European, Japanese firms line up for oil siphoning

DEFENSE Secretary Avelino Cruz on Thursday said three companies based in Norway, Japan and Britain are interested in conducting the oil-shiphoning operations in Guimaras Island.

The siphoning of the remaining bunker fuel from the sunken M/T Solar I is targeted to start in January to take advantage of good weather conditions.

Cruz said the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPCF) has agreed to pay for the operations, estimated to cost anywhere between $8 million and $10 million.

He added that based on the last inspection, the oil leak from the oil tanker was minimal and controllable. Solar 1, carrying at least two million liters of oil, sank off Guimaras on August 11. Officials said the oil spill had polluted at least 220 kilometers of coastline, fishing grounds, marine reserves and tourist spots.

Anthony Golez, National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) spokesman, earlier announced that the IOPC is set to formally approve the compensation funds for the Philippine government’s claim.

Included in the claims are compensation for the fishermen and villagers of Guimaras province whose livelihood and property were affected by the oil spill.

“By Friday in London, IOPCF will be concluding its meeting and [the government's] claims will be signed and included in the minutes,” Golez announced.

Golez made the announcement after returning from London Wednesday where he met with IOPC officials and lobbied for the compensation claims.

“The papers were immediately processed and several member agencies or governments told us that the approval of the Philippines’ claims was the fastest in IOPCF history,” Golez said.

IOPCF has 125 government members. Its fund comes from contributions of member countries.

Golez said each government’s contribution is based on the profit in transactions with oil companies in its country. He said that the excess funds that cannot be shouldered by Solar 1’s insurance company will be paid by IOPCF.

He also advised Guimaras residents affected by the oil spill to speed up the completion and processing of their claim documents. (From ABS-CBN News, Oct. 26, 2006)

Guimaras fishers first in line for compensation

By Joel Guinto
INQ7.net, Oct. 26, 2006

FISHERMEN whose livelihoods have been affected by the oil spill off Guimaras province will be the first to receive compensation from an international organization of oil firms, officials said Thursday.

The agreement was reached when Philippine officials met with representatives from the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) in London earlier this week, officials said.

Defense Secretary and concurrent National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) chairman Avelino Cruz Jr. said an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 fishermen were affected by the spill.

“We will start with the claims of the fishermen,” Office of Civil Defense deputy administrator Anthony Golez told a news conference in Camp Aguinaldo.

“We advise the fishermen to properly prepare their claims,” said Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela.

Coscolluela said the IOPC could deny excessive claims or those with improper documentation.

(For the full story, click Fishers’ compensation.)

There’s hope in PBSP’s livelihood rehab plan

By Tina Arceo-Dumlao
Inquirer, Oct. 26, 2006

(Last of a series of an I-Team Report)

THERE IS HOPE.

This is the battle cry of the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the country’s leading corporate-led nongovernment organization, as it takes on the challenging role of crafting and implementing a long-term livelihood rehabilitation program for the fisherfolk and other residents affected by the oil spill in Guimaras province.

Covered by PBSP’s three- to five-year Guimaras Area Resource Management (ARM) Program are the estimated 4,019 households, primarily from the municipalities of Nueva Valencia and Sibunag, whose income from fishing, seaweed farming and aquaculture was slashed by the oil spill.

PBSP estimated that it would take as much as P90.96 million to bankroll all the livelihood projects outlined in its area resource management program, of which P52.64 million would be shouldered by the private sector led by PBSP.

This would go to the purchase of seedlings, seaweed materials, fish stocks and training.

A total of P10.16 million will come from government, P23.71 million from other nongovernment organizations and P4.45 million from the community itself.

Data from the provincial government showed that daily fish catch in the area went down from an average of 5 to 10 kilograms a day to just one to two after the MT Solar I sank on Aug. 11 in rough weather off Guimaras while ferrying for Petron Corp. 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel oil from Bataan to Zamboanga del Sur.

(For the full story, click Livelihood rehab. Earlier posting here.)

After oil spill, Semirara folk start rebuilding lives

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Inquirer, Oct. 26, 2006

SEMIRARA ISLAND, ANTIQUE – Ten months after a massive oil spill polluted this island, residents have begun slowly rebuilding their lives, away from media glare now focused on Guimaras that is reeling from the nation’s worst environmental disaster.

Fishermen and shell gatherers say their catch has slowly increased although it is still less than before the oil spill.

“It’s a bit better,” says Ildefonso Decanta, 49, a fisherman from Barangay Semirara, of his catch in recent months. He now gets at least five kilos of fish per day, which he sells at P50 per kilo. But he hopes this will increase to 10 kilos, just like before the oil spill.

Nenita Genivacio, 62, says she now gets five plastic packs of shells daily. She sells each pack for P15 to P20. This is still lower than the 10 packs she used to gather, but she believes things will get better.

On Dec. 18, 2005, a National Power Corp. barge, battered by strong winds and waves, ran aground off Semirara Island as it was being towed by a tugboat to Oriental Mindoro from Masbate.

About 360,000 liters of bunker fuel was spilled from the nearly 900,000 liters stored in the barge’s four fuel tanks, causing damage to mangroves and marine life in parts of the 5,045-hectare island.

(For the full story, click Semirara lives.)

From our mailbox…another shipment of donations

GUIMARAS DONATION DRIVE UPDATE

We’ll be sending another round of donations by the 2nd week of November. Donations in kind are appreciated : gloves (industrial/household), masks (preferably haz mat), rubber boots (industrial/fishing), old clothes, canned goods/ noodles, and medicine.

You can drop off your donations at #12 Highland Drive, Blueridge A, Katipunan, Q.C. or email cleanupoilspill@gmail.com if you want us to pick them up. Please don’t forget to send in your contact info.

Cash donations are also welcome. You may send them to us to be used for buying these goods for you. We also have a new account set up by Batas Kalikasan for the Guimaras effort. You can deposit cash donations at:

Metrobank PESO savings acct # 500-3-50004384-0 Ayala Acacia branch
payable to: Batas Kalikasan Foundation Inc.

We’d like to remind you guys to include your name and contact info with your donations so they can be properly addressed. For cash deposits, please email us your scanned deposit slips so we can send you a receipt.

Deadline of donations for the coming shipment is on Nov. 4, 2006. Thanks!

– From Lette Teodosio of the Visayan Sea Squadron

Coverup not cleanup in Guimaras

Bassinette Noderama
The Guardian Iloilo,
Oct. 17, 2006

MY maternal relatives based in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras have owned fishponds for several generations. Our place was one of those affected by the country’s worst oil spill caused by the sinking of M/T Solar I in August 11.

I avoid writing on this topic because it is very difficult to control my emotions. There are many things I want to include, but it is better that I don’t.

Looking at the Guimaras tragedy, I should say it is very painful to see the destruction of what used to be paradise. The old folks shed blood, sweat, and tears to develop what used to be virgin territory into a productive stretch. The younger ones just inherited the fruits of the previous generations’ sacrifices. It’s heart-wrenching to see the damage in my playground.

My childhood memories include a house perched on the highest part of the mountain. Other houses were several kilometers away. Everything in sight was beautiful.

From the porch, the sparkling waters off the island offered a refreshing sight. Wild birds flying over fishponds broke the monotony of the pristine landscape. Abundant marine resources not only ensured our food, but also allowed us to buy whatever we wanted.

Even poorer folks did not go hungry because they could also avail themselves of nature’s bounties. From the waters, they could get fish, crabs and lobsters, shells and seaweeds and sell them. They could also grow rice, fruits and vegetables and sell them all the same. Others also engaged in cottage industries.

Sadly, high levels of toxic gases like hydrogen sulfide prompted health officials to ask these coastal residents to evacuate. Some villagers sought refuge among relatives, and some went to evacuation centers. Many subsisted on dole-outs because their primary source of income was cut off.

Anyone who visits the spot can empathize with a victim, but the feeling is different if you yourself are the victim. A visitor who can smell the stench of bunker oil can choose to leave immediately; a resident who has no other place has to get used to it.

We are very grateful that aid and relief poured in from all sources. Many people even have sleepless nights just figuring out what to do to help us.

Indeed, it is very difficult to control my emotions. I’m writing this as a reaction to the reports that disaster managers plan to bury in the island the left-over oil sludge. What if we creatively package the oil sludge and deliver some to their homes as Christmas souvenirs?

I doubt that Guimaras is already cleared of oil debris and therefore safe from toxic gases, when the municipal health officer of Nueva Valencia herself said that they have not issued a clean bill of health on the 12 affected barangays.

Lately, when a group of media men including our Managing Editor Francis Allan Angelo visited some affected areas, residents and officials of six barangays attested that the beaches may look clean on the surface but there is still oil underneath. A resident also said they were ordered to cover with sand some affected areas. They also applied fresh coat of cement on the seawall.

The pictures that appeared on the front page of last Saturday’s issue of the Guardian proved all these. Such schemes rather make for a cover-up, not really a cleanup.

Since a picture “says a thousand words”—so I am more convinced by the facts presented by my newspaper colleague plus the pictures he took on location—rather than the pronouncements given by people who claim that Guimaras is already cleared of oil debris. After all, to see is to believe.