Penalties for US ship opposed

From the Manila Standard Today (Jul 8): Penalties for US ship opposed

Malacanang has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a petition by Catholic bishops and various groups seeking penalties for damages caused by a US navy ship at Tubbataha Reef and to stop naval exercises in the country “in absence of clear guidelines on environmental protection,” government lawyers said on Sunday.

Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza said the government opposed the writ of kalikasan or environment protection order on Tubbataha Reef because the grounding last January of USS Guardian at the reefs, a marine protected area, was a “fait accompli, an irreversible situation.”

`”The USS Guardian has the right of innocent passage and the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) should not be raised as an issue,” Jardeleza said.

The VFA is a bilateral agreement between the the Philippines and the United States. It governs the war games and naval exercises involving Filipino and American military.

The USS Guardian, a mine sweeper, destroyed 2,346 square meters of diverse coral ecosystems in the natural marine park in the Sulu Sea. The United Nations has declared the reefs a World Heritage site.

Jardeleza said the government asked the Court to dismiss the petition of the bishops, environmentalists and activist groups because “they do not represent the inhabitants prejudiced by the environmental damage, which subject of the petition for Writ of Kalikasan.”

He said the Supreme Court cannot intervene in claims for damages against the US government because “claims processing under the VFA resides exclusively with the executive department.”

In their petition to the Supreme Court, the bishops named as defendants President Aquino, several members of his Cabinet, senior military officials and the officers and crew of the USS Guardians.

They asked the Court to proceed with the case against US Seventh Fleet Commander Scott Swift and the Guardian Commanding Officer Mark Rice even without their answer, which was sought through the US Embassy in Manila.

In an investigation report released by the Americans last May 22, the US Navy admitted its fault and said the incident was caused by human error and “failure of leadership of the USS Guardian Command.”

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/07/08/penalties-for-us-ship-opposed/