‘Drink coffee, stay awake near Tubbataha’

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena advised yesterday the officers and crew of two ships participating in a maritime exercise in Indonesia to drink coffee and stay awake when passing through Tubbataha Reef so that their vessels would not run aground like the US minesweeper USS Guardian did last January.

During a sendoff ceremony, Isorena told the crew of the BRP Corregidor and BRP Pampanga that would take part in this year’s Maritime Pollution Exercise (Marpolex) to stay awake and be alert when they pass by Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea.

Isorena reportedly gave five boxes of coffee to the crew of both ships for their trip to Indonesia.

The 68-meter-long USS Guardian ran aground last Jan. 17 at the reef’s south atoll and damaged a portion of coral. The vessel was on its way to Indonesia after a port call in Subic Bay when the incident happened.

The US Navy has blamed “faulty navigation chart data” for the incident but some sectors believe the incident was caused by human error. There were even questions as to why the US ship was in the area.

Tubbataha Reef spans 130,028 hectares and is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.

American authorities hired salvage firms and dismantled the minesweeper to ensure that the reef would not be further damaged by salvage operations.

Isorena expressed his gratitude to the Knights of Columbus for donating the coffee that were equally divided among the crew of the BRP Corregidor and BRP Pampanga.

“Thanks to those who donated the coffee so that during stevedoring time, they (PCG men) would not fall asleep and they would not be like the USS Guardian that hit a snag in Tubbataha Reef,” said Isorena.

He said that the two PCG ships would be following an almost similar path as the Guardian that left Subic en route to Makassar in Indonesia.

“I am very confident that our commanding officers know where to pass and nothing would happen there,” he said.