Tweeps sad and angry over the rape of our ocean

It was just heart-breaking to see this stuffed turtle not to mention the devastation of an entire “reef complex”—almost twice as big as Manila—off the coast of Cotabato province when they harvested more than 21,000 pieces of black coral and killed 161 endangered turtles and other marine life, officials said Tuesday.

@louishguinez asks “Headlines screaming destruction of Coral Reef 2x the size of Manila! DENR, COast guard..who should we blame?”

Batman, who commented in the Inquirer feature story asks “ My BIG QUESTION is How come, making a harvest and RAPING a reef area of around 7,000 hectares has not been seen by the Navy, Coast Guard, local officials? This did not happen in one hour but in a prolonged period. Or, they simply chose to look the other way around. The people involved in protecting this area SHOULD also be included in the charge sheet for this illegal case — not only the traders and financiers of this heinous criminal project”

The “rape of our oceans” is just unbelievable and outrageous. I wrote more about this in “The Plunder of Philippine Marine Life” about the series of raids that happened in the recent weeks. It started with a tweet from @xxxriainxxx followed by blog entries from yours truly, @cocoy and @tonyocruz, then letters to government agencies by @annaoposa until something big had to explode on national news before DENR had to take action.

The outrage and action to stop the murder in the seas are shown in hashtag #reefwatchPH.