More Chinese ships may be dumping waste at sea

CHINESE ships could also be dumping human wastes in other parts of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines, US-based geospatial imagery firm Simularity, Inc. said on Thursday.

Simularity’s earlier report showing swarms of Chinese ships anchored in Philippine-claimed areas in the South China Sea dumping human waste only covered Union Banks, founder and Chief Executive Officer Liz Derr told a virtual forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

“That was just for the 236 ships that we saw in Union Banks in June,” she said. “There are actually more ships in the Spratlys that I did not count, the ones in Gaven or Thitu.”

Ms. Derr noted that based on their calculations, 2,596 pounds or more than a ton of human wastes were being dumped around the Spratly and Paracel Islands daily.

She also asked Philippine authorities to validate their report. “I wholeheartedly encourage the government to validate our findings, question our findings, understand the science and see for themselves.”

She issued the call after Philippine authorities downplayed the firm’s report that human waste and wastewater have accumulated at Union Banks in the resource-rich Spratly Islands, where more than 200 Chinese ships have moored.

Ms. Derr said there are ways to address the issue that would not lead to an “international incident.”

Environment Undersecretary and spokesman Benny D. Antiporda on Wednesday downplayed the report, saying the image showed not waste discharge but most probably oil spill.

Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana also questioned the report, saying it was only based on multi-spectral satellite images.

“We’ve done this from space because that’s really all anybody can do right now because the area is really militarized,” Ms. Derr said.

She earlier said the raw sewage had led to the overgrowth of harmful algae in the disputed area, threatening marine life and damaging corals.

Mr. Lorenzana has said concerned agencies were verifying the report.

Meanwhile, a group of congressmen has filed a resolution calling on the House committees on aquaculture and foreign affairs to investigate the report.

“The constant dumping of human waste and sewage of vessels seriously destroys the reefs and marine life in the West Philippine Sea,” members of the Makabayan block said in the resolution, referring to areas of the sea within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

“This could lead to a decrease in food supply and could eventually result in a hunger crisis for the entire world since the West Philippine Sea is a source of food for migratory fish,” they added.

Senator Ralph G. Recto said he asked the government to verify the Simularity report and file charges in court if needed. He said  the government could not fine sidewalk litterers while turning a blind eye to this.

Mr. Recto noted that ships are barred by domestic and international laws from dumping their trash in the oceans.

Under Philippine laws, such are environmental crimes that carry a jail term and a hefty fine, he said. Even without these laws, decent human behavior commands civilized men not to turn rich fishing grounds into a “cesspool of feces,” he added.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. has branded the report as fake.

Simularity on Wednesday said its reports were not intended to be political. “But due to their topics and players involved, it’s easy to let emotions and other biases affect the way reports are interpreted,” it said in a statement.

Ms. Derr told a separate forum this week she could not immediately verify if the ships were from China, but said the Philippine Coast Guard had taken numerous photos of these ships since March “and they are clearly Chinese.”

“I can only say there is a very high probability that the ships in the images are Chinese,” she added. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza