China denies that they dump human waste or human excrement into the West Philippine Sea (WPS), which allegedly destroys coral reefs and marine ecosystems.
“This is one of the best jokes recently. China strongly condemns the US firm who distorts facts, violates professional ethics, and maliciously starts rumors to denigrate China,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
On Monday, the Simularity group released a report showing satellite images of Chinese fishing boats anchored on Spratly Island allegedly releasing human excrement.
“The sewage from the anchored ships in the Spratlys is damaging the reefs, and we can see this from space,” said Simularity chief executive Liz Derr at a Stratbase ADR Institute forum.
In satellite images over the past five years, Derr said debris from Chinese ships had created thick Chlorophyll-a that has caused “reef damage that will take decades to recover even with active mitigation.”
However, some government officials said the Simularity report was fake news.
China denies dumping human waste in West Philippine Sea
Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it was ready to investigate what China was allegedly doing.
DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said the Philippine Coast Guard team was supposed to leave for the West Philippine Sea on Thursday to investigate but was postponed due to strong currents.
He also said that the DENR team would conduct water sampling to ensure that the water in the area is clean.
If the report is proven to be true and violations of environmental laws, the DENR will immediately contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and the West Philippine Sea task force for action.
“Basically this is the jurisdiction of PCG, but again if it will destroy our biodiversity then DENR will come in… Alam naman po natin na may geopolitics na nangyayari po diyan but again we will insist on implementing our jurisdiction on this territory wherein gagawin po natin ang nararapat sa ating bansa,” said Antiporda.
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