Lapu-Lapu lifts suspension of Yellow Submarine

More than a month after it ceased operations, the Yellow Submarine Co. was opened for business anew after the Lapu-Lapu City government temporarily lifted its suspension order on the firm pending a full report on the coral crash incident.

The decision came after the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF) represented by Dr. Aileen Maypa made a power point presentation on the incident to the mayor’s office yesterday.

The report will be finished next week, Dr. Maypa said.

Marshals and a team of inspectors will be assigned at the Kontiki drop where the corals are to closely monitor the Yellow Submarine’s tour.

Ethelbert Ouano, a City Legal Office counsel who specializes in environmental issues, said one marshal will join each trip taken by the Yellow Submarine to see to it that the seacraft maintains its six-meters distance away from coral walls.

Ouano said they will base their guidelines on the CCEF’s final report that will assess the damage wrought on the corals.

The Lapu-Lapu City government will require P250,000 payment as monitoring fee from the Yellow Submarine management pending its final decision and permanent lifting of the suspension.

CCEF’s final report will determine the measure and the amount of damage to be paid by the Yellow Submarine management, Lapu-Lapu City Legal Officer Yuri Benluan said.

Mayor Paz Radaza said the letter of apology sent by the Yellow Submarine management is tantamount to an admission of guilt.

The Yellow Submarine management had yet to give its side on the lifting of the suspension order.

It was issued a notice of violation last April 26 after a YouTube video showed the Yellow Submarine rammed to a coral wall 20 meters in Kontiki drop in Barangay Maribago.

The video was recorded by a Japanese diver Satoshi Toyoda who went scuba diving with a friend a few days before it was uploaded to YouTube last April 16.

The Yellow Submarine incurred over P10 million in losses after it was suspended on April 26.

It carries 48 passengers at 1,200 per person and makes 6-10 trips a day.

The Yellow Submarine management said they will take responsibility and expressed cooperation to rehabilitate the damaged corals. Correspondent Norman V. Mendoza