US Navy spent at least P1.8B for removal of USS Guardian

The US Navy has spent at least $48 million or P1.8 billion for the salvage work on the grounded minesweeper USS Guardian, which got stuck on Tubbataha Reef for at least 10 weeks, a television report said Wednesday.

 

A report by GMA News' Raffy Tima aired over GMA News TV's Balitanghali quoted US Navy officials as saying that the amount may still increase as the operation has yet to be finished although the stern of the USS Guardian has been lifted off the reef.

 

Among the biggest expenses of the US Navy is the purchase of supposedly one of the most advanced crane ships in the world, which does not need an anchor to stay in one place and makes use of a global positioning system (GPS) to get to a location, Tima reported.

 

Aside from this, he said that a foreign salvage operator was also hired although some Filipino divers were also involved.

 

 

Eduardo Mahinay, a diver from Dutch maritime firm SMIT International, said it was hard to conduct the operations because the USS Guardian was only a few meters away from the bottom of the sea. He likewise said they had to manually remove some parts using chainsaws, although careful not to spill oil into the water.

 

"Siyempre Tubbataha Reef [yun], kami Filipino kami kaya ayaw rin namin masira [yun] personal na rin kaya nilinis namin nang husto," Mahinay said.

 

According to US Navy Captain Curtis Gilbert, they will tow the USS Guardian to their facility in Sasebo, Japan.

 

"We'll take a look if there's any salvageable parts of the remains of the ship and after that we will dispose of whatever remains in it," he said in the report.

 

Meanwhile, members of the Tubbataha Management Office on Wednesday night left Puerto Princesa, Palawan on board the World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) research vessel MV Navorca to assess the extent of the damage on the reef.

 

Tima quoted them as saying that the TMO will use markers and GPS to assess the damage while the US Navy will help using high resolution aerial photography.

 

He said the data from both teams will be combined to determine how much the US will have to pay the Philippines as compensation.  

 

 

An initial investigation showed that the ship had damaged about 4,000 square meters (43,055 square feet) of the reef, famous for its rich marine life that divers say rivals that of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

 

TMO head Angelique Songco said the law states that a fine of P24,000 per square meter is required for the damage and restoration, which means the US will have to pay at least P96 million.

 

Songco had earlier been quoted as saying that the damage caused by the USS Guardian was the worst recorded in the history of the park. — with Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News