Trump Jr says US ship 'more important' than damaged reef

MANILA, Philippines - The son of American billionaire Donald Trump expressed disappointment over the dismantling of US Navy minesweeper stranded on the Philippines's Tubbataha reef, saying the move was "stupid" as the ship is "more important" than the marine sanctuary.

Businessman Donald "Don" Trump, Jr. reacted on the proposal to cut up the $277-million ship and said the damage on the coral reef does not cost as much as the pricey Navy vessel. 

"Yes, a $277-million boat is more important than a 200x50 section of reef that has already been run over," Trump said on his Twitter account on early Thursday morning (Manila time)..

The American businessman also reacted to an ensuing thread on the microblogging site to explain to a fellow American who said that the cost of the ship may be lesser than cleanup expenses as well as US' payment to the Philippine government for damages.

"Please, cleanup costs? The ship is (stranded on a) 200 by 50 at most on the edge of the reef. It hit and stopped. Give me a break ... That is not worth 277 million by any standard." he added.

Trump, who recently visited the country for the ground breaking of Trump Tower in Manila, also responded to Filipinos on Twitter who further questioned his opinion on the ship's greater worth.

"I don't like that it happened but if you took $2 billion in (revenues) and take the ratio (of damage) from earlier its rather minimal," Trump said, referring to the $2.5 billion economic value of reefs in Southeast Asia.

He also said that cutting up the ship would take months as well as other significant resources that would not justify its lost value.

"Pull it off (sic) rather than spend months tearing it up. How do you take apart a ship without other ships?" Trump added.