Filipino seamen get USD900,000 for testifying against employers in ocean-pollution cases

MANILA, Sept. 28 (PNA) — For cooperating with the U.S. government in prosecuting their former employers in a major case of oil pollution, 12 Filipino seamen were awarded on Tuesday a total USD 900,000 (about P41.5 million) in check-cash during ceremonies at the U.S. Embassy.

Six of the Filipinos were crew members of the “M/V Windsor Castle,” a bulk carrier vessel owned by the Italian shipping company, B. Navi Ship Management Services. The other six were members of the “M/T Clipper Trojan,” a carrier owned by the Danish company Clipper Marine Services, according to the U.S. Embassy.

The owners and operators of the two ships were prosecuted for illegally dumping sludge oil and contaminated waste water into the ocean in separate instances in years 2006 and 2007, the embassy said.

The rewards ranged from USD25,000 to USD175,000 per seaman, depending on the extent of their individual testimony in the two cases.

As a result, B. Navi pleaded guilty of breaking the anti-pollution law in 2007. It was sentenced by the Texas federal court in February this year to pay USD1.4 million in fines.

Clipper Marine Services also pleaded guilty of illegally discharging oil sludge in 2006, and the New Jersey federal court sentenced the company in June this year to pay a USD4.75 million penalty.

The embassy said that in addition to the fines, Clipper Marine Services pledged to install state-of-the-art oil water separators and other new equipment in five of its ships to allow the U.S. Coast Guard to monitor the ships’ waste oil levels in real time, via satellite.