Coral Reef Damage Off Pag-asa Island Assessed

The marine resource assessment conducted by a scientific team on Pag-asa Island will be part of the evidence being gathered by the Justice Department to support its case buildup against China for environmental destruction and degradation, a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) official said.

The Philippines can follow up on the previous findings in the arbitration against China for actively and deliberately destroying coral reefs as a result of its reclamation activities. I Photo: Palawan Provincial Engineering Office

“Well, for the findings of Dr. [Jonathan] Anticamara, these were already presented to the National Task Force West Philippine Sea. We’re just actually waiting for the official scientific study of Dr. Anticamara,” Commodore Jay Tarriela of the West Philippine Sea Transparency Office of the PCG said in a news forum in Quezon City.

“And then from the Philippine Coast Guard together with BFAR, since we are the lead agency in doing this research assessment in support of the course of the University of the Philippines, we’re going to formally forward this to the NTF-WPS and then in NTF-WPS,” Tarriela added.

“As you’re aware, the Department of Justice is part of that interagency task force. So, most likely, the findings of Dr. Anticamara will also be forwarded to the Department of Justice and as what Sir Jay has mentioned, this can be used to support their case buildup against the People’s Republic of China,” he pointed out.

Dr. Anticamara of the University of the Philippines (UP) Institute of Biology and his team conducted the marine resource assessment in Pag-asa Cays 1, 2, 3 that provides scientific basis for the destruction of marine resources inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Tarriela accused China of causing environmental destruction and altering the sea features of the area, arguing that in terms of the number of vessels, China outnumbers the Philippines.

Chinese vessels’ operation caused massive damage to coral reefs.

In addition, he said China has the experience and capability to do all the reclamation in the South China Sea.

“So, if there is one country that we need to hold accountable for this environmental damage, for our coral reef here in the cays, that will only be the People’s Republic of China if you were to ask me now, who is our suspect in doing illegal small island reclamation in the Cays 1, 2, 3, 4,” the PCG official said.

According to Atty. Jay Batongbacal of the UP College of Law-Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, the Philippines can follow up on the previous findings in the arbitration against China for actively and deliberately destroying coral reefs as a result of its reclamation activities.

Such activities are violations of international law because they contravene the obligation to preserve and protect the marine environment, he added.

“Other aspects that have been changed on the ground, that’s another issue. But at the very least, this destruction of coral and deliberate alteration of the marine environment can be used as the basis for another case to follow up on the 2016 arbitration,” said Batongbacal.

“This is an important point because during the time of the arbitration, this was not yet noticed but after the arbitration, it became apparent. In our opinion, the original formation may have been due to the sedimentation done on Subi Reef, because they dredged the area, the sand or whatever material spread there that was not originally in Subi Reef,” he stressed.