Roque: Palace checking reports on dumping of human waste in West Philippine Sea

Malacañang said Wednesday that the Duterte administration is verifying reports that Chinese vessels were dumping human feces in the West Philippine Sea.

“We will verify. We will reply when it is verified. Matagal na po tayong naninindigan na hindi basurahan at siyempre, hindi kubeta ang Pilipinas [We have long been standing up for the fact that our country is not a trash bin and definitely not a toilet],” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

Also, Roque said the presence of Chinese vessels in West Philippine Sea should not be immediately taken as an act of aggression.

“We should accord our neighbors, friends, presumption of good faith,” Roque added.

“We should be reasonable, we should verify before talking back because otherwise, tayo ang mapapahiya (that would be embarrassing for us),” Roque pointed out.

Human waste and sewage from hundreds of Chinese ships anchored in the South China Sea and parts of the West Philippine Sea are causing massive marine damage to the resource-rich waters, a US-based expert said Monday.

Liz Derr, founder and CEO of Simularity, which specializes in geospatial analysis and provides satellite data imagery, revealed that Chinese ships have been dumping raw sewage every day for several years on reefs, creating harmful Chlorophyll-a blooms in the waters.

“It is so intense you can see it from space,” Derr told an online forum hosted by the Stratbase ADR Institute on the 5th anniversary of the Philippines’ landmark arbitral tribunal victory against China.

Back in July 2016, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected China’s expansive claims and ruled that the Spratly Islands, Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, and Recto (Reed) Bank are within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

The same Hague court decision stemmed from a case filed by the Philippines against China.

But Beijing rejected the Hague-based international court's ruling in favor of the Philippines, as China refused to be part of the  arbitration process. —LBG/BM, GMA News