Petron trying to smoke screen clean-up operations?

By Maricar M. Calubiran

CERTAIN residents of Barangay Tando, Guimaras claimed that Petron Corporation seemingly tries to conceal the real situation in their area and at the same time declare that it has already been cleaned up.

A male clean-up worker disclosed that they were ordered to cover with cement the lower portion of coconut trees lined beneath the shoreline. The worker said the order came from Petron personnel supervising the clean-up operation in their area.

Another woman worker said they have no idea why Petron asked them to cover the portions where traces of bunker fuel are clearly seen. She even showed the patches of oil sludge buried on the sand. There are other trees lined along the shoreline which are left untouched. Some of the residents even cut portions of the trees heavily covered with bunker fuel oil.

Both workers requested anonymity for fear of expulsion from the group of cleanup workers under Petron’s cash for work program. Recently, Department of Health ordered the stoppage of the clean-up operations in the different barangays after high level of hydrogen sulfide was traced in the air.

Sources confided that Petron is doing the same dubious act not only in Barangay Tando but also in other affected barangays in Nueva Valencia. The oil sludge washed ashore is intentionally hidden on the sand, they said.

(For the full story, click The News Today, Sept. 15, 2006.)

Petron oil spill: the gift that keeps on giving

‘Oil spill cleanup to last till Christmas’

SIPHONING the remaining oil from the sunken M/T Solar 1 off Guimaras province could last until Christmas or longer, ANC reported Sunday.

The government’s Task Force Solar 1 said that once it chooses a salvage company for the cleanup, it could take a month to set up the siphoning operation.

Another two months might be used to recover bunker oil from the sunken tanker.

Among the three companies being considered, the Coast Guard is said to be leaning toward Norway’s Framo Engineering AS because of the company’s long track record.

The operation is estimated to cost up to $8 million (P401.78 million).

The Solar 1 sank after encountering bad weather while sailing for Zamboanga City on August 11. It had a cargo of two million liters of bunker fuel.

The oil spill resulted in the country’s worst maritime environmental tragedy. President Arroyo had declared it a national calamity after the slick destroyed marine ecosystems and the livelihood of Guimaras residents.

An inquiry set up to probe the disaster, meanwhile, found the vessel’s captain and its owner liable for failing to check the vessel’s seaworthiness. Petron Corporation, the company that chartered the tanker, was also found liable for overloading the vessel.

(From ABS-CBN News, Sept. 17, 2006.)

Bishops urge faster oil spill cleanup using palay, coco husks

THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Sunday urged the Arroyo administration to rush cleanup efforts of the oil spill in Guimaras and to use more effective methods.

Speaking to reporters, CBCP President Archbishop Angel Lagdameo said the government should use coconut and palay husks instead of human hair in clearing up the oil, spilled on August 11 when MT Solar I sank off the southern coast of Guimaras. The tanker was loaded with 2 million liters of bunker oil being shipped by Petron from Bataan to Zamboanga del Sur.

“It’s (using human hair) not practical because it’s degradable and it doesn’t suck oil unlike palay or coconut husks,” said Lagdameo during the weekend.

The CBCP bishop said he has visited Guimaras, which is very near his archdiocese in Jaro, Iloilo, and was saddened by the extent of environmental disaster, loss of livelihood, and ill effects on human health of the oil spill.

He said the government should move quickly to pump out the remaining bunker oil still submerged with the ship to avoid greater damage in the environment and health of residents.

“The government must fast-track its action to take away the remaining oil or else the damage would be greater,” Lagdameo noted.

(For the full story, click Bishops urge, Sept. 17, 2006.)

Cover Story : How the green warriors of Guimaras are fighting back

By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Inquirer Sunday Magazine

LIKE a warrior who prepares for a drawn-out battle, Melvin Purzuelo has stockpiled his weapons to defeat the enemy: the oil spill from the wrecked tanker MT Solar I, which sank in the waters off Guimaras Strait and Panay Gulf on August 11 with its load of 300,000 liters of bunker fuel. Purzuelo surveys his munitions: piles of rice straws, lines of fishing nets, heaps of coconut husks, some old clothes, sacks of corn cobs, bamboo poles and whorls of hair from beauty parlors. All these, and the determined spirit to race against time to contain what is said to be the worst oil spill ever to hit the country.

“Nothing was said in books about using indigenous materials against an oil spill. But let’s keep our faith that, given our limited resources, we can work things out,” says Purzuelo, 43, who heads the environment watch group Green Forum Western Visayas.

Purzuelo’s team, the Task Force Save Our Seas (SOS), has rallied people to donate absorbent materials to clean up the oil spill that can destroy the rich but fragile marine ecosystems of Guimaras.

The donated materials are taken to the Iloilo Fishing Port Complex, where they are made into oil spill booms to be installed in shallow waters or a mile offshore. Bales of rice straws tied together form a long line that traps the advancing slick of bunker fuel. Coconut husks, corn cobs and discarded clothes are stuffed into huge bags made of discarded fishing nets that will be anchored by floats of plastic water bottles and bamboo. Globs of bunker oil are known to stick to these makeshift booms that form the first line of defense against the oil slick before it laps the beaches.

Dying a little

The hair whorls are a problem. While bags of hair have been arriving from beauty parlors and prisons, the task force has yet to devise a way to make them into a boom, because it has no idea how long it would take for the hair to degrade, and whether it can effectively absorb the oil. Yet, says Purzuelo, it’s some sort of sacrifice to shave one’s head or cut one’s hair to dramatize concern for the damaged environment. It’s like dying a little, he adds.

Purzuelo and his team credit their training in disaster preparedness for their ability to respond immediately to the oil spill. A few hours after hearing news about the sinking of MT Solar I, Purzuelo assembled his squad of six, composed of Jorge Abordom, Dennis Taborno, Rey Beatisula, Mila Cabrera, Roy Latap and Greg Azares. While the news focused on the search and rescue of the tanker’s two missing crew members, the Green Forum was already thinking about the looming disaster from the oil spill.

Purzuelo recounts how they had wanted to survey the waters where the tanker was last seen, but storm surges prevented them from doing so. Instead, the group started working closely with the Philippine Coast Guard, Greenpeace and marine scientists from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas to map out plans on how to deal with the bunker oil already seeping into the coastal villages of Nueva Valencia, Guimaras the morning after the sea disaster.

(For the full story, click Green Warriors, Sept. 17, 2006.)

World Vision plans relief, rehab package for Guimaras

Oil spill damages environment and livelihoods
by Diwa Aquino-Gacosta
World Vision* Philippines Communications

THE oil spill from sunken tanker MT Solar I continues to devastate the environment, killing not only the rich marine resources of the Philippines coast, but the livelihoods of the people dependent on the sea as well.

According to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, US$1.14 million worth of marine resources in fish cages and fish pens have been destroyed. The tourism industry in Guimaras and Iloilo has also slowed. The Department of Tourism has projected US$71,400 worth of lost tourism revenue.

To date, the oil spill has contaminated 245 kilometres of coastline and spoiled 1,143 hectares of marine reserve.

More than 6,000 families located in six municipalities in Guimaras and Iloilo have been affected by the oil spill.

“Women have stopped gathering shells while men can no longer fish because of the oil spill in Guimaras,” a World Vision assessment reported. Fishermen are being hired to clean up the oil that reached the shorelines.

“Worse, even the areas in Guimaras and Iloilo not directly hit by the oil spill also suffer the brunt of economic deprivation. People do not want to buy any marine products (fish, shrimps, oysters) that come from Iloilo and Guimaras,” said Viviano Panes, World Vision Philippines Area Development Programme (ADP) coordinator.

Panes said that male teenagers were sighted cleaning up the shorelines in Ajuy without any protective gear. Around 100 families from La Paz in Nueva Valencia, a heavily affected coastal municipality in Guimaras, were evacuated because the oil had reached their houses.

“The stench of oil reaches 100 metres off the shore,” Panes said. He added that children continue to play in their residences despite the foul odour.

World Vision Philippines has prepared a proposal for a 12 month relief and rehabilitation package for the affected areas.

“The proposal also aims to assist authorities and communities to prevent the oil spill from damaging coastal communities and the marine environment along Guimaras Strait. Alternative sources of income that are agriculture-based will also be established,” said Boy Bersales, World Vision Human Emergency Affiairs coordinator.

The tanker is reported to still contain 1.8 million litres of bunker fuel that continues to ooze out. It carried around 2.4 million litres of oil when it sank.

*World Vision is one of the largest international Christian relief and development organizations in the world. Visit its web sites at WV Int’l or WV Phils.