US Pays Out 'Peanuts' for Eco-Crime Committed in Philippines

The United States was required to pay just a paltry amount for an environmental crime and violation of the Philippines’ sovereignty.

That’s what critics are saying of the U.S. payout to the Philippines as compensation for damages a U.S. Navy minesweeper caused to a World Heritage-listed coral reef two years ago.

As Common Dreams previously reported:

The Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Wednesday that the Philippine government received on January 20, 2015 the full amount requested from the United States—$1.9 million—as compensation.

But Philippines-based environmental activist group Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan PNE) said that amount is inadequate, as their studies have indicated that $17-27 million is order to cover environmental rehabilitation for the reef.

“The said financial compensation is not enough to release the U.S. from their liabilities and absolve the U.S. Navy for the crime that the U.S. Navy did in Tubbataha. The U.S. Navy not only incurred considerable damage to our world heritage site, they also clearly violated our Philippine sovereignty and laws,” Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan PNE, said in a press statement.

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT