PRESIDENT Benigno S. Aquino III wants a concerted and “proactive” effort between the Philippine Navy and concerned government agencies with its counterparts in the United States in salvaging and extracting the USS Guardian, a U.S. Navy Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship, that ran aground in the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu sea last Thursday (January 17), Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio “Jun” Aguinaldo Abaya said on Monday.
In a press briefing in Malacanang, Abaya said the President instructed the Task Force to look into the cause of the ship’s grounding to ensure that no more “additional damage” happens to the reef considered as a national treasure.
The Task Force, Abaya said, is composed of representatives from the Coast Guard, the Philippine Navy, the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command and the DOTC.
“The President is mindful of that national treasure that we have – the very asset of the Tubbataha Reef and he wanted to make sure that we be proactive in this: that we minimize damage, that we have close coordination with the Americans, that we should not just allow them to conduct their salvage operations on their own,” Abaya said.
He added that DOTC undersecretary Eduardo Oban, Jr. and Philippine Navy Admiral Jose Luis Alano will soon be meeting with Rear Adm. Thomas Carney, commander of the Logistics Group Western Pacific to discuss salvaging and extracting operations for the USS Guardian.
He said among the steps to be taken to remove the vessel and protect the reef from further damage include, assessing, de-fueling, re-floating and installing oil-spill booms around the area to prevent oil and fuel from spreading. (PCOO/I-gg)