that the permit issued to the salvaging firm was for treasure hunting.  The permit, which the salvaging firm applied for, was for loading of scrap metal.

“The permit they were carrying is for treasure hunting. The terms and conditions are clear and simple. It is to look for hidden treasure. Nothing in it says anything about salvaging the metal of the wreck. There is actually a different permit for this. Simply put, they are using the permit for another activity than what was specified,” Lee said.

“By the time they address this, the ship and the scrap metal shall already have been sold in Cebu and 1,000 fishermen families along the coast will have lost their fishing ground,” she said while expressing fear that the DENR’s action might be too late.

Lee estimated that so far, metal scraps collected from the shipwreck that were already loaded on the barge has been valued at P7 million (P14.95 per kilo).

“There is a provision in the terms and conditions of the permit that allows the DENR Secretary to cancel the permit if it is in the public’s interest,” Lee said.

The Commissioner of the PCSSD, which is under the Department of Tourism (DOT), lamented that such “problem” on shipwrecks being salvaged and sold for scrap is happening nationwide.

Lee has been urging the government to recognize these shipwrecks for the value that they give to the country’s depleted marine resources since they serve as artificial reefs used as fishing grounds by marginal fishermen, and possible tourism destinations.

Lee pointed out that the government should consider the state of the Philippine coral reefs, and how the country’s seas have become over fished.

She said that shipwrecks are vital resources in providing the nutritional needs of the families of marginal fishing folks.

An international reef conservation group has earlier projected a “bleak” situation for the country’s coral reefs, the second largest in Southeast Asia.

In the latest data of Reef Check, the world’s largest reef conservation organization, only less than five percent of the country’s estimated 27,000 square-kilometers of coral reef are considered in “excellent condition.”

“Shipwrecks should be beyond the commerce of man. Other countries such as Thailand have invested millions of dollars into the deliberate sinking of old ships to serve as a tourism attraction for divers and a marine reserve for their communities. We seem to be going the other way,” Lee said.