US lawmakers express regret over Tubbataha Reef incident

MANILA, Philippines - Several American lawmakers yesterday expressed regret over the incident involving the grounding of a US Navy warship in Tubbataha Reef.

The trade delegation from the US Congress led by Representatives Ed Royce of California, Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, Vernon Buchanan of Florida, Matt Salmon of Arizona and Eliot Engel of the 16th District of New York met with President Aquino at Malacañang yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said there was not much discussion on the Tubbataha Reef incident since the lawmakers came to visit as a trade delegation.

Lacierda said the US lawmakers did not in any way intervene for the crew of the USS Guardian.

“There was no appeal of that sort. It was just a discussion of a number of things, among which is the expression of regret over what happened in Tubbataha Reef,” Lacierda said.

The USS Guardian, which is based in Japan, crashed into Tubbataha Reef before dawn on Jan. 17 while on its way to Indonesia after making a rest and refueling stop in Subic Bay.

Most of its 79 officers and crew were transferred to two other US vessels the following day for safety reasons as the 68-meter long, 1,300-ton minesweeper was unable to maneuver on its own as it was buffeted by strong winds and waves.  

The ship is aground about 30 meters from the edge of the reef, a marine sanctuary that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There had been plans to lift the warship off the reef to prevent further damage.

However, the Guardian had incurred major damage on its wooden hull and runs the risk of disintegrating once it is lifted from its present location. Major cracks were also seen inside the warship.

“The salvage plan to remove USS Guardian is heading that way,” officials said, citing the initial proposals by their US counterparts to lift the ship off the reef.

Officials pointed out the proposal to lift the ship still needs approval from the Joint Task Force Tubbataha, headed by Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Undersecretary and former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Eduardo Oban Jr.

 The Guardian was already stripped of its ordnance and weapons systems. Defueling was also conducted to prevent an oil spill and to lessen possible damage to the country’s protected marine park once actual salvage operations commence.

“The dismembering plan being proposed by the US Navy needs further study and approval of the Joint Task Force Tubbataha,” said sources privy to the latest US Navy proposal.

Earlier, three options were considered to safely remove the USS Guardian from its location sitting parallel of the South Atoll.

These options are to pull, to lift or simply dismember the warship, which as of yesterday has been assessed to be beyond economic repair.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said the US Navy is expected to submit its plan on how to remove the ship from the reef.

While it was initially announced that the US Navy would be using cranes to extract the ship, Balilo said there could still be changes in the salvaging plan.

Balilo noted reports that the US Navy is now considering chopping the ship into pieces.

“It seems that there may have been changes (in the salvaging plans) based on their assessment. We could just not confirm as of this moment what these changes are, but we could still use the cranes,” he said.

Balilo said Coast Guard commandant Rear Adm. Rodolfo Isorena would be meeting with Rear Admiral Thomas Carney, commander of the US Navy’s Logistics Group in the Western Pacific, on the final salvaging plans for the ship.

Once the US Navy submits the salvage plan, the Tubbataha Reef Task Force would decide if the action would be feasible, Balilo said.

Balilo said whatever salvage plans would be employed, “the primary consideration would be that the reef would not be further damaged.”

Militant groups continued to slam the US on its inability to remove the ship.

A group of students from the University of the Philippines called on the government to make the US Navy accountable for the damage to Tubbataha and assert the country’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty.

The group UP alliance to Save the Tubbataha, Junk VFA also called for the abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the US, which they claimed had practically violated the country’s territorial sovereignty, highlighted by the Tubbataha incident.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) also said the officers and crew of USS Guardian violated national sovereignty and environmental laws.

Pamalakaya said the Tubbataha incident merits the abrogation of the VFA and the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US government. – With Jaime Laude, Evelyn Macairan, Sandy Araneta, Ding Cervantes