Solons call for probe into China ships allegedly dumping human waste in West Philippine Sea

Two progressive lawmakers on Tuesday slammed the supposed dumping of human waste in parts of the West Philippine Sea by some Chinese vessels. 

In a press statement, Gabriela party-list Representative Arlene Brosas said this was the "most visually brazen mockery of our sovereignty." The lawmaker said the matter should be looked into. 

"Is this Beijing's disgusting toast to Duterte's 'piece of paper' remark on the Hague ruling, by allowing its vessels to dump human waste on West Philippine Sea?" Brosas said. 

"Dapat na masusi at kagyat na imbestigahan ang pagtatapon ng dumi ng tao ng mga barko ng Tsina sa ating katubigan — na nagdudulot ng pinsala sa ating likas-yaman. Hindi tayo papayag na maging inidoro lang ng mga banyagang barko," she added.

According to Brosas, she will file a House resolution to call for an investigation into the incident. 

"We will file a House resolution to investigate the findings made by US-based tech firm Simularity on the dumping of feces on the portions of the West Philippine Sea," she said. 

Bayan Muna party-list Representative Eufemia Cullamat raised a concern about this practice, noting that it will only bring harm to the Philippines' maritime resources. 

"Kapuna-puna itong pagtatapon ng dumi ng tao ng malalaking barko ng Tsina sa karagatan ng ating bansa, malaki ang idudulot nitong kapinsalaan sa ating yaman karagatan. Maraming mangingisda ay nahihirapan sa agresyon ng Tsina sa West Philippine Sea, ngayon ginagawa na tayong inodoro ng Tsina," she said. 

Cullamat called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to probe the matter, stressing that the national government must act on this to protect the country's sovereignty. 

"Napakalaking sampal ito sa ating pambansang soberanya. Habang naninikluhod ang administrasyong Duterte sa Tsina, tinatambak ng Tsina ang kanilang mga tae at dumi sa ating karagatan," she said. 

"Kagyat na agarang imbestigahan ito ng DENR at solusyonan itong nagaganap na pamiminsala ng malalaking barko ng Tsina sa ating teritoryo. Agaran na gawan ng aksyon ng gobyerno ito. Protektahan natin ang ating soberanya," she added. 

Liz Derr, founder and CEO of Simularity, bared that Chinese vessels have been dumping raw sewage every day for several years on reefs in the resource-rich area, creating harmful Chlorophyll-a blooms in the waters.

Simularity specializes in geospatial analysis and provides satellite data imagery. 

Derr's findings indicated that the damage brought by the dumping of human wastes would "take decades to recover even with active mitigation." —KG, GMA News