PHILIPPINES (28 May 2003) -- WHO was that marauder at Tubbataha? Many friends and colleagues called, all outraged and indignant. A master diver from Boracay sent a text message – Tony Ang no doubt! Last Tuesday, I wrote about a wealthy, Mercedes Benz franchise-holder who, in his fancy yacht, sailed right into the Tubbataha Reef sanctuary to harpoon protected species which were probably served as "pulutan" for his evening revelries. That was what Mr. Car Dealer, Tony Ang, blurted out when apprehended for defying two presidential proclamations. He was going to eat his catch anyway, so what's your problem? The problem is that, Mr. Tony Ang is a pompous recidivist. He had been caught several times foraging the Tubbataha sanctuary but continued to do so with impunity, until three weeks ago. And an even greater problem is that the Tiara II, his US$4million yacht, is a registered Auxiliary Coast Guard vessel, numbered PCC Aux101332. There are no adjectives contemptible enough to describe Ang's criminal acts so let me use Pres. G. Arroyo's own words – Heads must roll!. Owners of registered sea vessels receive a kit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which enjoins them not to violate protected areas, natural parks and marine sanctuaries found in Philippine waters. Obviously, Mr. Ang considered himself too important to bother with bureaucratic pulp so he must have thrown it away. | | PADI course director Hernel Castillo caught with poachers at Apo Reef marine reserve. However, there is an appalling detail in Mr. Ang's most recent assault on Tubbataha's Apo Reef. Among the devotees of Bacchus carousing aboard the Tiarra II was a certain Hernel Castillo, a course director of no less than the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI). People like Mr. Castillo know about presidential proclamations and laws that protect marine sanctuaries. They teach would-be divers never to touch corals, to shoot only photographs and bring nothing back but happy memories of our underwater paradise. Apparently, he does not practice what he preaches. According to testimonies of the WWF people, (complainants of the case filed against Ang et. al.) Mr. Castillo was kneeling on a coral formation while taking an underwater video of Ang and cronies lassoing a marble manta ray, bagging crabs and lobsters and spearing enormous groupers. Mr. Castillo insisted that he was merely filming, not killing and was brought to Tubbataha to teach the Ang nephews scuba diving. PADI should expel and disbar that scoundrel. |
