Solar I siphon efforts to begin in 4 weeks, DND chief says

THE government expects to begin operations to siphon off the remaining oil inside the sunken tanker MT Solar I in about four weeks time, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr said Monday.

Cruz, head of Task Force Guimaras, said involved government agencies were able to arrive at this schedule after speaking with representatives of the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund.

“The director of the IOPC fund has recommended to the executive committee of the IOPC fund that they approve the compensation of the siphoning of the oil from the sunken vessel,” Cruz said.

The defense chief expressed optimism that the siphoning will begin “on the third week of October” when the IOPC executive committee takes up the matter.

He added that, “They (IOPC officials) have estimated the cost and because of the amount of oil still in the sunken vessel, plus the fact that that area is in an earthquake fault line.”

(For the full story, click Siphoning in 4 weeks, Sept. 25, 2006.)

DENR chief twits experts’ study, says dispersants safe

By JOAN DAIRO, GMANews.TV

CONTRARY to experts’ findings and an admission by the Coast Guard, Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes said Monday the government’s use of chemical dispersants to contain the oil spill in central Philippines was ecologically safe.

Reyes said the dispersants are applied in “deep waters” and therefore would not affect marine life usually found in shallow waters.

Reyes was interviewed after a briefing on the proposed P7.02-billion budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for next year.

“The apprehension on the concern that these dispersants would cause damage (to Guimaras’ marine life) is more of a perception than reality because the Coast Guard is applying these dispersants only in waters that have depths in excess of 100 feet,” said Reyes, a former military officer.

He said data from the regional office of the DENR indicate that “chemical dispersants would affect [the marine life] only if they are being used in deep waters. So there is no damage there.”

(For the full story, click DENR chief, Sept. 25, 2006.)

CBCP urges people to boycott Petron

By Ronilo L. Pamonag
The News Today, Sept. 25, 2006

WHILE local officials backtracked on their plan to boycott products of Petron Corporation, a Catholic priest who is highly vocal on social issues is urging consumers to boycott the giant oil company.

“It would seem to us that nothing has been done,” Msgr. Meliton Oso, director of the Jaro Social Action Center, said on Saturday, referring to the oil spill.

Oso, who writes for church publication Candlelight, said that he will call on consumers to boycott Petron starting today, when his new column will be published.

“In my second column which will come out tomorrow, I am urging everyone in Iloilo to join me in boycotting Petron until they retrieve or recover M/T Solar 1 from the bottoms of the sea,” Oso said in a press conference at the Archbishop’s Palace.

Oso said that he has already “registered my own simple attempt to boycott Petron” in an earlier column.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo expressed support for Oso’s call to boycott the oil refiner.

“I am inclined to agree with that (boycott),” said Lagdameo, who was also present during the press conference.

He said that boycotting Petron products is but one way of forcing the oil giant to deal with the problem.

Lagdameo said that Petron Corporation and Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation, the owner of the sunken tanker, must offload the remaining oil and refloat Solar 1.

Petron and SMDC, he added, must be united in addressing the oil spill.

Oso said that they will be forming a multi-sectoral group that would look for ways to force Petron to retrieve the remaining industrial oil from the tankers containers.

I-TEAM REPORT: The last moments of Solar I

THERE WERE UNSPEAKABLE moments of horror as the crew valiantly but vainly tried to stop the MT Solar I from swaying violently from side to side in stormy seas before the oil tanker gave up the ghost, flipped over, and slowly sank to its chilly grave 630 meters on the sea floor south of Guimaras Island.

This chilling but heroic tale of bravery and tragedy at sea was pieced together by experts on board the Shinsei Maru, a Japanese research ship commissioned by Petron Corp. to send a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) to the Solar I’s final resting place to figure out what happened and what to do next.

The last moments of the Solar I were put together by experts from the firm, London Offshore Consultants Pte. Ltd., who interviewed the crew of the ill-fated tanker and reviewed video footage of the sunken ship taken by the ROV submersible. A copy of the report was made available to the Inquirer.

The Solar I was loaded with 2.19 million liters of industrial fuel oil from Petron when it departed Bataan on Aug. 10 on its way to Zamboanga del Sur. The tanker experienced heavy seas and sought shelter north of Guimaras in the early hours of Aug. 11.

The report:

“On inspection, damage was found on the [bow] resulting in [water entering] the motor room, cargo gear room … and the chain lockers … Repairs were [done] including the sealing of [an] air pipe by inserting a wooden plug into the open pipe.

(For the full story, click Last moments, Sept. 25, 2006.)

I-TEAM REPORT: Sprays vs oil slick raise alarm bells

Chemical dispersants peril Guimaras marine life

By Leila Salaverria, TJ Burgonio
Inquirer
(First of a series)

THE PHILIPPINE COAST Guard’s use of chemical dispersants to clean up the worst oil spill in the nation’s history has caused alarm among environmentalists who fear that it may cause more harm than good to marine life.

Since the MT Solar I sank in choppy waters off Guimaras Island on Aug. 11 and dumped into the sea an estimated half of the 2.19 million liters of industrial fuel oil it was carrying, the Coast Guard has sprayed 115,600 liters of dispersants in a bid to contain the damage.

The operation 24 km off Guimaras continues as small amounts of oil continue to trickle out of the tanker lying at the bottom of the sea.

Task Force Guimaras, headed by Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr., has yet to make a final decision on a plan to siphon off the remaining cargo of oil the vessel was ferrying for Petron from Limay, Bataan, to Zamboanga del Sur.

PCG officials acknowledged that the chemical dispersants could have adverse effects but said their use prevented far greater damage because they stopped the oil from reaching land and damaging more marine resources.

Already, a significant amount of slick had lapped at the coastal areas of Guimaras and Iloilo provinces, coating mangroves, animals, rocks and tourist resorts with a black sludge.

(For the full story, click Alarm bells , Sept. 25, 2006.)

Maritime Week: A Greasy Odyssey

IN MY PACK By Ruth G. Mercado
The Freeman 09/25/2006

WHAT do Guimaras, Doña Paz and Ivory Coast have in common? Grease. Maritime week commemorations this year is expected to wallow in mires of pollution crisis issues. But it will not be as murky as it seems. Nor will it be too slippery as to elude attention or too slimy as to justify inaction. It will instead bring to surface many misdemeanors that if left concealed, blurred and sealed may turn a crisis into an odyssey of catastrophes.

All this time, oil – from which the transport industry derives its lifeblood – has been moved and shipped in precarious and notorious ways. Like a symptom-less disease that is not detected until a person’s vital organs break down, no one would have known the risky and complacent manner by which oil and petroleum products in this country are handled, until the Guimaras oil spill.

In fact, no one would have known that maritime disasters in this country involving oil tankers far exceed tragedies involving passenger and cargo ships combined.

If not for the sinking of oil tanker MT Solar I in August where thousands of gallons of bunker fuel wiped out stretches of marine sanctuaries and beach resorts in Guimaras and neighboring islands, no one would have known that hazardous petroleum products are being shipped in decrepit tankers. No one would have known that oil shipments are intercepted or have mysterious rendezvous at mid-sea where oil is siphoned, smuggled or transferred to another vessel. No one would have known that all this time, the Philippines does not have laws regulating oil shipment and oil tankers, anti-oil pollution laws and laws that penalize people or entities liable for oil spills.

Such realization ought to sludge us with shame because the MT Solar I is not the first oil tanker involved in pollution or maritime disasters. In 1987, the MT Vector carrying thousands of gallons of petroleum collided with passenger ship MV Doña Paz off the coasts of Marinduque killing at least 4,000 passengers and crew. The Coast Guard’s inquiry board ruled that the oil tanker was not seaworthy and that it may have traveled without navigational lights making it difficult for the passenger ship to detect the approaching tanker on radar.

But while heirs of tragedy victims were indemnified with multi-million-peso damage claims, nothing was done to regulate oil shipment in this country. In its 1988 decision, the Board of Marine Inquiry blamed the MT Vector as solely responsible for the tragedy, but did not recommend anything that would have changed oil shipment practices or phase out single-hulled oil tankers. The inquiry fell short of preventing another accident, which happened almost 20 years later. This time far, far more devastating that it prompted Coast Guard to tag the Solar I sinking as “the worst oil spill.”

Also in August, thousands of miles from Guimaras, an equally “worst” toxic waste scandal happened. In West Africa’s Ivory Coast, a mixture of oil residue and caustic soda used to rinse out tanks of a Greek-owned cargo ship caused nausea, rashes, fainting, diarrhea and headaches. Dutch-based multi-national trading company Trafigura, that operates Probo Koala cargo ship, hired Ivorian firm Tommy to dispose of the sludge. But Tommy dumped an unknown proportion of 500 tons at 11 public sites across the city on August 19 and 20, making thousands of residents ill and killing seven including four children.

No matter how tough Ivory Coast’s anti-pollution laws are, these did not seem fail-safe. Eight people including transport officials, heads of Tommy and two other Ivorian companies were arrested. Outraged residents shouting “Murder” protested and set up barricades on the streets.

It’s time Philippine maritime and transport authorities discern from the Ivory Coast experience and siphon out grease from grime, industry malaise from crime. Unless oil shipment and tanker regulation are discussed extensively during forums this week, the next maritime pollution tragedy won’t come in 20 years – it may just be a breath away.

Heat, discomfort hound evacuated Guimaras kids

By HAZEL P. VILLA
Panay News, Sept. 25, 2006

NUEVA VALENCIA, Guimaras – It may indeed be a sunny day but for some 98 pupils of the Paaralan ng Buhay ng Tando, laughter and playfulness mask their discomfort as they try to make the best out of makeshift classrooms since the overpowering smell of rotten eggs drove them out of their school by the seashore.

School since August 22 for Day Care and Grades 1 and 2 is the chapel of the Catholic Church, the Aglipay chapel for Grades 5 and 6 and a tarpaulin tent for Grades 3 and 4.

The heat is almost unbearable and some 15 minutes of staying in the tent, though under the shade of coconut trees, makes one perspire on top of a discomfiting feeling brought about by topsy-turvy chairs and noisy children.

“It is so hot here. I tell the kids, let us bear this. Just keep on fanning yourselves. We can’t afford not to hold classes,” said Priscila Galvan, teacher in-charge of the multi-grade school.

She and two of the school’s three teachers were sitting at the outskirts of the tent during recess, fanning themselves as their wards noisily played outside.

The only portable blackboard had only a few scribbles on it.

RETREAT

Galvan said they had no choice but to retreat to the interior of Brgy. Tando here 11 days after Petron-chartered M/T Solar 1 sank off the southern part of Guimaras carrying 2.19 million liters of bunker fuel oil.

Some of the spilled 1.3 million liters washed on the white sand shores of Tando and other beaches of Nueva Valencia, Sibunag and San Lorenzo – three towns of Guimaras hardest hit by the country’s worst oil spill.

In the days that they stayed in their campus some five to eight meters away from the beach, Galvan said six pupils in Grades Five and Six complained of headaches, and tightening of the chest.

Grade One pupil Jeilyn Albaña and Grade Five and Six teacher Gemma Garde vomited.

Galvan said they did not transfer to the interior of the village right away because the children had to finish taking their first grading periodic exams.

The school children and teachers were given medicines, said Galvan, but the worse was yet to come.

When the school children transferred, the workers hired by Petron constructed a tent made of tarpaulin sewn together which leaked during rainy days, but this was nothing compared to the stench of what Galvan said was a drum of chemical dispersants near the tent.

WORSE SITUATION

“Petron’s chemical dispersants were smelly. People won’t die from the bunker fuel oil, but they will die from the smell of the dispersants. The drum was open and the stench was a pain in the chest,” said Galvan.

The teacher added that after their complaints sometime in the last week of August, Petron did not use the chemical dispersants and had these taken away.

“We are now immune to the stench,” said Galvan.

Petron’s health, safety and environment manager Carlos Tan, has repeatedly denied that the corporation ever used dispersants in the shorelines of spill-affected villages.

He also told the Inquirer it was the first time he heard of the state of the evacuated school children and that he would have workers fix the tent.

“The ones who provide the relocation sites are the local governments, not us,” said Tan on September 17.

SLOPPY WORK

Galvan was also incensed with the sloppy work of Petron-hired workers who “painted” with cement on the second week of September – the school’s breakwater made of rocks and corals that were smeared with oil.

Even a coconut tree by the breakwater with its broad roots awash in oil was “painted” with cement, to the great consternation of Galvan who could not explain the logic of it all.

“The clean-up workers told me it was Petron who ordered them to cover the breakwater with cement but Petron’s supervisors denied it when we confronted them. They said they will work on the breakwater again but I could still see some oil because of the thin film of cement,” said Galvan.

Tan said Petron was not the only group doing clean-up operations in Tando, mentioning “private individuals” and volunteer groups from Iloilo who took it upon themselves to help.

“The workers we get are residents and hence, we expect them to do well because after all, this is their place and they would not resort to shortcuts,” said Tan.

WISH FOR COMFORT

Galvan said she and the teachers wished all classes could be held in one big comfortable tent with electric fans, but as to who would pay for the electricity is something that even Brgy. Captain Olivia Evangelista could not answer.

Tando, with its 204 households and a population of more than a thousand, has some nine families or about 45 people evacuated to the interior of the village around the plaza on Sept. 13 since they lived within 100 meters of the shoreline ordered off limits by the government.

The evacuation came after a preliminary health and environmental assessment conducted by the Department of Health in collaboration with the University of the Philippines National Poison Management and Control Center dated August 28 showed toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide in the air of villages Cabalagnan, La Paz, and Tando in Nueva Valencia.

The high levels of hydrogen sulfide resulted to the sickness of 25 adults and four children in these villages, said the report.

The top five clinical complaints in the three villages, according to the report, were dizziness (65.5 percent), headache (44.23 percent), body malaise (34.48 percent), numbness (31.0 percent) and cough (24.13 percent).

As it is now, life for the pupils of the Paaralan ng Buhay ng Tando remains bleak.