A little over a week ago, we shared a tragic story of a large coal carrying ship that ran aground on Bakud Reef in the southern Philippines. Fast forward a few days, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) wants the owners of the MV Double Prosperity to not only pay for damage to the coral reef, but also the “total value of marine products that have been lost because of the accident computed and charged against the owners of the ship”. The estimated damage to the reef is P42 million, which is just shy of $970000. However, this is not the amount that the Environment Secretary is seeking. Instead, the secretary is seeking computation of penalty on the value of lost marine life that would remain nonexistent for 20 years. This is thought to be the minimum amount of time needed before the corals can repopulate the damaged area.
More more information on the ship wreck, please visit Business Mirror.
