Tubbataha and Anwar Ibrahim

By DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘The damage the Chinese vessel caused to the reef is heart-breaking. Some of the massive corals that were pulverized are estimated to be about 500 years old.’

Strange but true. The F/V Min Long Yu, a much smaller Chinese fishing vessel that was stuck on the Tubbathaha Reef, a UNECO World Heritage Site caused worse damage than the US minesweeper, USS Guardian which had run aground earlier,

The Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) said this was the finding of a team of scientists that analyzed the damage caused by the F/V Min Long Yu.

The Chinese vessel destroyed 3,902 square meters of corals —including some massive corals 500 years old. This is 66 percent more damage than the 2,345.67 square meters damaged by the USS Guardian when it ran aground Jan. 17.

“The damage the Chinese vessel caused to the reef is heart-breaking. Some of the massive corals that were pulverized are estimated to be about 500 years old,” Tubbataha Protected Area superintendent Angelique Songco says.

The USS Guardian measures 224 feet by 39 feet, while the Chinese fishing vessel was only 48 meters long and eight meters wide.

Dr. Wilfredo Licuanan of De La Salle University (DLSU) led the team that conducted the assessment from April 23 to 30.

In the team were marine biologists Miledel Christine Quibilan, Eznairah Jeung Narida and Renmar Martinez from the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute and Norievel España of DLSU.

Also with the team were the Automated Rapid Reef Assessment System team (Philippine Department of Science and Technology), World Wildlife Fund-Philippines, Tubbataha Management Office and marine park rangers.

The TMO says the damage extended from the original location of the F/V Min Long Yu when it ran aground on April 8. Big waves caused the vessel to move from its original position before it was pulled off the reef after 11 days.

“It bulldozed through vibrant coral reefs leaving a highway of destruction in its wake,” says the TMO.

The TMO sent an official communication to the Chinese Embassy and the Department of Foreign Affairs seeking assistance in identifying the person or company liable.

So far, no response from the Chinese.

The 12 Chinese on board have been charged with poaching and possession of protected species, as well as for attempting to bribe park rangers.

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What I would like to know is what our local Communists and their sympathizers (who wanted the entire crew of the USS Guardian hanged and the US government to apologize) are saying now. Should the Chinese also be hanged and fined much more than they wanted the United States to pay? After all, the Chinese caused more damage than the Americans did..

At least the US dismantled their vessel. We haven’t heard even one peep from our local Commies or the official Chinese who even ignore the TMO’s official communications.

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I fully agree with Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda’s answer to threats made by the communist rebels that they will intensify their attacks after the government announced the end to peace talks:

“They have not really ceased attacking the government since formal talks started more than 20 years ago.

“You can characterize the position taken by the NDF in four words, and with due respect to the novel by Ian Fleming, ‘Chatty-Chatty-Bang-Bang.’ We talk while violence continues.”

Lacierda was referring to Fleming’s novel, “Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car.”

“The violence being perpetrated by the NPA has never stopped. So this is nothing new. The armed forces is always ready,” he adds.

What we should do is consult the Malaysians and the Indonesians who have no more Communist insurgencies or insurgents in their countries. Basically, these Asean neighbors ruthlessly wiped out their Communists. By talking to what are in essence mainly bandits, our government has weakened its position with its own people. The bandits have been recognized as an opposition force, which it is really not. They are just plain criminals posing as ideologues.

They are our enemies — bandits who will help the Communist Chinese if they ever will invade our country. Wiping them out now, while we still can is the only way to go!

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Malaysia had its elections Sunday, May 5.

The former heir-apparent in the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Anwar Ibrahim is today its most feared enemy.

Anwar, a Rizal scholar, now 65, says:

“I just want to prove that you can run the country with good governance, eliminate corruption… and make Malaysia a mature democracy.”

UMNO has towered over Malaysia through a coalition government since independence from Britain in 1957, but now faces rising pressure over corruption and authoritarian tactics.

Much of the credit for the changing landscape goes to the mercurial Anwar, whose charisma, oratorical skills and appeal across multi-ethnic Malaysia’s racial lines breathes life into a once-hapless opposition.

His three-party Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Pact) faces a formidable, dug-in foe; yet many analysts see the result of Sunday’s polls as too close to call.

Anwar was an Islamic student leader who was taken in by former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who dominated Malaysia for 22 years and fast-tracked Anwar to the top.

Anwar looked set to succeed Mahathir.

But a 1998 power struggle between them, in which Anwar criticized cronyism and graft, saw Anwar sacked and later jailed on sodomy and corruption charges widely seen as politically motivated.

Anwar says he was kept in solitary confinement, singing 1960s pop tunes to stay sane and reading the Koran, the Bible, Shakespeare — anything he could get.

Released in 2004 when the sodomy charge was overturned, he later led the opposition to its best showing ever in 2008 polls, taking more than a third of parliament.

Now in the clear, Anwar predicts victory and sweeping change for Malaysia.

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Anwar Ibrahim is a personal friend of Joseph Estrada, who was also jailed on trumped-up charges and is also about to take over the City of Manila.

He has pledged to root out rampant graft, free government-controlled traditional media and reform policies that give advantages to Malays but are criticized as a drag on the economy and a source of racial resentment.

A former finance minister, he advocates populist social and economic policies savaged by UMNO as fiscally irresponsible.

He insists, however, that attacking corruption and curbing illicit money outflows from Malaysia — which total billions of dollars a year will fund its agenda.

“Just by being transparent, we can achieve our goals,” he says.

The latest report of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project shows there are at least 28,593 “voters of foreign origin” on the electoral roll, most of them concentrated in Sabah and Selangor, both of which are considered to be important states in the elections.

The Selangor state government, led by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition, alleges that 28 percent of the 440,000 new voters in Selangor who have registered since the last elections cannot be identified. All attempts by the state government to have the election commission investigate or even hear the complaints have failed.

Anwar could still lose, however. Their elections are, apparently, still very much like what we had during the Marcos years and prior. For instance, for the first time in Malaysian elections. indelible ink is applied to a voter’s nail to make sure that there are no flying voters.

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Joy Cortes Delos Reyes, the Editor-in-Chief of Malaya Business Insight passed away May 3, 2013. He was 59. His remains will be brought from his home town of Balete, Aklan to Manila and a wake held from tonight, May 7 to Friday, May 10 at the University of the Philippines Chapel in UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Dick Sinchongco, radio reporter for DZRH and UNTV, also died. His wake at St. Joseph Chapel at Mt. Carmel Shrine, New Manila, started yesterday. The body will be transferred tomorrow to the EIMELF (Iglesia Evangelica Metodista En Las Islas Filipinas) Chapel in Sta. Rosa. Burial is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 1:30 pm at the Sta. Rosa Cemetery.

Both Joy and Dick were also among my golf buddies.

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