Palace: Gov't to continue pursuing compensation claims for Tubbataha Reef damage

From the Philippine News Agency (Jan 4): Palace: Gov't to continue pursuing compensation claims for Tubbataha Reef damage
 
The Philippine government remains committed to continue pursuing its claims for compensation on the damages made by a United States minesweeper on the Tubbataha Reef last year, a Malacanang official said.

“We're committed to pursuing compensation for it,” Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told dzRB Radyo ng Bayan in an interview Saturday.

Valte said the Philippine government and US authorities had good discussions on the issue of compensation.

However, the Palace official said there is a third party who had filed a case before the Supreme Court. But she added that on the part of the government, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) was able to file a comment when it was ordered to do so.

She also said that since there is a pending case on the issue, it is in the best interest of the government not to comment further.

In July last year, environmental activists and militant groups filed an urgent motion to ask the Supreme Court for a series of Temporary Environmental Protection Orders (TEPOs) aimed at stopping US military exercises and port calls of US warships in the Philippines.

Prior to the motion, a Petition for the Writ of Kalikasan regarding the grounding case in the reef was filed by the group of Palawan Bishop Pedro Arigo.

US minesweeper USS Guardian, coming from Subic for a regular port call, ran aground in the Tubbataha Reef on Jan. 17, 2013. The ship was on its way to Puerto Princesa, Palawan and then to Indonesia when it got stuck in the reef.

The Philippines fined the US government P58 million for the damage to the reef.

The incident damaged an estimated 4,000 square meters of coral reefs in Tubbataha Reef, the largest marine-protected area in the country at 97,030 hectares.

The Tubbataha Reef was included as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) in 1993. It is said to be home to some 500 species of fish and 350 species of coral as well as whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and breeding seabirds.

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