Submarine owner No corals hit independent probe called

The operator of the Cebu Yellow Submarine yesterday denied that the underwater vessel had hit corals in Mactan.

The “cloud of dust” seen in a YouTube video giving the impression of impact was caused by the motion of the submarine’s propellers, they said in a press conference. “There are two stabilizer propellers in front of the craft and a main propeller at the rear end of the submarine. Dust seen on the cliff overhang is not proof of an actual crash into the reef wall,” said Angie Escaño, spokesperson of the Cebu Yellow Submarine and Undersea Tour Corp. which launched the new tour a month ago. Escaño faced the media with Jun Kim, Cebu Yellow Submarine general manager, and safety operations manager Anelito Gabisan, former commander of the Philippine Coast Guard station in Cebu.

The press conference came a day after Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza suspended its business permit and issued a cease and desist order on the company, gving it five days to explain the incident after the video taken by a diver went viral on the Internet. John Melendrez, a professional Cebu diver, told the tour operators to come up with measures to prevent accidents such as the one in the video from happening. “They want a win-win situation? They should work with the divers. The reef is the divers’ area,” he said told reporters.

Gabisan, in a separate interview, said there was “no need” for a marine protest to be filed with the Marina and that if parties question the findings, there should be “an independent body” to look into what happened.

Lapu-Lapu city officials who earlier said the submarine “sideswiped” a wall of corals near the Kontiki area, have ordered a team of scuba divers to inspect the site. A notice was sent last Friday to the company but no reply was received, prompting the mayor to suspend the business permit on Monday.

Escaño denied this, saying they immediately responded with a letter on the same day that a notice of violation was issued to them. She said they “find no need” to make a second letter to the mayor. “For us the corals are very important and there is no reason for us to destroy our business. No coral, no fish, no marine life, which means no business, no livelihood for the Filipinos and no tourism,” Kim said.

Escaño said their company is committed to provide livelihood growth local jobs through tourism and foster public awareness on the need to preserve marine life. “It is unfortunate that 100 percent of the viewers believed that the submarine crashed the corals,” Escaño said.

The Yellow Submarine is the first to operate in the country. There are no existing rules and regulations pertaining to any submersible crafts.

The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) only gave a temporary permit to sail for a month pending the rules.

The permit expired last Friday, April 26. Gabisan said they are open to any investigation.

Tthe video of the submarine supposedly crashing into a coral was posted by a certain Satoshi Toyoda on YouTube and it went viral, generating more than 4,000 comments. Gabisan said based on their internal investigation, their vessel did not hit the coral. Escaño said the crunching sound heard on the video was a sound of air being released from the six air tanks within the submarine.

Escaño said this allows the vessel to control its buoyancy.

“It was not a sound resulting from the submarine actually crashing the reef wall,” she said.

But diver Rudy Balbuena, who is formerly connected with Philippine Commission on Sports Scuba Diving (PCSSD) and organizer of ‘Save the Reef’ program of a group of divers believe the video speaks for itself.

“I have friends who are divers, members of Save the Reef who were telling me before Holy Week that it actually crashed into the corals. They really called it coral crushers but they (operators) are just defending it,” Balbuena said.

Balbuena said he has been diving in Mactan's waters for many years and has not seen a coral overhang as described by the by the Cebu Yellow Submarine operators.

“There is no big overhang over here. Maybe in Balicasag but not here,” Balbuena said. Escano insisted that they always keep a six-meter distance from the corals to assure that these won’t be damaged.

Balbuena also warned that Mactan has a strong current and deep trench that divers are wary of.

“We have two knots (speed) of current over here (in Mactan) but the submarine is maintaining a one knot speed so the tourists can take a look at the view and they get too close to the corals,” Balbuena said. /Marian Z. Codilla, Senior Reporter