Bishop offers to monitor US payment for Tubbataha Reef

MANILA, Philippines - The bishop of Palawan has offered the services of the Catholic Church to monitor and ensure that the P87 million or $1.9 million the US government paid would be used to rebuild the corals of Tubbataha Reef that a US Navy ship damaged in  2013.

Speaking over Catholic Church-run Radio Veritas, Bishop Pedro Arigo said the P87 million must not be diverted to other uses.

Arigo said the Catholic Church could help monitor the repairs at the world-renowned dive site. He expressed hope that part of the amount would be used in technology that could speed up coral restoration.

“They said there is a kind of technology that can hasten the revival of the corals. We really need to account how the P87 million would be spent,” he said.

It was reported that it would take 20 to 100 years to repair the damaged reef.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization declared the Tubbataha Reef a World Heritage Site.

In January 2013, the minesweeper USS Guardian hit the south atoll of the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea, damaging at least 2,345.67 square meters of the reef. 

It took at least 10 weeks to complete the salvage operation that entailed cutting the US Navy ship to pieces.