Two re-elected senators called on authorities to look into the case of a Vietnamese vessel that ran aground on a coral reef sanctuary in Biliran Thursday.

Senator Francis Escudero demanded that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources investigate the Vietnamese vessel and find out what business they have in passing through Philippine territory.

For her part, Senator Loren Legarda trained her sights on the Coast Guard to protect the Philippine maritime resource.

Escudero, chairman of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, learned that a 50-feet Vietnamese vessel named MV Unicorn Lodger bound for Japan and loaded with logs ran aground the island of Sambauan, Maripipi in Biliran.

`“We have to know where the vessel came from, where it is going, what business do they have in passing through Philippine shores, and what were they doing that led to the destruction of a large area of yet another of our coral reef sanctuary, a marine protected area,” Escudero said.

According to government reports, the boat has 18 Vietnamese crew onboard. The crew is now detained inside the vessel by the local government of Naval, province of Biliran.

Legarda sought an end to the coral destruction and called on the Coast Guard to be vigilant in protecting the Philippine waters.

Escudero said facts on the specific case have to be uncovered first to find out if this is just an accident or a case similar to its precedents this year.

Last April 8, Chinese fishing vessel F/V Min Long Yu conked out on the Tubattaha reef, a World Heritage listed marine sanctuary, in Palawan damaging the reef more than the damage done by USS Guardian on January 17.

TACLOBAN CITY— A shipping firm has agreed to pay P917,000 to the Maripipi municipal government in compensation for damage wrought on its coral reefs by one of the shipping line’s vessels.
Of the amount, P500,000 would be used to rehabilitate the damaged coral reefs, said Ritchie Peñaflor, Maripipi’s operations chief.

June Racuela, representing Wisdom Marine Lines, and Maripipi Mayor Uldarico Marocol met at the provincial proseuctor’s office in Naval, Biliran on Tuesday to agree on the compensation package.

Peñaflor said a check will be issued by the shipping firm on Tuesday at the latest.

The MV Unicorn Logger, the vessel that ran aground on the town’s coral reef, and its 18 Vietnamese crewmen, cannot leave Naval, near where the vessel is docked, until Maripipi receives payment.

The MV Unicorn Logger was towed by the Philippine Coast Guard on June 15 out of the coral reef area. All its crewmen chose to stay inside the vessel.

Last June 13, the MV Unicorn Logger, which is loaded with 1,607 pieces of lumber, ran aground on Sambawan Islet around 7:10 p.m., causing damage to a coral reef area measuring 270 square meters.

The site is 50 to 60 meters from the Sambawan Beach Resort and Diving Camp, which is owned by the local government unit of Maripipi.
The MV Unicorn Logger left from Sandakan, Malaysia last June 11 and was bound for Japan.
The Sambawan Islet is one of Maripipi’s tourist spots which the local government has been promoting as a diving site, Penaflor said.

The area where the vessel hit the coral reefs is just one of three diving sites in Sambawan Islet, which has an area of 2.89 hectares.

In a recent interview, Navy spokesperson Col. Edgard Arevalo said foreign vessels run aground in Philippine coral reefs, particularly the Tubbataha Reefs National Park, because they are able to enter Philippine territory undetected.

“There are two contemporary and complementing realities. Number one is that our borders are porous and our coastlines are vast. Second is the limitation of our equipment and the number of vessels that we have,” said Arevalo.

“Those are the contemporary realities that we have to contend with but we are always maintaining that even with what we have, we are still doing what we can do,” Arevalo said.
Arevalo said the Navy only has a number of ships and aircraft available that can patrol the Philippines’ territorial waters. With a report by Nikko Dizon

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero has asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to investigate the circumstances behind the recent grounding of a Panamanian-registered cargo vessel on a coral reef sanctuary in Eastern Visayas.

“We have to know where the vessel came from, where it is going, what business do they have in passing through Philippine shores, and what were they doing that led to the destruction of a large area of yet another of our coral reef sanctuary, a marine protected area,” Escudero said Tuesday.

The 50-feet MV Unicorn Lodger bound for Japan loaded with logs and manned by a Vietnamese crew ran aground off Sambauan Island in Biliran province’s Maripipi town.

According to government reports, the boat was manned by 18 Vietnamese sailors. The crewmembers have been detained inside the vessel by the local government of Naval in Biliran.

Last April 8, Chinese fishing vessel F/V Min Long Yu also ran aground Tubattaha Reef, a World Heritage-listed marine sanctuary in Palawan.

A week ago, authorities said they had deployed a gun boat and a surveillance plane to Tubattaha after a suspected Vietnamese fishing vessel was seen there.

NAVAL, Biliran – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Region 8 set an amount of P417, 103.50 for the destruction of coral reef in Sambawan Island caused by a foreign cargo vessel which ran aground the area on June 13.

View of the damage corals in Sambawan Island taken today, Tuesday, June 18, 2013 by the personnel of the Office of the Provincial Agricultural Services (OPAS) in Biliran province. (RVictoria)

M/V Unicorn Logger, a Japan bound vessel from Malaysia loaded with logs, damaged 280.5 square meters area of coral reef based on BFAR assessment report.

The BFAR report stated that the computation of value cost of marine resources of World Bank (WB) on corals is about P1,487.00 per square meter.

However, Section 21 of Republic Act 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992 provided a fine in the amount of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000) nor more than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500, 000), exclusive of the value of the thing damaged, or imprisonment for not less than one (1) year but more than six (6) years, or both, as determined by the court.

The offender shall also be required to restore or compensate for the restoration to the damage.

Meanwhile, the BFAR report mentioned that the quick response team (QRT) and the environmental monitoring unit who conducted an assessment on the reef damage on June 16, 2013, measured the damage area using a transect line with the following measurement: 25.5 meter length and 11 meter width of the grounding area measuring a total damage area of coral reef at about 280.5 square meters.

The total hard coral and soft coral cover was estimated at about 20% and 30%, respectively, with most of the soft corals dominated by pulsating soft coral then followed with leather coral and other come in patches, like Pierogyra specie and Sea Whip coral, the report mentioned.

The report also mentioned that the hard coral species were represented by different species in the area, including Tubastrea micrantha, Mycedium elephantatus, Ganiapara species, Dipicastrea hellospora, Pacillapora species, Acropora digitata, Lobophyllia species.

Invertebrates were also observed in the area, like Tube sponge, Barrel sponge, Feather star, Anemone, and Tube Worms which were the most dominant invertebrates in the reef. Fish composition was mainly represented by the following: Goatfish, Damselfish, Anemonefish, Anthias, Wrasse and Grouper.

The BFAR 8 QRT members who prepared the report are: Dan de San Miguel, Mat Alcantara, Ariel P. Collara, Rodel Quilbio, Eugenio Lagrimas. The report was noted by Justere M. Granali, BFAR OIC assistant director. (PIA 8 Biliran/rvictoria)

Tacloban City, Leyte (PNA) – Eight fishermen were rescued by a private yacht and officers of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) yesterday morning after their fishing boat capsized off Biliran seawaters due to stormy weather.

Lt. Junior Grade Paul Ryan C. Gonzales, station commander of the Tacloban PCG station, said they received a distress call from private yacht M/Y Luvedico informing them about a fishing boat that sank near Barangay Tucdao in Kawayan, Biliran.

“Everyone is accounted for. All of them are safe and were brought to Kawayan town,” Gonzales said.

The fishermen were identified as Marlo Asugas, Randy Rosaros, Elian Dadela, Elwino Uluhan, John Berber, Dan Arnado, Romeo Uluhan, and Margarito Uliga, all residents of Barangay Tucdao.
“While M/Y Ludevico, skippered by Capt. Ronald Salmoren, was transiting the area, they saw the distressed fishermen and immediately rescued them. The PCG personnel from Naval substation immediately assisted the rescued fishermen and were safely brought to the shoreline in Kawayan,” Gonzales added.

He also said the prevailing bad weather condition brought about by tropical depression that caused a disturbance on Visayan seawaters may have swept the fishing boat with its strong waves.
The PCG in Tacloban already issued a warning to the sea-going public particularly fishermen on the possible dangers posed by Tropical Depression “Emong,” now affecting the eastern part of the country.

No storm warning signals have so far been raised, but “Emong” is expected to intensify into a tropical storm within the next 24 to 48 hours which would bring moderate to occasionally heavy rains and thunderstorms over Visayas.

The M/V Unicorn Logger, the foreign vessel which ran aground in Sambawan lsland off Maripipi and damaged its coral reef.

BiliranIsland.com Video

GmaNews Video

ABS CBN News

The ABS-CBN report on the Sambawan incident involving MV Unicorn Logger utilized video footages gathered by biliranisland.com.
Video

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In its 6 p.m. report, the NDRRMC said the vessel – MV Unicorn Lodger of Wisdom Lines – ran aground at Sambauan Island in Maripipi town in Biliran at 8 p.m. last June 13.

The NDRRMC said the Coast Guard checked the area Friday morning for signs of an oil spill and found none.

A further check showed the ship’s crew included 18 Vietnamese, including:

Captain Nguyen Anh Tuan, 41
Chief Mate Pham Son Ha, 46
Second Mate Bui Dinh Hai, 33
Third Mate Phan Huu Chien, 28
Chief Engineer Nguyen Van Tinh, 42
First Engineer Nguyen Huu Trang, 34
Second Engineer Nguyen Van Minhi, 29
Third Engineer Bui Van Dung, 31
Phan Van Tieng, 58
Bui Van Tung, 26
Nguyen Trung Duc, 26
Pham Anh, 26
Nguyen Sy Thang, 29
Nguyen Van Viet, 22
Ta Huu Phang, 44
Pham Duy Huong, 26
Le Van Nhan, 25
Chief cook Dinh Duy Thin, 34

The Coast Guard, local government and local police in Maripipi held an investigation and inspection of the site.

A Coast Guard team went to the site for further investigation, the NDRRMC added. — ELR, GMA News

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TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines—A foreign commercial vessel manned by Vietnamese and loaded with more than 1,600 pieces of lumber ran aground off Maripipi Island in Biliran province Thursday night, officials said.

The Japan-bound ship M/V Unicorn Logger, which had 18 crew members and was skippered by Nguyen Anh Tuan, ran aground at Sambawan Islet at around 7:10 p.m., Maripipi town local government operations head Ritchie Peñaflor said in a phone interview.
The 5,691-ton Panamanian-registered ship was carrying lumber weighing a total of 836 metric tons, Peñaflor said. He identified the vessel’s operator as Wisdom Marine Lines based in Panama.

The vessel departed from Sandakan, Malaysia, on June 11 at around 9 a.m. and was bound for Japan when it ran aground at the Sambawan Islet off the island town of Maripipi.

The vessel hit about 270 square meters of coral reefs, Peñaflor said.

“This is now our concern. The incident has resulted in the destruction of our coral reefs covering 270 square meters based on the initial assessment of our local fishery and agriculture office,” Peñaflor said.

On top of this, they were also looking for possible oil leaks that might result from the incident, he added. So far, no oil was seen coming from the vessel.
Peñaflor said the Maripipi local government was studying the possibility of seeking damages for the destruction of coral reefs from the owner of the vessel.

The site of the grounding is 50 to 60 meters from a beach resort maintained by the local government of Maripipi, the farthest island municipality of Biliran province.

Philippine Coast Guard personnel from Tacloban City were on their way to assess the situation, Peñaflor said.

He explained that they were having some difficulty getting more information from the ship captain due to the language barrier.

Peñaflor said the local government has offered assistance to the crew, who were all Vietnamese, but they chose to stay on the vessel.

Peñaflor also said that based on their initial interview with the captain, the ship was trying to avoid a fishing vessel when they ran aground.

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NAVAL, Biliran – The much-publicized damage on the Tubbataha Reef by an American military vessel and a Chinese fishing vessel not long ago seemed not enough, as another foreign vessel plowed through another reef in a more central part of the Philippines.

A Panamanian registered cargo vessel ran aground in the evening of June 13 near Sambawan Island, in the island municipality of Maripipi in Biliran province. The boat plowed through its coral reef.

According to Lieutenant Junior Grade Paul C. Gonzales, station commander of the Tacloban Coast Guard Station, which oversees the Coast Guard detachment of Naval, the MV Unicorn Lodger of Wisdom Lines, skippered by Captain Nguyen Anh Tuah with 17 other Vietnamese crew on board, ran aground approximately 60 to 80 meters southwest of Sambawan Island.

Gonzales said that a certain Jessie Manuel, caretaker of the Sambawan Island resort, reported to the personnel of Philippine Coast Guard detachment in Naval that at around 9:15 p.m. of June 13 the vessel had ran aground in the area.

Gonzales disclosed that the foreign vessel with a gross tonnage of 5,691 and net tonnage of 3,197 was loaded with 1,607 pieces of logs weighing 836 tons and was sailing from Malaysia to Japan.

The coast guard official added that per initial report conducted by the PCG-Naval personnel together with the Bantay Dagat personnel of Maripipi this morning, no sign of oil spill was observed. However, drag marks on the coral reef in the area were spotted.

“About 270 square meters of the coral reef area in Sambawan Island were plowed through by the hull of the foreign vessel,” Gonzales added, based on the initial report submitted by his men and other authorities conducting initial inspection in the area of the incident.

He said that the foreign cargo vessel might have had no intention to dock in Sambawan area, but was just on a “right of innocent passage,” a term in international law referring to a ship or aircraft’s right to enter and pass through another’s territory as long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the other state.

It was learned that the sea surrounding Sambawan Island is a marine protected area. Sambawan Island is a widely known local tourist destination in Biliran province and is among the tourist destinations of the province covered by the recently-enacted RA 10409 sponsored by Biliran Congressman Rogelio J. Espina, which declared Biliran province as a tourism development area.

The PCG Tacloban station commander further said that the foreign cargo vessel was inclined at four degrees during low tide, but was already afloated around 2:19 p.m. today based on the initial report. The boat is now docked at the Naval port for further inquiry by the PCG and other concerned authorities.

Other concerned agencies of the government like the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) here in Region 8 have already been furnished with initial reports on the incident for information and appropriate action by their respective agencies, Gonzales said. (PIA 8 Biliran rvictoria)

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A motorcycle and a mocad figured in a collision just outside the Naval Catholic Cemetery, Naval, Biliran.

Time, around 9:05 pm June 11, 2013. A victim rushed to the hospital.

UPDATE. The driver of the motorcycle, Mario Bringa, 48 to 50 yrs old, from Brgy. Villa Consuelo died after arrival at the hospital. His back rider was his daughter, Maria Luz Bringa, 19. The driver of the mocad was — Garcia y Dagotdot, 34, from Brgy. Sto. Niño.

The driver of the mocad was beaten at the hospital by relatives of the dead motorcycle driver.

The passengers of the mocad, a foreigner and a Pinay, suffered minor injuries.

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