Gov’t to go after owner of Chinese ship in reef

MANILA, Philippines - The government is pursuing the private owner of the Chinese vessel Min Long Yu to seek payment for the damage done to Tubbataha Reef.

Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said the government has not yet located and identified the owner.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the Tubbataha Management Office has the responsibility to demand compensation.

“I understand they sent already a correspondence to the Chinese embassy,” he said.

“And then, they also asked for the assistance of the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs)… I think that, number one, it’s a privately owned vessel so we’re in the process of verifying it right now.”

Lacierda said the Min Long Yu was removed from the reef with care, and that other factors had caused severe damage.

“Towing a ship is not as simple as towing a car,” he said.

“When the ship is submerged, you have to re-float it first – re-float it in a manner that will not affect the seabed anymore. So we cannot be confident in saying that when the Chinese boat was towed, it was re-floated…

“When the Chinese boat got stuck, we have confirmed reports from the Philippine Coast Guard that the Chinese sailors or fishermen tried to extricate themselves from the reef itself, so that caused the damage.”

Balilo said the Min Long Yu inflicted bigger damage on Tubbataha Reef by trying to force its way out from the atoll.

“For the record, the first reason for the damage was that the Chinese tried to extricate itself from its aground position,” he said. “This is according to the Coast Guard investigators.”

Balilo said it was mere instinct of the Chinese to try to get out of the trap.

“So they would maneuver and they would do anything they can within their capability to extract themselves from the aground situation,” he said.

Another reason for the more extensive damage was that the Chinese vessel drifted 50 meters from its original grounding position, Balilo said.

A team of scientists hired to assess the damage said the Min Long Yu destroyed 3,902 square meters of corals, including some 500-year-old massive corals.

It is 66 percent larger than the 2,345.67 square meters damage that the minesweeper USS Guardian had caused when it ran aground at the reef last January.

Tubbataha Reef is a marine sanctuary recognized as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Office (UNESCO). – With Evelyn Macairan