Malacañang is awaiting results on the probe into reports that Chinese vessels are dumping raw sewage into contested areas of the South China Sea.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque emphasized that it is important to accord China the “presumption of good faith” while the Philippine authorities are verifying the waste dumping issue.
“The responsible answer is we’re verifying first. We will react if it’s been verified. We have to accord our neighbors and our friends the presumption of good faith when they say something about an issue of fact,” Roque said in a Palace press briefing.
He added that the Palace is only being “responsible” before releasing statements.
Roque said the Philippines, particularly in the case of Canada, only condemned it for illegally shipping tons of garbage to Manila from 2013 to 2014 after verifying reports.
“Responsable lang po tayo kasi dapat i-verify muna bago magputak. Nung na-verify naman po natin na nagexport ng basura ang Canada sa’tin pinabalik natin ang basura natin sa Canada (We are only being responsible because we have to verify first before speaking. When we vertified that Canada exported wastes here, we had them returned to Canada). No ifs, no buts,” he said.
In May 2019, the Philippines started returning dozens of shipping containers full of trash to Canada.
This, after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to sail with the waste and leave it in Canadian waters.
Roque said the government will never allow the country to be made into a dumping site of foreigners.
“Matagal na po tayo naninindigan na hindi basurahan at siyempre hindi kubeta ang Pilipinas. Tignan muna natin kung mayroong katotohanan dahil kung wala naman, di tayo ang mapapahiya (We have long stood on the fact that the country is not a dumping site and of course not a toilet. Let’s see first if there is truth to these reports because if there are none, we would be embarrassed),” he added.
In the same Palace briefing, Philippine Coast Spokesperson Commodore Armando Balilo said the PCG is coordinating with other government agencies to verify the reports, noting that there is not yet a timeline for the results of the investigation.
“We’re just checking kung ano yung available at ang importante rito ay maging credible kung sakali pong meron ma-find out dun sa pagi-inquire (We’re checking what is available and what is important is if this becomes credible through our inquiry),” Balilo said.
If the reports of dumping of human waste are confirmed, he said it will be a “challenge” for the PCG to clean the areas as majority of their ships are designed for patrolling and only a few are used in marine environmental protection.
“PCG po ay coastal areas makaka-tugon po tayo. Pero pagdating sa high seas magiging challenge po sa atin ito (The PCG can respond in coastal areas. But in the high seas it will be a challenge),” Balilo said.
On Tuesday, the Department of National Defense (DND) said it is currently looking into reports of alleged human waste dumping by Chinese vessels in the WPS.
“We have taken note of the news circulating online about the alleged dumping of waste in the South China Sea. Be that as it may, I have directed the Western Command who has jurisdiction over the WPS to verify and investigate,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement.
Liz Derr, US-based expert and founder and CEO of Simularity, which specializes in geospatial analysis and provides satellite data imagery, on Monday revealed that Chinese ships have been dumping raw sewage every day for several years on reefs, creating harmful chlorophyll blooms in the waters.
“It is so intense you can see it from space,” Derr told an online forum hosted by the Stratbase ADR Institute on the 5th anniversary of the Philippines’ landmark arbitral tribunal victory against China on July 12.
China, which has long laid claim over nearly the entire South China Sea, has expanded its military presence in the area by turning several former reefs into artificial islands.
On July 12, 2016, the Philippines won the arbitration case it lodged against China after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands invalidated Beijing’s nine-dash line claim over the contested waters.
However, China refused to acknowledge the arbitral ruling and instead ramped up its militarization.
Apart from the Philippines and China, also laying claim to parts of the contested sea are Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Source: Philippines News Agency
