Toxic chemicals found in 2 sunken foreign vessels in Palawan

By Redempto Anda
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 17:22:00 04/29/2008

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines — Two abandoned foreign fishing vessels that sank off the city pier apparently due to a lack of maintenance yielded thousands of liters of toxic chemicals used in illegal fishing, city officials disclosed Tuesday.

Personnel of the Bantay Dagat, the environmental enforcement arm of the city government, have so far recovered from the shallow seabed, some 10 to 15 feet from the surface, over 3,000 bottles of toxic chemicals believed to be formalin and sodium cyanide.

GMA to visit Tubbataha

By Alex Villanueva
Philippine News Agency

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is expected to visit the province of Palawan where she will enjoy the adventure at the World Heritage Site-Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park (TRNMP) in the town of Cagayancillo off Sulu Sea.

This was announced by Mayor Edward Hagedorn, who added that President Arroyo is set to dive in the 96,000-hectare Tubbataha, one of the best dive sites in the world.

Amanpulo in a journalist’s eye

The cat is out of the bag in this all-in story about the Amanpulo murder investigation. Having just emerged from a “death defying” series on controversial mining projects in Southern Palawan, I had wanted to lie low for a while with pot boiler stories like the Palawan cherry (whoever thought that that flower we adored was neither Palawan nor cherry?) or file that long overdue piece on the 10th Pagdiwata Arts Festival (ahem… I did a forgettable rendition of Bach’s Prelude to Symphony on A major in classical guitar). But the lure of a major breaking story is to a journalist what a bait is to a fish. Without batting an eyelash, I had to dig into this one.

And yes I did catch the ire of not a few as I read some of the comments in my earlier related posts on the subject. Win some, lose some. But I am pleased with how the story has evolved. It is a legitimate story and I don’t mind being hit by a few interested parties for putting a respectable establishment such as Amanpulo on the spot in this way. It has nothing to do with tourism promotion and it is not a responsibility of journalists to promote tourism by looking the other way when a messy affair such as this one comes to the fore. Journalism is the advocacy for truth, fairness and transparency. Everything else is contextualized by how these big words translate into detail for every story written or told.

I like Pamalican Islands and how the resort is keeping its surroundings free from the usual cyanide and blast fishing that’s been happening all around. I buy the idea that tourism promotion is priority over extractive development like mining. These are personal disclosures and advocacies that as an individual I am entitled to. But this has nothing to do with journalism and the pursuit of a story. At the end of the day, everything settles down and things fall into their proper places. That’s the queer truth of life on this planet. Whatever one does out of commitment or due to a price having paid, the world heals itself.

So I take my hats off Mrs. Abamo who had trusted me without the benefit of seeing me in the flesh, with just my voice on the phone, and opened up with her fears and pains. And all other sources that are better not named in this log entry. And to Amanpulo that has expressed hurt in the publicity that the story has generated, I had extended my apologies. It’s been a long day at the office.

I hope that next week is less stressful and even more fun, with the Palarong Pambansa unfolding in my turf.

Cuyo mayor denies Amanpulo claim

By Redempto Anda
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 21:29:00 04/14/2008

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines — The mayor of Cuyo town denied Monday he ordered the transfer of a dead worker’s body to Metro Manila as claimed by the management of Amanpulo resort, which the police are now investigating for a suspected murder case coverup.

Cuyo Mayor Teodoro Villagracia told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that contrary to the statement issued by an official of Amanpulo resort, he did not order the body to be flown out of the island but instead advised the resort management to secure a health certificate from the Cuyo rural health officer before they could remove the body.

Vietnamese poachers escape Balabac

By Redempto Anda
Phil. Daily Inquirer Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:49:00 04/15/2008

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines — Twenty-one crewmen of a Vietnamese fishing vessel caught allegedly illegally fishing off Palawan’s southern tip of Balabac town escaped detention but left two of their companions in the custody of police.

Municipal officials of Balabac led by Vice Mayor Haji Rudy Mohamad Ain reported that they apprehended the fishing vessel Quang Mei Sunday morning while fishing within Philippine waters between Mangsee and Lombocan Islands.

Underground river in ’seven new wonders’ search

By Redempto Anda
Phil. Daily Inquirer, Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 22:18:00 04/13/2008

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines–The Puerto Princesa Underground River National Park, a vast limestone cave complex some two hours north of the city center that attracts thousands of tourists every year, has made it to a list of candidates for the New Seven Wonders of the World search.

The city government has embarked on a campaign to make the cut of 77 nominees by yearend via Internet voting, and get into the second round of selection for the top 21 nature sites to be announced in January.

“I’m confident we will make the cut even before the end of the year. After all, our underground river is very popular locally and abroad,” Mayor Edward Hagedorn said in an interview Sunday.

A second round of Internet-based voting will be held for the remaining 21 candidates starting in January next year and will culminate with the official declaration by the organizers of the New Seven Wonders of the World by year 2010.

Also known as the St. Paul’s Underground River, the tourist attraction consists of 8.2 kilometers of winding narrow waterways emptying into the South China Sea. Local tourism officials claim it is the longest navigable underground river in the world,

The search is organized by the nonprofit New Seven Wonders Foundation.

The same group also undertook the “New Seven Wonders of the World” search that ended last year.

Puerto Princesa’s underground river joins three other nominees from the Philippines led by the Chocolate Hills of Bohol, the Tubbataha Reefs also in Palawan and Mayon Volcano in the Bicol region.

The Chocolate Hills and Tubbataha currently share the limelight in the top 10 of the list composed of nearly 300 nominees.

Mayon Volcano, which was ranked 21st a week ago was delisted by organizers for voting after entry requirements were clarified with the organizers, but is expected to be back online.

Tubbataha, which was nominated by the Department of Tourism, was also delisted last week but got back online after resolving questions on requirements also raised by the organizers.

Anyone who has access to the Internet may cast their vote by logging on to the website www.new7wonders.com.

Palawan to bid for longest seafood grill record

Alex Villanueva of Philippine News Agency reported this week that Palawan will aim for the world record on the “longest seafood grill” during the annual Baragatan Festival in June.

Excerpts from the PNA Story:

Baragatan is a convergence and coming together of the people of Palawan to celebrate its history and rich culture which highlight events like trade and food fair, street dancing, cultural shows of different municipalities, the private sector and the ethnic groups.

A murder probe in Amanpulo

This is the story on the Amanpulo murder investigation that I filed for the Inquirer yesterday but never saw print. This was supposed to be a scoop. Interestingly, no national media outlet has come up with the story as of this posting, although I heard that ABS-CBN is sending a TV news crew.

(update: after two days of waiting, i rewrote and refiled this story and it came out finally 4/12/2008. here’s the link - RDA)

By Redempto Anda,
For the Inquirer Southern Luzon Bureau

One of the country’s most exclusive and high prized luxury island resorts, the Amanpulo, has found itself in the middle of a murder investigation following the release last Saturday of subpoenas against its manager, a foreign national, and several others for the mysterious death of a construction worker early this year.

Government prosecutors have filed murder and obstruction of justice charges against the resort’s general manager, Miguel Guedes de Sousa and five others including Eastern Police Superintendent Manuel Aranas.

Apart from De Sousa and Aranas, also charged were: Engr. Santi Geronimo, Engr. Simplicio Sambrano, Robert Hauchian, Capt. Mike Syjuco (company pilot), Choi de Leon, Sonny Rodriguez and Cesar Padilla (resort’s chief of security).

Amanpulo resort, located in Pamalican Island off Cuyo, Palawan 360 kilometers South of Manila in the Sulu Sea is one of the country’s most expensive island resorts that had included Holywood stars and famous personalities among its guests

RP nature sites improve ranking in 7 wonders search

By Alex Villanueva, Philippine News Agency

The country’s three nature sites have dramatically improved their respective ranking in the ongoing worldwide search for the “New Seven Wonders of Nature”.

The Chocolate Hills, an unusual geological formation in Bohol, is currently ranked number 8th in Tuesday’s live ranking among the top 77 nature sites posted at the New Seven Wonders of Nature website.

The Chocolate Hills, composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills, has solicited support from Filipinos, not only from the Philippines, but worldwide.

On the other hand, the Tubbataha Reef, an atoll coral reef in the Sulu Sea, is occupying the 10th position in the ranking.

Snake island to be privatized

By Redempto Anda
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 23:54:00 04/07/2008

PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – Snake Island in Honda Bay, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Palawan, may soon be privatized following a decision of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) to endorse the application of a sauna parlor owner to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The PCSD, chaired by Gov. Joel T. Reyes, overwhelmed the environmental lobby bloc of the Palawan NGO Network Inc. in a meeting on March 28 to endorse the proposal of Rolando Asis of Quezon City to set up a private bathing establishment on the 80,000-square-meter island.

It gave an environmental clearance that would pave the way for the issuance by the DENR of an environmental compliance certificate.