Petron hit for ‘lame excuse’ on barge sinking

By Erwin Ambo S. Delilan
SunStar Bacolod,
Nov. 24, 2006

“ANOTHER stupendous insult to our people, environment and our laws!”

So said Rep. JR Nereus Acosta (1st District-Bukidnon and co-chairperson of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) in reaction to the oil spill off the coast of Misamis Occidental after a barge carrying oil debris from Guimaras sank in the area.

In a statement, Acosta said: “The first time (August 11 oil spill off the coast of Guimaras Island), Petron said it was an accident. We said they should face liabilities. For repeated delinquency, let us now fully exercise the rule of law for crimes such as this.”

Acosta, a staunch environmentalist and reproductive health advocate, is also a mover of the Population, Health and Environment (PHE) Network, a coalition of scientists, population experts, health advocates, conservationists, community- builders and policy technicians in various government and non-government organizations.

“What do we need to see in order for us to pin down Petron? We are a nation endowed with natural resources and yet, we let private corporations like Petron destroy all of these, to the detriment of ourselves and our very own people!” he added.

Barge Ras was carrying 630 metric tons of debris in about 59,000 sacks, or about 600 tons, of debris from Guimaras when it sank 5 kilometers off Misamis Oriental reportedly due to “rough seas.”

The PHE Network proposes measures to reduce the risks from oil spill pollution.

World Wildlife Fund-Philippines, a member of the network, also raised the need to make risk-maps for coastal areas and to review current shipping routes to give new options for vessels with hazardous cargoes.

Members of PLCPD have also pushed for legislation to establish an oil spill trust fund, provide adequate disaster-response technologies, require double hulls for hazardous cargoes, and raise penalties for environmental pollution.

The UN require ships carrying hazardous cargo to shift to double hull type carriers by 2015 but local tankers have not been sold to the idea because of the additional costs it would entail.

“Aside from its standing liabilities, Petron should also answer why they employed the services of a firm that was obviously not competent,” Acosta said.

Siphoning of remaining bunker oil delayed anew

Joel Weston, Sonsub Regional Manager for Asia-Pacific, explains to the media the process of recovering the remaining oil from sunken vessel MT Solar I. (Photo by A. Chris Fernandez, The News Today, Nov. 24, 2006)

By MONTESA GRIÑO
Visayan Daily Star, Nov. 24, 2006

GUIMARAS – In a move that will surely make environmentalists angry, the siphoning of the remaining bunker oil from the sunken M/T Solar 1 on Guimaras Strait is being moved back from the already very delayed January 2007 schedule, to February or March.

The Singapore-based Sonsub company had been tapped to do the siphoning, announced its regional manager for the Asia-Pacific region, Joel Weston. He met the media yesterday.

It was earlier reported that a Norwegian company was being eyed to siphon the remaining bunker fuel and that it would commence the work in January. This angered environmental activists who warned that the tanker is an ecological time bomb.

The longer the oil stays in the strait, the worse the destruction it will bring to marine life in the affected area, they stressed.

Weston said the siphoning may make 25 days. Right now, Sonsub is preparing the needed equipments and personnel, he added.

Petron Corp. will be paying Sonsub six to eight million dollars for the operation, Weston said.

The sunken M/T Solar 1 was chartered by Petron supposedly to ferry its over two million liters of bunker fuel from Luzon to Mindanao. The tanker, however, sank at the rough Guimaras Strait in August, causing a massive oil spill that displaced thousands of Guimaras residents affected the island’s marine ecosystem.

Petron claimed to be on the second phase of its clean-up operation in Guimaras when another of its chartered vessel sank. This time, it’s a barge tasked to ferry the oil spill debris collected in Guimaras.

COMPENSATION

Around 13,000 fisher folks displaced by the oil spill may get their compensation claims before this year ends.

According to Joe Nichols of the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund, they now have the names of all the claimants.

“The claims vary… (These are relative to) damage (caused) by the oil spill to the livelihood of each affected fisherman and their fishing activity,” he stressed.

Nichols said some of the fishermen will received P6,000 while others as much as P30,000.

The compensation to be given to laborers tapped for the clean-up operation would be different.

“So far, no claimant had been disqualified,” Nichols said.

PROBE

In Manila, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered multi-agency Task Force Guimaras to investigate the sinking of the barge — carrying the collected oil spill debris from Guimaras — off Misamis Occidental.

This aims to help authorities plan strategies so damage to humans and the environment can be minimized.

“The President expressed concern about this unfortunate incident and tasked agencies concerned led by Task Force Guimaras to get to the bottom of it,” said Presidential Spokesman and Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye.

Arroyo created the task force this year to address concerns like environmental clean-up and rehabilitation, as well as livelihood assistance to oil spill victims in Guimaras.

The environment, transportation, energy, social welfare and health departments as well as Philippine Coast Guard compose Task Force Guimaras.

Malacañang is optimistic that the damage arising from the barge’s sinking won’t be as extensive as what hit Guimaras which continues to reel after the sinking of MT Solar I.
During a Palace briefing, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said that since the debris were packed in containers, the Palace expects minor damages arising from the mishap.

MARINE INQUIRY

The captain and crew members of the barge have been summoned to appear before the Special Board of Marine Inquiry today.

The captain and crew members of barge Ras will face the Special Board of Marine Inquiry in the Philippine Coast Guard headquarters in Cagayan de Oro at 10 a.m.
The captain maintained in his sworn affidavit that the vessel capsized after the water entered the barge’s hatch.

Authorities said the site where the barge sank as well as the shorelines of Oroquieta, Lopez Jaena and Polo Point in Misamis Occidental were free from oil sheen but the local government still demanded for the immediate retrieval of oil debris.

Petron said that the barge and the debris would no longer be salvaged because these pose no environmental threat.

Ras was on its way to Lugait, Misamis Oriental to transfer over 50,000 sacks of oil debris from Guimaras when it capsized, raising fears that the debris might affect the community and the marine environment of the province.

Investor backs out in wake of Petron barge sinking

By Lino Dela Cruz
Iligan Correspondent
SunStar, Nov. 24, 2006

ILIGAN CITY – A prospective investor in the local tourism industry had reportedly backed out after the sinking four days ago of a barge carrying oil debris from the sunken oil tanker in Guimaras, 3.16 nautical miles off the municipal coast.

The investor has planned to put up a beach resort in Plaridel town, Misamis Occidental.

Plaridel town Mayor Edelmar Bulatin said the investor backed out for fear of lasting pollution due to the sinking of barge LCT Ras, which carried some 35,000 sacks of oil debris from the sunken oil tanker Solar 1 in Guimaras last September this year.

The barge was being towed by the tugboat Vega when rough seas and big waves caused it to sink.

Maritime authorities said the seawaters could have entered the barge’s hatch and triggered the sinking.

The coastline facing Panguil Bay in Misamis Occidental is known for its scenic beaches.

Local officials in Oroquieta town said they recovered an oil absorbent apparently coming from the sunken vessel and they fear that an estimated 4,000 fishermen along the province’s coasts will be affected.

Bulatin said even as the oil coming from the Guimaras oil spill is already weathered and absorbed by the sand, rocks, and absorbents packed in jute sacks that was loaded in the sunken barge. The jute sacks will eventually be destroyed and the seawaters contaminated.

Government authorities and environmental groups are now in the area to gather seawater samples that will be brought to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Environmental Management Board in Northern Mindanao.

On the other hand, the environment groups and the local government of Plaridel are now planning to file a criminal case against Petron, the oil shipper, and Harbor Star, the carrier.

Meanwhile, Holcim Cement, in Lugait, Misamis Oriental, which is utilizing the oil debris from the Guimaras oil spill, assured the public that the process they are using in utilizing the oil derived from the debris for the cement plant’s fuel will not harm the environment.

Bobby Sajonia, plant manager, said the driftwoods, rocks and sands where oil is absorbed are separated and not burned and the burning and emission are controlled.

“The emission is still below the allowable standard.” Sajonia said.

Editorial – Carelessness

SunStar Cagayan de Oro
Nov. 24, 2006

THE sinking of a barge reportedly carrying 100 tons of tar balls off the coast of a Misamis Occidental may only serve to confirm the dismal safety record of the country’s shipping industry.

Whatever the reasons for this accident, affected residents won’t care since they and their families would bear the brunt of the damage wrought on their waters for years to come. And owing to their connections, the perpetrators may yet get away with only a slap on their wrists.

First to be held accountable of course are the management and crew of the barge and Petron, which dismissed the spill as nothing to be alarmed about since the tar balls–or the oil debris, which the barge carried from damaged Guimaras–had “been weathering for sometime.”

This contrasts sharply with an admission from Office of Civil Defense (OCD) officials who, while stating that the barge carried only a small load of oil debris, stated that it would certainly affect the ecosystems in the affected areas.

The management or owners of the barge and Petron certainly have a lot to answer for not only to the people of Guimaras but to the thousands of affected residents of Misamis Occidental.

And it is up to local and the national government officials to see to it that these persons and entities bear the full brunt of the legal, moral and socio-economic consequences of their actions.

Time for Petron to revisit sea transport contracts

By VG Cabuag
Reporter, BusinessMirror
Nov. 24, 2006

PETRON Corp., the country’s largest petroleum company, may have to revisit the way it gives contracts to various shipping firms that transport fuel products after it encountered two sea mishaps in just three months.

According to Jose Luis U. Yulo Jr., a former independent director of Petron and who headed the firm’s audit committee from 2001 to 2006, the next operational audit of Petron should now focus on the safety of the vessels contracted by the company. In previous years, Yulo said the audit committee focused on the oil losses of Petron—the quantity when the fuel was loaded did not match when it was offloaded to its destination—a matter that hounded the firm for years.

“We did not focus on the safety of the vessels [that will transport petroleum products] yet because that was not the problem then,” he explained, adding that they fixed the oil loss problem by calibrating the equipment and doing some operational changes.

The government, through the Philippine National Oil Co., owns 40 percent of Petron, while Saudi Arabian Oil Co. holds another 40 percent; the rest are held by the public.

Yulo said the company is undergoing three stages of operational audit, one internally and one each both for the government and Saudi Aramco. This means all aspects of operation of Petron would have to be reviewed—even the way it enters into contracts with other parties.

“Petron is one of the best-managed companies in the world. That is why it has overtaken (Pilipinas) Shell and Caltex (Chevron Philippines) in market share in 2005. Still, accidents may happen where Petron has [no] control nor fault,” Yulo said.

At a Senate inquiry on the sinking of MT Solar 1, senators questioned the way Petron handles its contracts with the vessels that transport its products. On August 11, Solar 1, owned by Sunshine Maritime Corp., sank in rough seas off Guimaras Island, carrying 2.2 million liters of bunker fuel, in what was called the worst oil spill in the Philippines. Until today, the vessel remains submerged with more than a million liters of fuel still to be siphoned off.

On Monday evening, the oil barge Ras hauled by tugboat Vega, carrying the debris from the oil spill site, sank five kilometers off Plaridel in Misamis Occidental, also due to rough seas.

According to initial investigation, unlike the papers of the Sunshine Maritime that the maritime regulators had virtually cleared on any irregularity, Ras owner Harbor Star lacks the proper documents.

Maritime Industry Authority said Ras’s permit allowed it to ply routes only in rivers, such as the Pasig River and Manila Bay. Vega, on the other hand, was not registered with the Marina, which makes its operations to ferry the debris illegal.

Allegations of oil pilferage again cropped up during the investigation of the Board of Marine Inquiry, the special oversight body created on the Guimaras oil spill, with some quarters saying the oil theft may have caused the MT Solar 1 to sink.

During the past several months, there have also been reported cases of oil theft involving Petron’s operations in Limay and Manila.

Communities affected by the sinking of Ras may also seek compensation from the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund, House Deputy Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas said.

Gullas, who represents Cebu province’s First District, said that under IOPC rules, ‘costs incurred for preventive measures and further loss or damage caused by preventive measures” following an oil spill “may be compensated.”

The IOPC Fund is financed by levies on certain types of oil carried by sea. The levies are paid by entities that receive oil after sea transport.

Petron Corp. had said the IOPC Fund would extend a total of $315 million to cover “pollution damage” as a result of the Solar I incident. This would cover cleanup costs, spoiled property and consequential losses.

Petron said it had chipped in a total of P120 million to the IOPC Fund since 1999.

Gullas, meanwhile, renewed his call for the Senate to expedite the approval of a bill enforcing in the country all international rules on the accountability of ship owners for oil spill damage, and ensuring instant and adequate compensation for parties that suffer losses as a result of the discharge.

From our mailbox…Petron ex-director hints of questionable transport contracts

REACTING to the recent sinking of the Petron-chartered barge carrying oil spill debris from Guimaras, former independent director of Petron, Jose Luis “Nonoy” Yulo writes:

“During my last months as Chairman of the Audit Committee, we had already identified problems with the barging contractors, and indeed have started to focus on this. After I left Petron in March of this year, I had informed my successor, former budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin about the problem during my meeting with her a few months back.” (Nov. 21, 2006)

Loaded statement if I ever read one.

Petron denies chartering sunken barge (so what else is new?!)

The Philippine Star 11/24/2006

ILOILO CITY — Nobody’s claiming responsibility for the sinking of the barge Ras, which was carrying oil debris when it sunk Monday night.

“I’m very definite about it, that Petron did not charter the barge,” Malou Erni of Petron Foundation said during a press conference yesterday, shortly after reading a press release from Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc.

Erni made her statements in reaction to Malacañang’s order for an investigation into the sinking of the Ras.

The Ras was transporting oil debris left by the oil spill in Guimaras island last August, after the oil tanker M/T Solar I sank off the Guimaras coast.

Harbor Star, owner of the Ras as well as the tugboat Vega that had been towing the Ras when the barge sank, said they were collectively contracted by the Protection and Indemnity Club (P&I Club) — one of the insurers of M/T Solar I, the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd., and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund.

The Ras was loaded with 59,649 sacks of oil-coated debris when it sank in the vicinity of Plaridel town, Misamis Oriental Monday night due to rough seas and high winds. The oil-contaminated debris, weighing approximately 600 metric tons, is composed of twigs, driftwood, rocks and sand.

Likewise, Joe Nichols and Britt Pickering of IOPC and the P&I Club, respectively, have vehemently denied chartering the sunken barge.

(The full story at Sunken barge.)

Defying law and logic

GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc
The Philippine Star 11/24/2006

Excerpt

Off the coast of Misamis, disaster already struck because of similar defiance of rules and reason. The sinking of the open barge carrying 600 tons of oil spill debris from Guimaras is the result of the cleanup task force ignoring Coast Guard warnings.

Capt. Luis Tuason Jr., Coast Guard commander for Western Visayas, had strongly objected to the use of open barges to move the sludge out of Guimaras. But the other agencies, including Petron Corp. whose rented tanker had spilled 2 million liters to begin with, thought they were smarter. The Maritime Industry Authority, in its hurry to entice barge owners into sending their vessels over, relaxed the rules on carrying hazardous cargo.

The Marina tried to wash its hands of responsibility for the decision soon afterwards. Instead of inspecting the seaworthiness of the barges, as its main work, it delegated the task to the Coast Guard.

And so the idiocy had to happen twice. Motor tanker M/T Solar sank in Aug. because the shipmaster insisted on sailing in very rough waters, with defective gear. The open barge Ras sank also in rough seas because the crew, emboldened by a Marina special permit, similarly sailed into a storm.

(For the entire column, click Gotcha.)