CORALS at a shoal inside the country’s territory were also found to have been damaged, and the destruction is believed to have been caused by illegal fishing activities of Chinese maritime militia vessels which have been swarming in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday.
The latest damage to coral reefs was found at the Sabina Reef Shoal or Escoda Shoal. Last Saturday, the military’s Western Command (Wescom) reported coral damage at the Rozul Reef or Iroquois Reef.
In a statement, PCG spokesman for the WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela said there was “severe damage” on the marine environment and coral reef in the seabed of Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal.
Tarriela said the PCG has monitored an average of 33 Chinese maritime militia vessels at the Rozul Reef, and 15 at the Escoda Shoal from August 9 to September 11.
During the same period, he added, the PCG conducted “extensive underwater surveys” of the seabed in both two features which are well inside the country’s 200 nautical exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“The results of these surveys showed that the marine ecosystem in the subject WPS features appeared lifeless, with minimal to no signs of life,” said Tarriela.
He said the surveys showed “visible discoloration” of the seabed of Escoda Shoal. This, he said, strongly indicates “deliberate activities may have been undertaken to modify the natural topography of its underwater terrain.”
“The presence of crushed corals strongly suggests a potential act of dumping, possibly involving the same dead corals that were previously processed and cleaned before being returned to the seabed,” said Tarriela.
Tarriela said the “continued swarming for indiscriminate illegal and destructive fishing activities” of Chinese maritime militia vessels at Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal “may have directly caused the degradation and destruction of the maritime environment in the WPS features.”
“The PCG emphasizes the importance of protecting and preserving our marine environment, which plays a crucial role in sustaining marine life and supporting local communities,” he said.
NO DIRECT EVIDENCE
In radio interview, Tarriela said the PCG still has no direct evidence that the Chinese vessels are behind the destruction of corals at Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal.
“What we are saying in our report is that it is in these areas… where the Chinese maritime militia (vessels) are always swarming. In short, we still don’t have a direct evidence to say that these Chinese maritime militias are the ones who destroyed or poisoned or whatever that they did in these coral reefs,” said Tarriela.
“What we are saying is that underneath those Chinese maritime militia vessels, the seabed there are definitely destroyed. That’s the result of the survey that we did,” he added.
Tarriela also dismissed insinuations that the PCG should be blamed for failing to protect the corals from the Chinese. He said the PCG has only three offshore patrol vessels and 10 44-meter vessels. Even if all these assets are deployed to the WPS, these will not be enough to guard the entire area, he said.
Tarriela said not all these ships are dedicated to guarding the WPS, noting they have to watch other areas of the country.
“This (guarding WPS) is not the only role we conduct. Every once in a while we have maritime search and rescue, we have maritime pollution prevention, we have maritime law enforcement (duties),” said Tarriela.
“So it’s not fair for the Philippine Coast Guard to be blamed… Even if you concentrate (all these vessels) in that area (WPS) at any one time, there will still be areas that we cannot really guard,” said Tarriela.
Tarriela said the real problem is the people behind the destruction of these corals.
“So let us stop pointing fingers. It’s not the fault of the Coast Guard, it’s not the fault of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. We need to admit the fact that we lack resources to maintain our 24/7 monitoring,” he said.
He said the PCG is sending two ships at the reef and the shoal to conduct another underwater survey and get samples which he said will be given to the UP Marine Science Institute for examination.
Tarriela said the PCG is coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Justice “to work out on the legal and diplomatic actions that the government will take.”
Also, he said the PCG, in coordination with the Philippine Navy, will be maintain constant presence in these areas.
Commander Ariel Coloma, Wescom spokesman, said the military cannot guard the entire WPS on a 24 hour basis.
Coloma said Wescom only has six vessels patrolling the WPS. He said the number should be doubled or even tripled to better protect the EEZ.
Despite the lack of assets, Coloma said Wescom, in coordination with the PCG, will do its best to protect the maritime resources and monitor developments in the WPS.
Coloma commiserated with the Filipino fishermen who he said are the ones who are immediately affected by the destruction of corals at the Rozul Reef and Escoda Shoal.
‘PRELUDE TO RECLAMATION’
Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal, in TV interview, said Chinese destruction of corals is nothing new.
Batongbacal noted corals were also damaged destroyed by the Chinese as a prelude to the reclamation of their occupied reefs, referring to Mischief and Subic reefs.
“It was not unexpected,” said Batongbacal of the latest destruction of corals by the Chinese.
“We have been monitoring this kind of activity before in other reefs so it’s not surprising that they have also done it elsewhere, places that we did not usually go to before like this newly-reported area, Rozul Reef,” said Batongbacal.
“It is an activity that has been taking place for many years. We discovered it in 2013. It accelerated as a prelude to their reclamation activities on their artificial islands so it’s not surprising that they’ve been the same thing elsewhere,” he said.
Batongbacal said it is only the Chinese who conduct “this kind of activity on a massive scale.”
“As Sen. (Francis) Tolentino mentioned, it is a prelude to reclamation but at the same time it is also a very profitable industry for them, there is an entire industry based in Hainan which profit out of the destruction of these reefs because they use these as raw material for making decorations, jewelry and trinkets,” he said.
“So I’m pretty sure and it’s very likely that these are the same Chinese fishing fleet that operates out of Hainan. They did this to those areas that they now turned into artificial islands, and they are doing the same thing now to all the other reefs in the West Philippine Sea,” he added.
He said the destruction of the corals could also be part of China’s strategy to discourage Filipino fishermen from going to these areas because “there is nothing for them to catch anymore since fisheries that are dependent on these reefs will also be gone.”
“So this is all, I think, really attributable to them (Chinese), these activities,” he said.
MARINE RADIO STATIONS
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri appealed to China to “stop the wanton” destruction of the country’s marine resources in the West Philippine Sea.”
“If they cannot respect the arbitral ruling, at least they should respect our marine resources,” he said in Filipino.
He said the Senate will provide the budget for the construction of “more marine radio stations” at the vicinity of the WPS and other key points including Pangasinan and Palawan that will serve as monitoring stations.
He said he has talked with Senate president pro tempore Loren Legarda, Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, finance committee chairman, so they can provide at least P600 million for that purpose.
Tolentino, in a TV interview, said the coral harvesting might be prelude to reclamation.
He said photos presented by the Armed Forces and the PCG showed Sabina Shoal was badly destroyed, and swarming Chinese militia ships.
He said the massive destruction of corals in the area will have an effect on the breeding grounds of marine life and will also contribute to climate change.
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III asked the Armed Forces to just submit to the Senate a confidential report on the matter since its reports were still based on “suspicion.”
“And there is an admission of having ‘untrained eyes.’ I urge the AFP to submit to the Senate a confidential report in this matter. Well-researched and scientifically-based hopefully,” he said.
SENATE PROBE
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros said the Senate should call for an investigation on the matter because it is not the first time that China degraded the country’s marine resources.
“They also dredged our sea floor to invent their artificial islands, militarize them, within the West Philippine Sea and our exclusive economic zone para i-claim na teritoryo nila (to claim that it is their territory),” Hontiveros told ANC’s Headstart.
She said the Senate inquiry should also tackle the growing list of China’s “debts” to the Philippines in relation to the WPS.
Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada condemned the coral harvesting at WPS “allegedly carried out by the Chinese maritime militia in these areas.”
He said the natural resources are not only crucial to the ecological balance of oceans but they also hold immense cultural and economic significance for Filipinos.
“We stand in solidarity with the Filipino people, environmental advocates, and concerned citizens in their efforts to protect and preserve the West Philippine Sea’s marine environment,” he said.
The Japanese and Chinese embassies in Manila have figured in a heated exchange on social media over the WPS issue, especially over the destruction of coral reefs at Reef.
“Very alarming news. Our oceans are the lifeblood of our planet, and coral reefs are its colorful heartbeats,” Japanese Ambassador to Manila Koshikawa Kazuhiko said on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday night.
“Let’s preserve and protect these vital ecosystems for generations to come,” he added.
Tokyo is a staunch ally of Manila and has joined other nations such as the United States and the European Union in condemning aggressive activities by Chinese coast guard vessels and maritime militia in the WPS against Filipino vessels.
It also called on Beijing to respect international laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in resolving its maritime dispute not only with Manila but other countries claiming parts of the South China Sea (SCS).
The Chinese Embassy in Manila responded to Kazuhiko’s tweet and called his post a form of “disinformation.”
“People should be alarmed by the spreading of such disinformation. Oceans are indeed the lifeblood of our planet. So, stop the release of contaminated nuclear water from Fukushima,” the embassy said in a tweet.
The Chinese Embassy was apparently referring to the decision last month of Tokyo to release to the Pacific Ocean over a million tons of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor that was destroyed by an earthquake in 2011.
Koshikawa said then that Tokyo deeply appreciates the support of the international community, including the Philippines, in its decision.
“Japan deeply appreciates the Philippine government’s understanding of the release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant from a science and fact-based perspective and its impact on the ocean,” the Japanese envoy said. — With Raymond Africa and Ashzel Hachero
