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Tag: Ming Long Yu

Trawling Tubbataha’s treasures

USS Guardian in Tubbataha.
USS Guardian in Tubbataha.

By Rex Robles,VERA Files

It was 1974 and I was taking up an advanced course in Mechanical Engineering at the US Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. For our final exam in Oceanography, our professor simply called the twelve of us to his office one by one and asked us a few questions. I noticed a certain level of interest in the Philippines that I did not expect.

For instance, he showed me a satellite photograph of Manila Bay and asked me what I thought about a plan to build a highway along the Manila-Cavite coastline. I mumbled some comment on how the ecology in the area would be affected.

Then he showed me photographs of the entire Sulu Sea with what looked like ridgelines in the water running roughly parallel to Palawan. I was intrigued. My professor, who is based in New Zealand, told me they were a dozen or so swells that go northwest at certain times. At other times, they go the opposite way.

Spot the big difference

Chinese fishermen whose boat ran aground in Tubbataha.Interphoto. Thanks to Interaksyon
Chinese fishermen whose boat ran aground in Tubbataha.Interphoto. Thanks to Interaksyon

President Aquino is being consistent when he said that the government will not be filing a diplomatic protest against China for the intrusion of a fishing vessel that got stuck in Tubbataha Reef in Sulu Sea, 150 kilometers southeast of Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.

After all, he didn’t also protest to the United States when the minesweeper USS Guardian got stuck and caused extensive damage to the reef which is Marine Protected Area three months ago (Jan. 17). It took the US navy three months remove the 1,300-ton, 68-meter-long Avenger Class minesweeper piece by piece. It was completed last March 30.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said April 7 that a diplomatic protest against the U.S was “unnecessary” because the superpower has been cooperating with the maritime investigation and has committed to the compensation and rehabilitation of the reef.