1 week ago
19
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
July 15, 2026 | 1:24pm
MANILA, Philippines —Environmental activists, scientists and universities are calling for justice for the killing of American marine biologist Kent Carpenter, who was shot dead inside his home in Sibulan, Negros Oriental on Sunday night.
The outpouring of tributes from the scientific community hailed Carpenter for a life spent proving the Philippines' waters were among the richest on earth, surveying the seas for five decades and drawing others into the work of protecting them.
Carpenter, a professor emeritus at the Virginia-based Old Dominion University and research associate of Silliman University, was shot by three armed men who forcibly entered his residence in Negros Oriental on July 12, according to police reports. The intruders reportedly ransacked his house afterward.
The American national crowned the Verde Island Passage — the passage spanning Batangas, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Romblon and Marinduque — as the "center of the center" of the world's marine shorefish biodiversity in 2005.
Carpenter's finding is widely regarded as having stoked greater research interest and attention into the country's marine resources.
'Horrific and unacceptable'
The Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Katutubong Agham at Teknolohiya condemned the "brutal and senseless murder" of Carpenter.
"To take the life of a man who dedicated so much of his own to understanding and protecting the lifelines of our planet is a horrific and unacceptable act of violence," the group said, while demanding a swift, thorough, and transparent investigation into his killing.
Fr. Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of Protect VIP, said Carpenter's work "reminded us that the Philippines carries a global responsibility to protect this irreplaceable marine treasure."
"We also urge authorities to ensure justice and conduct a thorough investigation into this crime. At the same time, we stand anew in solidarity with the call for the protection of environmental defenders who dedicate their lives to science, conservation, and the protection of our common home and of vulnerable communities," Gariguez said.
Carpenter campaigned alongside Protect VIP in 2024 to lobby for the passage's recognition as a national marine protected area and an important natural heritage.
Witness for the West Philippine Sea
The University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP MSI) recalled Carpenter's role as a pivotal scientific advisor to the Philippines during its arbitration case over the South China Sea.
The institute said Carpenter went to great lengths to provide reports, testimonials, satellite imagery, and video evidence on the state of coral reefs in the disputed waters.
Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson under the late President Benigno Aquino III and a member of the Philippine delegation to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, said Carpenter's testimony from the hearings "rings back, clear as day."
Valte, who briefed the media on the closed-door proceedings, quoted from the delegation's Bulletin No. 4, dated Nov. 26, 2015: "Carpenter drew the conclusion that China's actions have caused grave harm to the environment in the South China Sea due to its artificial island building activities, and the damage to the complex coral reef ecosystem is close to catastrophic."
"Thank you for standing up for the Philippines, Dr. Carpenter," Valte said in a social media post.
UP MSI also cited his fish surveys and published research on the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park since 2018, and his advocacy for declaring the Verde Island Passage a national protected area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Fifty years in Philippine waters
Carpenter's ties to the Philippines stretched back to his days as a US Peace Corps volunteer in the 1970s.
He began studying the Verde Island Passage in 1975, and in 1976 started working with the late National Scientist Dr. Angel C. Alcala at Silliman University on pioneering studies of Philippine marine ecosystems.
According to Siliman University's statement, this was a partnership the university credits with establishing it as an internationally respected center for marine and coastal research.
In recent years, Carpenter led the Albatross Re-Collection Project, an evolutionary genomics initiative examining how Philippine marine biodiversity has changed over the past 120 years by revisiting the historic collections of the US Fish Commission Steamer Albatross, which surveyed Philippine waters more than a century ago.
He also studied the ecology and fisheries of rabbitfish and the impacts of microplastics on marine organisms in Negros Oriental.
The Ateneo de Manila University Department of Biology mourned him as "a dear friend, a mentor, and an advocate for protecting our marine wildlife."
"Dr. Carpenter was a champion of marine biodiversity, whose declaration of the Verde Island Passage as the 'center of the center of marine shorefish diversity' fueled many studies into our country’s marine resources, with several studies authored by our faculty and students," the department said in a statement.
A blow to the movement
Progressive group AGHAM (Advocates of Science and Technology for the People) hailed Carpenter for having stood against the gas projects of major corporations in the Verde Island Passage in 2024.
"His work to study and conserve Philippine waters is testament of making science serve the people," AGHAM said.
Krishna Ariola, a climate justice activist and artist who campaigned with Carpenter for the passage's protection, called his killing "a sad and shocking day for the conservation community and the movement pushing back against fossil fuels."
