China using PH soil to build structures in WPS, groups claim

EARTH materials sourced from dredging and mining activities in different parts of the country are reportedly being used in reclamation and infrastructure projects of China in the disputed Spratlys Islands in the West Philippine Sea, according to environmental and UP-based groups.

From several areas in Mindanao to McArthur, Leyte, in the Visayas to Cagayan in the northern Philippines, the large-scale mining and unabated dredging, extraction of sand, and filling materials are destroying the country’s natural resources, said the Homonhon Environmental Rescuers Organization (HERO).

The group is also suspecting that “the earth materials, which are considered mining waste, are also being used in reclamation and infrastructure projects of China in the disputed West Philippine Sea.”

The Philippine and China have recently clashed over the presence of Chinese vessels in the Julian Felipe Reef.

“It is very environmentally destructive, unsustainable, and deprives local contractors of quality and affordable sand, gravel, aggregates, and filling materials,” according to Villardo “Billy” Abueme, president of HERO.

Abueme warned that “this is actually worse than invasion. Literally, they are taking Philippine soil out of the country, leaving poor villages, mostly farm communities to pay for the environmental backlash brought by the unsustainable and very destructive extractive activity.”

Intensified China aggression

In a related development, with intensifying aggression of China in the West Philippine Sea, and the recent intrusion of Chinese vessels in the waters off the Julian Felipe Reef, militant youth organization KALikha UP Diliman will hold an online forum to discuss these forms of aggression and its implications to national sovereignty.

“The forum aims to give light to the situations that Filipinos depending on the resources in the West Philippine Sea are facing. Worrying about our fisherfolks and the national sovereignty is a valid and pressing issues, but we also have to remember the long-term environmental damage that China is causing in our territories,” said Amber Quiban, KAlikha’s National Campaign, and Advocacies Officer.

Pillagers of environment

HERO meantime said that these pillagers of our environment are operating all over the country — in the Davao Region, in Central Mindanao, Northern Luzon and other areas in the Visayas.”

Abueme is asking the Senate, particularly Sen. Risa Hontiveros, to conduct an investigation to stop the destructive trade.

It added that it is an irony that local contractors are facing stiff competition for quality filling materials and other earth materials, but exporters are being allowed to freely take out Philippine soil.

“If ever regulation is to be strengthened, it should be on the large quarry operations who feed their produce to giant ocean-going ships who bring these earth materials to China, Taiwan, and where else,” said Abueme.

“The volume of extracted earth materials is staggering at hundreds of millions of cubic meters, loaded into huge ocean-going cargo ships.”

‘WPS is ours’

KALikha UPD Chairperson Camilo De Guzman asserted that “The West Philippine Sea is ours. And no aggression from China can say otherwise. We are not for sale, and we will not watch silently while our fisher folks are being driven out of their fishing grounds further into poverty and hunger, especially during a pandemic.”

In a series of footages, it was revealed that China has been aggressively building artificial islands inside our exclusive economic zone to support their territorial claims.

“We cannot allow China to continuously build these islands over reefs because these will result in loss of habitat for a lot of marine wildlife and the loss of sources of food and livelihood for many Filipinos. These activities have a serious impact on our marine ecosystem. We are already facing a massive environmental crisis,” De Guzman said.

“We support Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ initiative to launch a probe on these activities of China in the West Philippine Sea,” UP College of Arts and Letters Freshies, Shiftees, and Transferees Council Chairperson Danicah Chaves added.

“We have long been demanding for the Senate to investigate these aggressions, especially given the experience of our fisherfolks in Zambales. We hope that we can now have definitive measures in place to protect our national sovereignty and assert the ruling of The Hague that clearly favors us.”

“In the online forum, we aim to talk about how we can all contribute to defending our territories and asserting our national sovereignty while understanding the dynamics of the Philippine-China relationship,” Chaves said. (PR)