“THIS kind of thinking is grand puppetry to US government and classic display of pauperism to Washington D.C.”
Fishermen activists of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) and Anakpawis party list took turns in lambasting Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya.
Pamalakaya vice chairperson Salvador France and Anakpawis party list Vice chairperson Fernando Hicap said Abaya’s statement that the Philippine government cannot hold the US Navy officials and the 79-member crew of USS Guardian accountable from their individual and collective crimes against the Filipino people in connection with the January 17 involving the Washington minesweeper that ran aground had set the stage for grandslam escape from justice.
“Abaya’s irrational, unthinkable and mind blowing legal opinion that the US military officials and the USS Guardian crew enjoy immunity from suit being on the line of duty at the time the incident took place should be condemned to the highest order,” the two leaders said in a joint statement.
According to Abaya the international practice allows “men at war and warships” to be immune from suit as he ruled out the proposal of Pamalakaya, Anakpawis party list and other groups to file criminal and other appropriate charges against US Navy officials and the 79 crew members of USS Guardian.
“Secretary Abaya is a political hooligan fpr and a rated A apologist and willing puppet of America rolled into one. This official of President Noynoy Aquino like the Chief Executive has no love for country and a ruthless client of Washington DC,” the groups said.
Last week, leaders of Pamalakaya and Anakpawis party list trooped to the Department of Justice (DoJ) and asked Secretary Leila de Lima to bring the “rapists of Tubbataha and grand offenders of people sovereignty to court.
But de Lima said the justice department cannot file charges because they are still waiting for the final outcome on the investigation on Tubbataha Reef environmental disaster.
In their letter to de Lima, the groups said more than 130, 000 hectares of Tubbataha Reef were practically destroyed by the grounding of USS Guardian. The groups noted that it will take 250 years to grow the 300 kinds of corals in the UNESCO declared heritage site and the incident affected the marine life of 1,500 fish species in the protected site.
They asserted the grounding would affect the 800,000 metric ton yearly production in Sulu-Celebes and West Palawan Sea which heavily relies on the productivity of the UNESCO esteemed reef park.
Pamalakaya and Anakpawis party list said the damage created by the USS grounding on Tubbataha will have a strategic negative impact on fish production and livelihood of not less than 100,000 fisherfolk and fish workers in commercial fishing vessels in West Palawan Sea and Sulu-Celebes Sea and adjacent fishing waters in the Visayas and Mindanao.
“The environmental disaster necessitates the filing of formal complaints against the US government, its US Navy offiicals and personnel who figured in the man-made disaster of January 17. It merits the urgent and unconditional pullout of all US troops, American warships and aircraft to prevent more Tubbataha environmental tragedies in the near future.
The reprehensible and extremely sorry situation in Tubbataha Reef merits DoJ endorsement and definite stand in favor of abrogating the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US and the urgent and unconditional pull out of all US troops, warships and aircraft from Philippine territory,” the groups added.