I haven't seen anything that says it outright, but apparantly the reef is a UN "World Heritage Site" or something like that, a crane could not be used to lift it off because of fears of damaging the reef, and the Navy had to call in a tug from Malaysia to clean up some spilled diesel - so YES, I imagine the Navy Brass had to go into politically-correct environmental mode for this.
This must be very near where the sub captain ran his nuke-laden submersible into an uncharted (of course) undersea mountain at 1000 feet down and 40 knts.
By the way, that beautiful little ship is floating. Send out the committee boat from any yacht club on the Chesapeake and tow the damn thing off the reef. Fiberglass can take it, and if it can't, some temporary plywood and a quickie epoxy job should make her like new after a trip to any decent yard.
If the Filipinos have some sort of objection, TS. Couple rounds from the old Krag should send them scampering. Environment problem is it? One deep breath in any Philippine city can shrivel the lungs of an American in about 30 seconds.
Is this the thanks we get for teaching'em baseball? The bastards!