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Oil blobs reach Iloilo seafood resto belt

By HAZEL P. VILLA

ILOILO City – Some 6.8 kilometers of the seafood restaurant belt here are at risk of being contaminated with spilled bunker fuel oil from MT Solar 1. Residents reported blobs of oil along the shorelines of Molo Boulevard all the way to Villa Beach and Brgy. Sto. Niño Sur in Arevalo District.

The scattered blobs of oil are not as pronounced as those found in Guimaras and measure about one to two inches in diameter, said Mayor Jerry Treñas who visited the area.

The seafood restaurant belt, popularly known as Villa Beach, is lined with resorts and seafood restaurants – the most famous of which are Tatoy’s Manokan and Breakthrough sa Villa frequented by tourists.

Cottages for rent and smaller eateries selling fresh and cooked sea food, roasted pig, and fresh oysters line the beach of grey and black sand facing Guimaras Island.

The Villa Beach area is a major revenue earner for Iloilo City.

(Click Menu, Sept. 4, 2006, for the full story.)

DOH: Guimaras toxicity levels way above normal

BY NESTOR BURGOS

ILOILO CITY – Health officials are conducting comprehensive testing on areas affected by the oil spill in Guimaras after initial tests showed toxicity levels reaching 2,000 times above the acceptable level.

Regional director Lydia Depra-Ramos of the Department of Health said tests are being conducted on coastal villages of the towns of Nueva Valencia, Sibunag and San Lorenzo based on results of a health and environmental assessment conducted by the DOH and the University of the Philippines National Poison Management and Control Center.

The tests conducted on Aug. 23 in the villages of Cabalagnan, Lapaz and Tando in Nueva Valencia town revealed that the level of hydrogen sulfide in the environment in Barangay Cabalagnan reached 537.9 to 2,145 parts per million (ppm) and from 13.2 to 165.0 ppm in Barangay Lapaz.

The figures were way above the acceptable level of 0.00071 ppm defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency-Provisional Remediation Goal (EPA-PRG).

Hydrogen sulfide can cause poisoning of different systems of the body which can lead to death. Exposure to lower concentrations can caused eye irritation, respiratory tract ailments like sore throat, cough, and shortness of breath.

The tests also showed a higher than normal level of hydrocarbons such as benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and xylene.

(Click Visayan Daily Star, Sept. 4, 2006, for the full story.)

Oil spill hurting city fishermen, too

By DAVID ISRAEL SINAY

ILOILO City – Not only the fishermen of Guimaras are suffering from low fish catch because of the oil spill. Their counterparts in this city are hurting, too.

Fishermen from Brgy. Sto. Niño Sur, Arevalo District here said they used to earn P3,000 daily before the oil spill. Their earnings dropped since the spill began on August 11. Fishes tend to shy away from contaminated water.

Thursday last week, oil globules have been spotted in the waters and shores of Arevalo. Some 6.8 kilometers of the seafood restaurant belt here are at risk of being contaminated with spilled bunker fuel oil from MT Solar 1.

Residents said blobs of oil could be seen along the shorelines of Molo Boulevard all the way to Villa Beach and Brgy. Sto. Niño Sur.

The scattered blobs of oil are not as pronounced as those found in Guimaras and measure about one to two inches in diameter.

The seafood restaurant belt, popularly known as Villa Beach, is lined with resorts and seafood restaurants.

(For the full story, click Panay News, Sept. 4, 2006.)

Petron maintains no liability for oil spill

Tanker owner blames bad weather

By Tetch Torres

PETRON Corporation again washed its hands of responsibility for the oil spill that has devastated fisheries, a marine reserve and huge stretches of shoreline in Western Visayas, saying it had no direct control over the crews and captains of the vessels they charter.

Appearing before the Department of Justice’s (DoJ) special fact-finding committee on the oil spill, Petron distribution manager Rolando Salonga said: “We don’t have a direct control over the crews and ship captain of the Solar I vessel because they are hired by the ship owner. We only coordinate with the ship owner” Salonga said.

Earlier, Petron made a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange maintaining it had no legal or contractual liability for the oil spill. But following a storm of outrage from various quarters, the oil firm, in which the government and Saudi Aramco own 40 percent each, said it would not abandon Guimaras until clean-up operations are completed.

The M/T Solar I, with more than two million liters of bunker fuel, sank off Guimaras Island on August 11, triggering the oil spill. Two of the tanker’s crewmen remain missing.

Clemente Cancio, president of ship owner Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation (SMDC), also told the DoJ that bad weather was to blame for the tanker’s sinking.

(For the full story, click No liability, Sept. 4, 2006.)

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Ang titigas ng mukha nyo!

Donate here!

DEAR Friends,

Thank you for the support, volunteer work and donations we have received so far! It has been overwhelming to hear that people have come and heard out plea for help. The fight is still not over. Far from it, actually. But we hope that with what we have done and what we are still doing, we can overcome this tragic disaster and restore our rich resources to its former glory. We appeal to all filipinos to help out in every way they can.

In lieu of cash, we are readily accepting donations of fishing rubber boots, rubber gloves and masks for the volunteers and fisherfolk who are, as i type, working to clean up the damage, with no thought of their health. They go through the muck in sandals and slippers, with not even a mask to protect their lungs.

For those in the QC area, please send over donations to 12 Highland drive Blueridge A, Katipunan Q.C. . Please contact the number below if you want to have your donations picked up instead. Cash is also a good alternative, for those who shall donate this, we will be buying the much needed materials for you, and put the donation under your name. Visayan Sea Squadron is under Batas Kalikasan Foundation, so you can deposit donations through their account. Please email cleanupoilspill@gmail.com a scanned deposit slip or details of the said transaction (including names of the donors if possible) for our database.

Account name: Batas Kalikasan Foundation, Inc.
Peso Account (savings) PhilAm Savings Bank (Ayala Alabang branch)
#2107-32863-6

Dollar Savings International Exchange Bank (Ayala-Alabang)
#018-10-1-01081-5

Please attach with your donations your name and contact number so we can update you on the progress (we cannot pay you for your help, but we can at least thank you through media releases of Visayan Sea Squad).

For further questions and other suggestions to help out, please contact honeylette@gmail.com or through mobile 0915-785-4035.

You can also contact these numbers for more info and volunteer help:

Archie (0919 2253262)
Haydee (0928 2313193)

Again, thank you so much!

Honeylette R. Teodosio
(0915.785.4035)

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Click Lette’s blog here to find out about more ways to help the people in Guimaras.

Mabuhay kayo!

Insurance reps to teach Guimarasnons to file claims

By Leila Salaverria

REPRESENTATIVES from the insurance groups that will compensate those affected by the massive oil spill from the Solar I tanker are expected in Guimaras province on Tuesday to help residents file for damages.

Virginia Ruivivar, Petron public affairs manager, said two representatives from the International Oil Pollution Contingency Fund and one from the P&I Club would meet with meet with affected residents of the island province.

“They will teach the residents the process of filing claims,” Ruivivar said at the Kapihan sa Manila forum.

Since M/T Solar 1 sank last August 11, the tanker has leaked some 1.3 million liters of bunker fuel into the sea, polluting beaches, fishing grounds, and marine reserves in Guimaras and portions of Iloilo and Negros Occidental provinces.

She said residents could file claims for losing their livelihood. The oil spill has prevented fishermen from earning a living because of the stigma attached to the fish caught in Guimaras.

Petron earlier vowed to pay for the damages incurred from the spill out of moral responsibility. The oil company chartered the Solar I tanker from the Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation to transport two million liters of bunker fuel from Bataan to Zamboanga.

Sunshine Maritime president Clemente Cancio earlier also said that losses from the oil spill was covered by the Mutual Shipowners Protection and Indemnity of Luxembourg, which will address oil pollution damages and claims, and other related claims.

(Click Insurance, Sept. 4, 2006.)

‘Get your collected oil sludge fast’

By Lory Ann B. Bilbao

GUIMARAS Provincial Administrator Elmer B. Ganancial reiterated the Provincial Government’s call for the owner of M/T Solar 1 and Petron Corporation to remove its collected oil debris from shorelines fast before they cost lives.

Two children at the evacuation center in Cadagmayan, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras have complained of illness due to the fumes emitted by the oil sludge and debris.

“They (Petron) said they will transfer the collected oil sludge from our shores last week but until now, this did not happen,” Ganancial said.

He also raised concern that the seepage from the containers of the oil sludge could also happen and will make the clean up futile.

Ganancial said Petron has dumped their collected oil debris in every area where they do the clean-up.

“We have yet to validate the areas where they dump their collected oil sludge,” he said.

(Click Fast, Sept. 4, 2006, for the full story.)

Cost of Guimaras oil spill

BUNKER fuel oil oozing from a sunken tanker off Guimaras Island has affected large swaths of Western Visayas, making it the biggest oil spill in the country.

To the poor dependent on the sea for their livelihood, the spill has brought economic disaster. Women have stopped gathering shells while men have not gone out fishing in the badly hit areas of Guimaras. The oil spill has also brought sickness to residents.

Damage to the environment goes beyond the hundreds of hectares of marine reserve and mangroves, and kilometer upon kilometer of shoreline smothered with black sludge.

The spill has killed wildlife like birds, turtles and sea snakes. It now threatens dugongs, dolphins, blue crabs, giant clams and other life forms in the Guimaras Strait and Visayan Sea.

100 km to 220 km Tainted coastline

1,100 ha Spoiled marine reserve

454 ha Mangroves smothered with oil

26,000 People affected in Guimaras

136 Families (400 residents) evacuated from the villages of La Paz and Cabalagnan in Nueva Valencia town, Guimaras (as of Aug. 29)

3 and 4 Towns affected in Guimaras and Iloilo, respectively

10,000 Fisher folk bereft of daily income totaling between P3 million and P5 million

P57 million Worth of destroyed marine resources in fish cages and fish pens, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

P50 million Losses in shrimp industry in Pulupandan, Negros Occidental

P50 million Losses in anchovy industry in Valladolid, Negros Occidental

P3.57 million Foregone revenue from tourism in Guimaras from Aug. 11 to Aug. 27

(Click PDI research for the rest of the piece, Sept. 3, 2006.)

Ano ba talaga kuya?

Ecologist: Don’t use hair in oil slick cleanup

By Carla Gomez

BACOLOD CITY—A Negrense microbial ecologist warned against the use of hair and oil dispersants in cleaning up the oil slick from the sunken MT Solar I.

“If you really want to help Guimaras, don’t cut your hair. Donate biodegradable absorbents instead, like sugarcane trash, corn cobs, rice hull,” said Aidine Galvan, who discussed bioremediation of the MT Solar I oil spill at a forum hosted Friday by the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc. and the Negros Forest and Ecological Foundation in Bacolod City.

She pointed out that when persons die and are buried, hair is usually found to be intact long after, when their bodies are exhumed.

She said it would be difficult to dispose of bunker fuel-covered hair, as it will only cause contamination.

On the other hand, biodegradable absorbents covered in oil and placed in a lined pit could be degraded into soil-like material, which can later be used in one’s garden, she said.

Galvan also warned that the use of oil dispersants is only effective in open deep water but never along the coastline or in shallow waters within 50 feet deep.

“That is because if you use these dispersants in shallow water, it will bring the oil to the bottom and endanger the marine life, like corals,” she said.

(For the full story, click Hairy deal.)

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IT’S been almost a month since Solar I sank and spewed its toxic contents into the open waters of Guimaras island. Still our brilliant scientists are debating whether it’s good to use cut hair and oil dispersants to clean up the oil slick, or not.

Officials from the government and Petron are not helping any by clarifying the issue. Perhaps they intend to keep the public, who just want to help out, perpetually confused and in the dark. C’mon already! Get your frigging acts together and tell the public what to do about this and how they can help!

Sludge readers, don’t fret if you already have had your hair cut. We only wanted to help. Now we gotta find some sugarcane trash and rice hull to use. This call goes out to the sugarcane and rice industries in the country. Please donate your byproducts to save Guimaras.

Group that certified tanker’s seaworthiness snubs probe

OFFICIALS of the international inspection group that certified the M/T Solar I as seaworthy failed to show up in the hearing held Monday by the Board of Marine Inquiry (BMI) on the Guimaras oil spill.

BMI member Commodore Benjamin Mata decried the nonappearance of France-based Bureau Veritas representatives and said there must be “something they (Bureau Veritas) are hiding.”

However, he admitted that the board did not have the power to compel the company’s officials to appear before the investigating panel.

Officials of Petron Corp., the oil giant that chartered the tanker to transport some two million liters of bunker fuel from Bataan northwest of Manila to the southern Philippines port city of Zambonga, had earlier said they relied on Bureau Veritas’ certification to ascertain the seaworthiness of the vessel.

The M/T Solar I sank off the central Philippines island-province of Guimaras last August 11. It is believed to have leaked out between 200,000-300,000 liters.

The 998-ton ship, owned by Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., was launched in 1988.

(Click Snub, Sept. 4, 2006, for the full story.)

Siphoning oil emerging as best option — task force

SENIOR Palace officials were inclined to siphon out thousands of liters of oil inside the sunken MT Solar I at the bottom of the Guimaras Strait in Central Philippines.

Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr, head of Task Force Guimaras, said he “personally” favored sucking out the oil after reviewing initial reports from onsite response teams.

“This is the best we can do to assure residents that the spill is under control,” he said.

Cruz cited the report of the Japan Disaster Relief Team from the salvage ship Shinsei Maru as a key factor in coming up with his current assessment of the ecological disaster.

The response team, which already left the Philippines over the weekend, said their underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) found that the oil had probably coagulated inside nine of the 10 containers of the MT Solar I.

Although siphoning the oil would be a costly measure, Cruz said this was a growing “consensus” among other government officials whom he did not identify.

(For the full story, Siphon, Sept. 4, 2006.)

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Okay so why are you still talking about it instead of doing something already? Ano ba? Ang bagal nyo!

Rehab of marine life could take 10 to 20 years – expert

GUIMARAS ISLAND – Even as residents of this island grappled with the loss of their livelihood, diseases and pungent fumes from bunker fuel along their shores, the magnitude of the oil spill’s real damage and impact on the environment and rich marine life has yet to be determined.

Scientists from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas (UPV) said the rehabilitation and the recovery of marine life contaminated by the oil slick could take between 10 to 20 years.

“”Ten years is too short for recovery and it will not be to the pre-oil spill status,” said Dr. Resurreccion Sadaba, head of the UPV task force conducting an assessment of the extent of damage to the environment and the community.

The research team is composed mostly of scientists who conducted a similar study on Semirara Island in Antique province after a power barge of National Power Corp. ran aground off the coast of the island last December spilling more than 300,000 liters of oil.

The UPV is also part of task group of scientists and government agencies formed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to conduct a safety assessment of the air, soil and water in the oil-spill affected areas on this island.

Sadaba, an expert on mangroves, said the island’s mangrove trees bore the brunt of the oil spill.

Bunker fuel has coated much of mangrove trees because the oil slick hit the shoreline during the high tide.

Sadaba said this would cause greater stress to mangroves because the bunker fuel blocks their lenticels or breathing pores. The trees could suffocate and eventually die.

(Click Rehab, Sept. 4, 2006.)

The Holcim reports…and other Petron PR machinations

HOW interesting that Holcim Philippines Inc., a unit of the Switzerland-based Holcim Cement, has come out with a PR offensive to publicize its investment and other business activities this year. A barrage of stories are out today in your favorite newspapers.

The news comes on the heels of the recent report that the firm will be getting free fuel to power its cement plants in Mindanao courtesy of, well whaddya know? the sludge from the Guimaras oil spill. A tanker with barrels full of the Petron muck is right this minute, being loaded up and is getting ready to sail to Misamis Oriental. As most of you know by now, Holcim Phils. was formerly Alsons Cement Corp.–a company owned by the powerful and influential Alcantara family of Mindanao to which Petron chairman Nick Alcantara belongs. (See my Aug. 31 blog.)

Uh-oh. The Coast Guard better inspect this tanker as well and see whether it is single or double-hulled. It is again charted by Petron so I have my doubts about the safety of this vessel as well.

Going back to Holcim, the company has certainly learned its lesson from the PR faux pas of Petron and is coming out swinging in an effort to portray itself as well, not a preying monster. So what if it’s getting free fuel courtesy of Petron’s neglect and stupidity right? (In all my years as a business journalist, I can’t quite remember the last time Holcim actually had a press conference.)

Speaking of PR faux pas, I hear from our friends down south that Petron’s PR consultant has been handing out P500 to Visayas reporters to make them tone down their stories and make them more favorable toward the oil company. The envelopes of P500–ang cheap naman!–are even hand-carried by local tricycle drivers. Wow, special delivery!

What’s more, the wily company has bought advertising spots on TV, radio and local papers to encourage the management of these media outfits to be kinder to Petron. The PR gal has supposedly been boasting as well about having convinced the desk editors of the major broadsheets in Manila to ease up on the anti-Petron content of their news. Is it working? Well hon, read the papers and tell me what you think.

So much wasteful spending if you ask me. All that money could be put to better use…like buying food and water for the displaced fisherfolk of Guimaras, which is really a much better PR campaign to win the peoples’ hearts and minds. Honestly, what century are Petron officials living in? Aba, style nyo bulok!

Petron theme song: Di na natuto

AS I SEE IT
By Neal Cruz

Petron still using banned single-hulled tankers

THE oil slick off Guimaras Island is still spreading and the Philippines has sent out an SOS to other countries to help not only in limiting the spreading pollution but also to salvage the sunken oil tanker or suck out the remaining oil in its tanks before it spills out. The sunken MT Solar I was carrying 2 million liters of bunker oil, of which some 200,000 to 300,000 liters have already leaked out to the sea and are now polluting 200 kilometers of coastline. That leaves at least 1.7 million more liters of oil still in the tanker’s holds. If all that spills out, imagine the damage that it can do.

The tanker is lying off Guimaras 3,000 feet underwater and local salvage teams do not have the equipment and capability to reach such depths. Every second the vessel is leaking more oil. At any moment, the other tanks may burst and spill their contents because of the extreme pressure at that depth. Solar I is a ticking time bomb.

Salvage operations are going to be a long, difficult—and very expensive—job. Cleaning up the beaches, mangrove swamps and coral reefs would take even longer and more money—not to mention the lost livelihood of thousands of fishermen. Who is going to pay for all that?

I think it should be Petron, the owner of the spilled oil, and Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., the owner of the sunken tanker. The two corporations are especially negligent and irresponsible in transporting oil. The 298-ton Solar I was carrying Petron oil from Limay, Bataan for delivery to the Western Mindanao Power Corp. in Zamboanga del Sur. But for the transport of such a dangerous cargo, they engaged the services of a single-hulled vessel, the use of which is already prohibited by the International Maritime Organization under the 1987 Marpol Convention.

The convention, of which the Philippines is a signatory, mandates that all ocean-going, inter-island tankers be double-hulled to minimize the leakage of liquid cargo in the event of accidents.

But Petron and Sunshine Maritime still use single-hulled tankers in transporting oil because they are cheaper. This is not the first time that a Petron tanker spilled oil in the sea.

(Sorry. Missed this one. For the rest of the column, click Neal.)

The bomb is still ticking

EDITORIAL
MANILA TIMES

ALMOST three weeks into the Guimaras disaster, the government has yet to come up with a clear plan on what to do with the sunken tanker Solar 1. The vessel lies on the seabed about 600 meters from the surface, with about 450,000 gallons of oil still in its hold. Late last week a submersible sent down by a Japanese survey ship inspected the tanker and found no substantial amount of oil leaking from its tanks.

That provides a small measure of relief for now. There is still the danger that the pressure at such a depth would eventually cause the remaining intact tanks to burst and release their contents. That, some environmental experts fear, could trigger a catastrophe of global proportions.

How to deal with the wreck of the Solar 1 is critical to the efforts to clean up and contain the oil it has already spilled. Already, kilometers of beaches, marine reserves and mangroves have been blackened. There are new concerns the current could carry the slick as far south as the Sulu Sea and cause more devastation there.

No amount of cleaning up would be effective unless the source of the leak is sealed first. There are three options: Siphon the remaining oil from the wreck, refloat the tanker or entomb it under sand or cement. All of these measures cost a lot, and none is guaranteed to be a hundred percent effective.

(For the rest of the piece, click Time bomb, Sept. 4, 2006.)

ENOUGH FOOD FOR OIL SPILL VICTIMS—DSWD

This is a press release from the DSWD, Aug. 28, 2006. Beware.

UPON orders of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), in cooperation with the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council of Guimaras, Petron and donor non-government organizations, are making sure that there are enough food and relief supplies for the oil spill victims of Guimaras.

Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza I. Cabral said that the DSWD has distributed to fisherfolks last week 1,000 packs of relief goods funded by Petron Foundation. Another 1,000 packs are being readied this week.

Secretary Cabral also said that the DSWD Field Office VI initially released to the province of Guimaras on August 13, some 20 bags of rice and 15 boxes of sardines to augment the province’s relief efforts.

Secretary Cabral reported the status of other relief assistance and the sources of goods, as follows:

1. From the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office – 400 packs of relief goods composed of sardines, noodles and rice worth P100,000.00 were turned over to Nueva Valencia, Guimaras on August 25.

2. From the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council – 350 bags of rice are available; the Office of Civil Defense has committed to release 500 bags of rice for delivery to the PDCC; 1,500 family packs are presently available for distribution; the province of Guimaras will purchase canned goods this week;

3. From the DSWD – 652 packs are available at the Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth, DSWD’s disaster operation center in Region VI; 90 packs were sent to Onisan island last Saturday, August 26.

4. Mirant – 600 packs are available for distribution today, August 28, in San Lorenzo.

The DSWD has prepositioned P 2.5 M with its Field Office VI which will be used to augment the relief efforts of the provincial government for the victims of the oil spill in Guimaras. Further, they are operating a cash-for-work program with Petron Foundation which provides P200 per day for the men and women who are assisting in the clean up of the oil spill in the municipality of Nueva Valencia. The cash for work program will also be established this week in the municipality of Sibunag and San Lorenzo by the DSWD and Petron Foundation.

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THEN a little birdie told me that cash assistance being turned over by Petron to some barangay captains in Guimaras are disappearing into whose pockets, we can’t say. People are still going hungry on the island, and Petron doesn’t even bother to follow up how its financial assistance is being used. I guess for this company’s officials, as long as they’ve turned over the money, they couldn’t care less what happens. The act alone has already salved their collective guilty conscience.