More than four months after it was first reported, closure on the waste dumping issue seemed at hand.
Okay, for those just coming out of hibernation, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Philippines (“Glenn Defense”), a US Navy contractor and member of the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (“Subic Chamber”), was alleged to have dumped ship waste into waters abutting Subic Bay. This issue hugged the frontpage of newspapers for several weeks, prompting investigations by a number of government agencies. It even prompted a Senate inquiry.
For its part, the Subic Chamber issued a membership suspension to Glenn Defense a few days after the initial report.
We have a case on our hands, and we need to know if indeed, violations were committed or not, and what to do with Glenn Defense’s status of SBFCC membership either way.
We conducted a thorough investigation of our own, including the commissioning of additional laboratory analyses. This culminated in a report on 2 December 2012 titled, “INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION FINDINGS of the Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce In Relation to the Alleged Waste Dumping by its Member, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Philippines Inc.”
The report was sent to all Chamber members and is still available in downloadable PDF format in our online forum. The Philippine Senate and the US Navy both obtained copies of the aforementioned report. In fact, some members of the Subic Chamber’s Environment Committee were even invited to the Senate inquiry as resource persons.
The Senate committees in charge of the investigation, the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources and the Committee on Foreign Relations headed by Senator Loren Legarda, completed their investigation in early February 2013. It found that Glenn Defense violated the country’s environmental and marine protection laws. She also scored the lack of coordination and inaction of responsible government agencies (see page 6 of SBFCC Newsletter for details).
The Subic Chamber finds the Senate report very comprehensive and leaves no doubt that violations were committed by Glenn Defense. It hits the nail right on the head, too, on the lack of coordination between different government agencies with regards to the issue. The Subic Chamber hopes that this lack of coordination will not preclude the judicious dispense of appropriate sanctions.
The United States Navy for its part, according to a Philippine Daily Inquirer news report on February 16 (see page 10 for details), has disqualified Glenn Defense from joining future bids and that, should its violations continue, its current contract would be terminated.
Consequently, the Subic Chamber, after a unanimous decision by its Board of Directors, resolved to serve Glenn Defense a letter of expulsion from SBFCC membership.
Here’s the letter:
February 18, 2013
VICE-ADMIRAL MATEO M. MAYUGA (RET)
President, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Phils. Inc.
Unit 202, 2/F, Solar Bldg, GT Complex
14A Sta. Rita St., cor. Canal Road
Subic Bay Freeport Zone, Philippines
Subj: Removal from SBFCC Membership
Dear Mr. Mayuga,
The Subic Chamber regrets to inform you that your membership with the organization has now been terminated.
Last 25 October 2012, we have sent you a letter of suspension pending investigation of various government agencies with regards to your company’s alleged waste dumping. Regrettably, the findings that came out showed violations by Glenn Defense Marine Philippines. Such violations are deemed inimical to the interests of the SBFCC due to the damage it can cause to the organization’s name. In an effort to shelter the SBFCC’s name from harm, the SBFCC Board of Directors, upon a majority decision, decided to end effective immediately the membership of Glenn Defense Marine based from Section 4 paragraph B of the SBFCC By-laws, to wit:
Section 4 - Suspension or Loss of Membership
(B) The Board of Directors shall have the power to suspend or expel any member for causes deemed inimical to the interests of the Chamber as may be determined by the Board of Directors.
We hope you understand that the SBFCC Board of Directors has the responsibility to safeguard the SBFCC’s name from potential damage and that its decision is based primarily for this reason.
This letter, however, does not preclude Glenn Defense Marine from appealing the decision of the SBFCC Board of Directors.
Sincerely,
Prof. DANNY J. PIANO
SBFCC President
Case closed.
Well, there’s still this thing about the sanctions that government agencies will mete out. But, the issue being very high profile, we expect that reasonable and appropriate decisions will be made. We will know soon enough.
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