NOYNOY IS AGAIN BLAMING OTHERS FOR THE CHINESE BOAT-GROUNDING IN PALAWAN

Negligence at the Reef

By Manila Standard Today | Posted on Apr. 12, 2013 at 12:01am | 278 views

The guardians of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park offered a lame excuse on the latest incursion by a Chinese vessel on the protected marine park. Even President Benigno Aquino III could not hide his pique over the incident, almost two months after a US minesweeper ran aground the protected marine sanctuary.
We are not totally blaming the Tubbataha Protected Area Management Board, the policy-making body for the Tubbataha Reefs, and the Tubbataha Management Office for the latest poaching incident that surely damaged the marine park. Budget constraints clearly prevent authorities and the agency from effectively scouring the vast atoll coral reef that covers an area of over 100,000 hectares.
The Tubbataha management board, however, is well represented by the national government, the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard, lawmakers from Palawan province and over a dozen institutions that could plead their case for increased funding from Malacañang or Congress, if they seek so. For a body that is represented by 20 institutions, the board was amiss in its duty.
President Aquino has already promised to look into the possible liability of those tasked to watch over the reef. Tubbataha Management Office chief Angelique Songco, meanwhile, spoke of the inadequate facilities of her monitoring team. She said her team switch the radars only every three hours and that it had no resources to keep the radar equipment on for 24 hours daily. “Sometimes it’s between those three hours that our rangers are blind,” Songco said.
Malacañang, perhaps, should widen the exclusivity zone of the Tubbataha Reef, similar to what applies on the Malampaya natural gas production facility of Shell Philippines Exploration, also off Palawan island. The protected area bans vessels from going near the sensitive Malampaya gas field and enforces a no-fly zone over the production platform.
The boat that ran aground the reefs of Tubbataha was the seventh caught by Philippine authorities since 2002, as the rich ecosystem in the marine park lures Chinese poachers and other illegal fishers. The Philippines should now enforce its will over the marine park and deal with violators with an iron hand.

PERO YUNG AMERICAN WARSHIP NA GROUNDED SA TUBATTAHA, DI MAN LANG NIYA PINAG-INITAN!

DOBLE-KARA TALAGA ITONG SI PNOY.