US Accused of Skirting Responsibilities for Egregious Philippine Reef Disaster
Published on Thursday, April 25, 2013 by Common Dreams
US Accused of Skirting Responsibilities for Egregious Philippine Reef Disaster
'I don’t buy their alibi' says Philippine Senator
- Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer
The United States is trying to skirt its responsibility to pay for damages after a US Navy minesweeper rammed into a pristine coral reef in the Philippines, a Filipino advocacy group and lawmaker warned this week.
Philippine Senator Chiz Escudero said on Wednesday that the United States should “pay up in cash” instead of the suggestion that the U.S. would instead merely pay that already meager fines “in kind"—meaning donations or aid loans, the Manila Standard reports.
“I insist that the US government pays up in cash. The suggestions that they would settle their obligations through donations or aid loans are not acceptable. They should follow what the Philippine law required for the incident,” Escudero said in a statement.
Escudero added:
I don’t buy the alibi given by the US Navy that the compass of the vessel failed to function and it lost its way when it rammed the reef, even Christopher Columbus used only a compass in discovering the New World. How can a modern American war vessel be sailing aimlessly?
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/04/25-10
