US to pay for damaged Phl reef: official

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The P87 million (about $1.94 million) that the Philippines has been asking from the United States as payment for the damage caused by its Navy ship on a marine sanctuary is now on the "documentation stage," a senior government official said today.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the 87 million pesos were the amount of compensation that the Philippine government sought from the US after USS Guardian, a minesweeper ship of America, ran aground on the south atoll of the Tubbataha Reefs off western Philippine province of Palawan in January 2013.

"According to Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, the coordination of the two countries regarding the compensation for the damage caused to Tubbataha Reefs has been on documentation stage," he said.

Coloma said the Philippine government would just await for the documentation to be completed and for the finalization of the compensation.

USS Guardian damaged 2,345 square meters of coral in Tubbataha Reefs, which was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in 1993.