MANILA, Philippines – Magiging bahagi ng ebidensya na kinakalap bilang suporta sa case build-up ng Pilipinas laban sa China ang marine resource assessment na nagpakita ng mga napinsalang resources sa exclusive economic zone (EEZ) ng bansa.
Ang case build-up na ito laban sa China ay dahil sa environmental destruction at degradation.
Sinabi ni National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) spokesperson at Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela na ipinresenta ni Dr. Jonathan Anticamara ang ulat na ito sa investigating bodies.
Si Anticamara ay professor sa University of the Philippines (UP) Institute of Biology sa Diliman, Quezon City.
“From the Philippine Coast Guard together with BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources), since we are the lead agencies in doing this research assessment with support, of course, from the University of the Philippines, we’re going to formally forward this to the NTF-WPS,” ani Tarriela.
Nagsagawa ng marine resource assessment si Anticamara at kanyang team sa Pag-asa Cays 1, 2 at 3 para magbigay ng scientific basis sa pagkasira ng marine resources sa loob ng EEZ.
“Now, in the case of the pile of rubble, what I found is that there are many characteristics of this pile of rubble and I’ll present the details of these characteristics that kind of convinced me that this is not a typical island formation that’s basically formed by nature. Many of these characteristics suggest that most likely these piles of rubble are somewhat… siguro ano, made by human,” aniya.
Isa pa sa mga nakita ay ang maraming mga corals sa Pagasa Island sa Kalayaan Island Group at mga cay na “degraded” na.
“So, ibig sabihin ng degraded is that many of the corals are now small, many of the large corals are now dead and there’s not a lot of live corals per unit area, so kaunti na lang ‘yung buhay. And if you look at fish, it’s the same, all the areas that we surveyed, we swam, we dove… there’s not a lot of fish anymore,” ayon kay Anticamara.
Ani Tarriela, ang operasyon ng mga barko ng China ang nagdulot ng malawakang pinsala sa mga bahura.
“So, if there is one country that we need to hold accountable dito sa damage ng environment na ito, sa ating coral reef dito sa cays, that will only be the People’s Republic of China,” dagdag pa niya.
Sumang-ayon din si Atty. Jay Batongbacal ng UP College of Law, na director din ng Institute for Maritime Affairs & Law of the Sea, na ang mga aktibidad ng China ay paglabag sa international law dahil salungat ito sa obligasyon na protektahan at ipreserba ang marine environment.
“At the very least, itong destruction ng corals and deliberate alteration ng marine environment, puwedeng maging basehan iyon ng isa pang kaso na pa-follow up doon sa 2016 arbitration,” pahayag ni Batongbacal. RNT/JGC
