US ship’s presence in Palawan defended

From the Manila Standard Today (Jan 22): US ship’s presence in Palawan defended

There was nothing irregular about the presence of the United States minesweeper USS Guardian in the protected and restricted Palawan waters where it ran aground on Tubbataha Reef, Malacañang said Monday. “I confirmed with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin that there was such a port call request made for Puerto Princesa by USS Guardian,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said. “There was a request made and the request was granted.”

Still, that will not stop the government from demanding that the United States Navy pay for the damage suffered by the reef, a Unesco World Heritage Site, and the cost of removing the vessel.
Transport Secretary Joseph Abaya said the Philippines also expected the US to sanction the captain of the USS Guardian that ran aground on Thursday last week.

“Once you ground your vessel—or touch bottom without causing damage—just the fact that you allowed it to touch ground is a mortal sin. I expect they’ll come down hard on their commanding officer,” Abaya said. “As a responsible nation and state and as a strong ally of the Philippines, I assume it goes without saying [that the US will pay for the damage and the cost of salvaging the ship)… The law doesn’t distinguish whether this was negligence or inadvertence or intentional.”

The Tubbataha Management Office has said that the USS Guardian did not have a permit to enter the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, and that the ship’s officers ignored Marine Park rangers when told that they were entering a protected area. When the rangers warned the ship’s officers that they would be boarding it, the ship’s crew took battle positions with their weapons, forcing the rangers to back off.

Vice Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US 7th Fleet, on Monday said he regretted the grounding of the USS Guardian, one of the fleet’s minesweepers, on Tubbataha Reef. “As a protector of the sea and a sailor myself, I greatly regret any damage this incident has caused to the Tubbataha Reef,” he said.

In other developments:

• The Transport Department on Monday ordered the Coast Guard to submit an initial report on the extent of the damage to the Tubbataha Reef. Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya said the national government was doing a “government-to-government communication with the United States regarding the incident.”

• The Coast Guard has dispatched a team on board an environmental protection vessel to help the crew of the USS Guardian. Coast Guard spokesman Armand Balilo said the BRP Corregidor will also bring equipment such as an oil spill boom, a skimmer and oil dispersant chemicals.

• Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the House of Representatives will conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on the case of the USS Guardian. “We want to know why they were there and what they were doing there,” he said.

Meanwhile, bad weather in the Sulu Sea is preventing the United States Navy from extricating the USS Guardian, Lt. Gen. James Stock said. “There are no further updates since our last press release,” Stock said. “The extent of damage to the USS Guardian is currently under investigation, but bad weather is hindering our progress.”

Abaya said there will be a meeting today to determine whether the USS Guardian will be salvaged or brought up using a heavy lifting ship and a timetable for extricating it. He said a US naval reserve salvage ship was also set to arrive on Thursday.

The government has formed a task force led by the Coast Guard that will oversee the salvage and maritime environmental protection operations. The task force will be composed of units from the Navy Western Command, Philippine National Police and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“For the salvage operations, we will vet the plans of the US Navy and we will likewise be abreast of every plan and detail what will be conducted and implemented,” Abaya said. “Foremost in these salvage operations is that the procedure should cause the minimum damage to reef or no further damage to the reef.”

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/01/22/us-ships-presence-in-palawan-defended/