Arroyo to DoJ: Go after culprits behind Guimaras oil tragedy

EXPRESSING sadness over the devastation caused by the oil spill in central Philippines, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo instructed on Saturday the Justice department to go after those responsible for the environmental tragedy.

At a National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) meeting in Nueva Valencia village in Guimaras, the President named Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez as the latest member of Task Force Guimaras.

Immediately, Mrs Arroyo directed Gonzalez to determine and prosecute those responsible for the oil spill and find ways to ensure the tragedy will not be repeated.

“Moving forward we can assure every single citizen and group concerned that there will be a full investigation of this entire matter to determine what happened, who is responsible and what steps we need to make sure this type of accident doesn’t happen again,” the President said.

“For this purpose, we shall be adding the secretary of justice to Task Force Guimaras,” she added.

Gonzalez hails from Iloilo, where portions of the province have been affected by the oil slick, the biggest to hit the Philippines so far.

(Originally published on GMA News web site, Aug. 26, 2006. Click here for the rest of the story.)

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FOR someone who didn’t care much about the rape of a woman in Subic, Secretary Gonzalez is the last person I would depend on to help prosecute those responsible in murdering Guimaras’ marine resources and economy.

Toxicology of crude oil

A SOUTH African petroleum company, Engen Petroleum Ltd., considers crude oil hazardous to one’s health and on its web site, notes that the product “contains polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). Under conditions of poor personal hygiene and prolonged repeated contact, some PACs have been suspected as a cause of skin cancer in humans. Overexposure to benzene can result in blood disorders and damage to the bone marrow. In rare instances leukemia has also been reported. Possible skin irritation and dermatitis. Respiratory irritation, dizziness, nausea, loss of consciousness.” Click here for its hazard page.

Also, click the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information on the effects of benzene exposure.

These are the health risks being faced by the unprotected volunteers and workers cleaning up the Guimaras oil spill.

ATTENTION GMA AND PETRON EXECUTIVES!

THE Oil Program of the US Environmental Protection Agency is a good resource for dealing with emergencies such as the Guimaras Oil Spill. Click here for more information. The US is one of the very few countries that has an Oil Pollution program, which was drawn up due to the Exxon Valdez accident.

Also, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has downloadable manuals on dealing with oil spills on its web site. Click Responding to oil spills to read and download.

How the US dealt with the Exxon Valdez oil spill

ON March 24, 1989, shortly after midnight, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil. The spill was the largest in U.S. history and tested the abilities of local, national, and industrial organizations to prepare for, and respond to, a disaster of such magnitude. Many factors complicated the cleanup efforts following the spill. The size of the spill and its remote location, accessible only by helicopter and boat, made government and industry efforts difficult and tested existing plans for dealing with such an event.

The spill posed threats to the delicate food chain that supports Prince William Sound’s commercial fishing industry. Also in danger were ten million migratory shore birds and waterfowl, hundreds of sea otters, dozens of other species, such as harbor porpoises and sea lions, and several varieties of whales.

Since the incident occurred in open navigable waters, the U.S. Coast Guard’s On-Scene Coordinator had authority for all activities related to the cleanup effort. His first action was to immediately close the Port of Valdez to all traffic. A U.S. Coast Guard investigator, along with a representative from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, visited the scene of the incident to assess the damage. By noon on Friday, March 25, the Alaska Regional Response Team was brought together by teleconference, and the National Response Team was activated soon thereafter.

Alyeska, the association that represents seven oil companies who operate in Valdez, including Exxon, first assumed responsibility for the cleanup, in accordance with the area’s contingency planning. Alyeska opened an emergency communications center in Valdez shortly after the spill was reported and set up a second operations center in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Coast Guard quickly expanded its presence on the scene, and personnel from other Federal agencies also arrived to help. EPA specialists in the use of experimental bioremediation technologies assisted in the spill cleanup and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was involved in providing weather forecasts for Prince William Sound, allowing the cleanup team to adapt their methods to changing weather conditions. Specialists from the Hubbs Marine Institute in San Diego, California, set up a facility to clean oil from otters, and the International Bird Research Center of Berkeley, California, established a center to clean and rehabilitate oiled waterfowl.

Three methods were tried in the effort to clean up the spill:

•Burning
•Mechanical Cleanup
•Chemical Dispersants

(Originally published on the US Environmental Protection Agency web site. Click here to read the rest of the piece. Needless to say, speed is always the key to resolving any emergency.)

Northwestern part of Guimaras Strait is safe — BFAR

THE northewestern part of the Guimaras Strait is safe for swimming, and fish and other marine products caught in the area are safe for swimming, accroding to Secretary Arthur Yap, chief of the Presidential Management Staff.

Quoting sources from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Yap made the announcement in an interview aired over radio station dzBB.

BFAR officials said that fishes instinctively avoid contaminated areas.

On August 11, the MT Solar I sank off the southern coast of Guimaras Island due to turbulent seas brought about by the monsoon season. It was carrying 2.1 million liters of oil, about 10 percent of which has leaked out to sea and affected some 40,000 residents of the island province.

(Originally published on GMA News web site, Aug. 26, 2006)

Oil spill hits 6 towns, 3,000 families

THE Philippine Coast Guard Saturday said the oil spill in Guimaras has damaged six coastal towns, 28 coastal barangays and affected 3,000 families, ABS-CBN News reported.

Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Coyme, PCG spokesman, said the oil has stretched up to 200 kilometers of the coastal area in Guimaras. He added that the oil leak has damaged 1,500 hectares of mangroves, sea grass and coral reefs.

The PCG has continued its clean-up operations to contain the slick, dragged by the northeast current through the strait, before it reaches the open waters of the Visayan Sea.

The government has sent two barges where the contained oil will be loaded.

Avelino Cruz, defense secretary and head of Task Force Guimaras, meanwhile, said officials have studied the possibility of using oil-eating bacteria in the clean-up operations.

Cruz visited Guimaras early Saturday to head the establishment of a mobile hospital for residents affected by the spill.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo Panganiban, meanwhile, said raising pigs is an alternative livelihood for residents whose means of livelihood is fishing.

Panganiban said at least four pigs will be given to each family in Nueva Valencia.

According to experts, the sunken oil tanker is only 650 meters underwater. The Fucoda Salvage and Marine Work Vessel said it will prioritize the containment of the oil before the retrieval of the vessel.

Since the tanker sank on August 11, 50,000 gallons of oil has leaked into the sea causing black sludge to be washed up on more than 300 kilometers of coastline on Guimaras. It has wrecked the island’s tourism industry and threatened the livelihood of hundreds of fishermen.

(Originally published on ABS-CBN News web site, Aug. 26, 2006.)

A word from our ‘cheating’ president

PGMA orders immediate clean-up of oil spill

NUEVA VALENCIA, Guimaras—Appalled by the extent of the ecological damage of the country’s worst ever oil spill, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered today the immediate clean-up of the slick off the shores of this island province and the safe off-loading of the sunken tanker’s remaining load.

In her opening statement at the National Disaster Coordinating Council meeting held at the Salvacion Elementary School here, the President stressed the need to act quickly and decisively as the health and the livelihood of the affected residents lie in the speedy cleanup of the spill.

“I am personally pressing the government, Petron, the ship owner and every responsible party to work quickly and decisively to clean-up this ecological mess,” the Chief Executive said.

The Motor tanker (MT) Solar 1, carrying 500,000 gallons of oil of Petron, sank in rough seas off Guimaras last Aug. 11, resulting in the country’s worst oil spill that has already affected hundreds of kilometers of the province’s shoreline, including the livelihood of thousands of subsistence fishermen in the area.

Describing the oil spill as a tragic accident, the President stressed that the government’s first order of business is to ensure the health and safety of the citizens who are on the path of the spill.

Central to the care of the citizens, the President pointed out, is to clean up the spill as soon as possible to protect the health and well being of the people “and make sure our pristine coastline is preserved and brought back to earth.”

“Everyone must make sure that the sunken tanker is secured that you will safely off-load it and this accident safely comes to a rapid conclusion,” she added.

The President instructed the Department of Health to “meticulously” assess the situation “followed by a prompt and sustained action.”

Determined to make those responsible accountable for the country’s worst oil spill, she also announced that she is including Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales to the Task Force Guimaras to make sure that the disaster won’t happen again.

The President assured a full investigation of the oil spill to determine what happened and what steps to take to avert a repeat.

“This accident once again underscores the fragile nature of our environment, and why, we as a people seek to do more to preserve our precious natural resources,” she said. “We will do everything in our power to right the wrong caused by this unfortunate accident.

(Originally published on the Office of the Press Secretary’s web site. Click Dead Air for more empty rhetoric from the corridors of power.)

AT NAGPA-KODAK PA SYEMPRE…

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo inspects the clean-up work being done in Sitio Larusan, Brgay. La Paz Nueva Valencia following the country’s worst oil spill off Guimaras. (Rey Baniquet—OPS NIB Photo)

OUR CAPTION: Ano ba ang tinitignan mo mare? Ala namang oil spill d’yan noh?

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo views an affected area of the country’s worst oil spill in Sitio Larusan, Brgy. La Paz Nueva Valencia in Guimaras during an inspection Saturday. The visit preceded a National Disaster Coordinating Council meeting which she presided at the Salvacion Elem School. (Rey Baniquet-OPS- NIB Photo)

OUR CAPTION: Ang ganda naman ng T-shirt binigay ng Petron sa workers! And himala, naka rubber boots and gloves na. Kontodo mask! Ba’t si GMA di naka-protective gear? Dahil ba malinis itong area na pinuntahan nya?

Sunstar editorial

Oil spill

MOST of the national attention has focused on the ongoing recovery efforts off Guimaras coast where a sunken oil tanker is spilling more of its oil into the waters and already killing scores of marine life and severely damaging the marine ecosystem there.

What makes this tragedy doubly painful is the fact that the national government is already being stretched thin with its recovery of overseas contract workers in Lebanon–which thankfully is being reduced significantly by the day–and the ongoing evacuation for residents near the Mt. Mayon vicinity.

While the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) keeps going down in Lebanon and Mt. Mayon has yet to fully launch its own explosion in Legazpi, frogmen and rescue teams are hard at work, though seeing little success in their operations in Guimaras.

Last time we heard, the oil spill was spreading to nearby areas with at least six towns in Iloilo province under threat from the oil spill.

Already it has ruined 300 kilometers of coastline, 500 hectares of mangroves and 60 hectares of seaweed plantations affecting 26,000 residents of Guimaras.

(Originally published in the Sunstar web site, Aug. 24, 2006. Click here for the rest of the piece.)

Haphazard handling of oil spill sludge scored

DRUMS of sludge collected from the shores of Guimaras province are just being “dumped” along the shoreline, and may threaten the environment again with the next high tide.

Environmental group Greenpeace on Saturday scored Petron Corp. and government for the supposed haphazard handling of the waste and for failure to ensure protection for fishermen collecting the waste.

“They’re just dumping the sludge on the shores… haphazardly,” Greenpeace campaigner Von Hernandez said in an interview on dzBB radio.

He warned that, “the sludge may break out of the containers and return to the shores at the next high tide.”

Hernandez’s assessment came hours before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was scheduled to visit Guimaras to personally survey the damage that the oil spill has wrought.

The provincial government, he noted, was still waiting for Petron Corp., a company that is 30 percent owned by the government, to fulfill its promise send a barge to collect the sludge.

Petron Corp. had commissioned the ill-fated tanker “Solar 1″ to ferry two million liters of bunker oil from Bataan to Mindanao. The “Solar 1″ sank off Guimaras last Aug. 11.

Hernandez averred that two weeks hence, fishermen hired by Petron to collect the sludge and remain unprotected.

“We have volunteers setting up booms to help clean the oil spill. But the fishermen deserve protection such as boots, gloves and masks,” he said.

(Originally published on the GMA News web site, Aug. 26, 2006. Click here.)

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

PLEASE take time to sign the online petition re: the Guimaras oil spill. Due pressure should be exerted for the responsible parties to duly clean up the mess and afford proper reparations to the environmental damage they caused as well as the prejudice they have caused to the inhabitants.

Visit this site to sign: Guimaras Oil Spill Petition

Oying Pineda
http://oyingpineda.blogspot.com/
http://dharmawheel.blogspot.com/

(Via pldt@yahoogroups.com)

CALLING ALL REPORTERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, SCIENTISTS, ENVIRONMENTALISTS, AND BLOGGERS

THIS blog is for you! You are all invited to post your stories, views, analyses, photos, and other relevant pieces about the Guimaras oil spill on this blog. No renumeration, of course, but an opportunity to reach out and educate the public (and perhaps Petron Corp.) about this disaster.

You may post directly on this blog or email me at akosistella@yahoo.com .

Thank you.

Site administrator

From our mailbox…

HI all!

I’d like to give you all a very brief update on Petron’s “efforts” re: the oil spill. I am quoting this word for word from the news updates I receive on my cellphone (source: abs-cbn news room).

“Petron Corp on Wednesday said it has no legal obligation to pay for the oil spill cleanup in Guimaras. As cargo owner, Petron said it did not cause the spill on August 11. Petron said it has organized a ‘cash-for-work’ project to clean up Guimaras’ shoreline of sludge from the sunken tanker.”

My interpretation of this news piece is that the burden of the cleanup is up to the people of Guimaras (or Negros). That if no one volunteers for the program, no cleanup will happen. The pace of the cleanup, therefore, will depend on how many people will sign up for their “cash-for-work” program. Meanwhile, the sludge will continue to spread out.

It’s a very self-serving program, if you ask me. Basically the Petron guys can wash their hands clean of this oil spill mess by saying, “It’s not our fault nobody showed up. We tried.” And if people do show up to help in the cleanup, they can claim how effective their program was and how it helped bring work (or money) to the townsfolk of Guimaras.

I think Petron’s reaction to all this is despicable. I, for one, do not gas up at Petron anymore. I know that doesn’t make a dent in their sales but I guess it’s a start.

MA-AN (DiveAddicts)

(From Teddy M., Aug. 25, 2006)

Guimaras folk want Petron to dispose of oil spill garbage

WHILE foreign and local experts weigh the least risky options for retrieving the rest of Solar 1’s dangerous bunker oil cargo beneath the Guimaras Strait, villagers on the ground grapple with two hazards: disposing off the huge volume of highly polluting sludge they have scooped from areas hit by the oil slick; and dealing with the serious health problems arising from prolonged exposure to it.

Guimaras folk want the semistate-owned Petron Corp., the giant oil refiner that contracted Solar 1’s owner to ferry its cargo, to take care of the garbage that is now piling up on the coast, sludge in hundreds of drums and plants and dead animals coated with the black oil.

In an interview with ABS-CBN, Guimaras residents said they want Petron to send a barge to get the tons of oil-coated garbage, as they worry over its effects on their croplands, their water supplies and their health.

In one part of the coastline along Barangay Tando, endless rows of drums and plastic pails filled with sludge line the place.

Barangay captain Olivia Evangelista, told ABS-CBN they have no idea where they can bring the oil—prolonged exposure to the fumes of this can cause respiratory, skin and neurological ailments.

They have since retrieved 138 metric tons of sludge from the sea and the coast.

Guimaras governor Rahman Nava lamented that until now, Petron Corp. has not given them a clear idea of what it plans to do with the mess.

Petron’s health safety and environment manager Carlos Tan says it’s impossible to ferry the hazardous trash to other places, as no one would surely want to have them.

They are more focused on the option of using naturally occurring enzymes to treat the sludge, break it down and eventually neutralize its ill effects.

According to the National Poison Management & Control Center (NPMCC), the effects of bunker oil on the body are wide-ranging. Prolonged exposure can bring neurasthenia.

Dr. Lynn Panganiban of the NPMCC told ABS-CBN that neurasthenia develops after a person is exposed for long to hydrocarbons like bunker oil. Some symptoms: numbness, weakness, breathing difficulty and nausea.

In some instances, people get seizures and manifest “disturbances,” a DOH official had said earlier.

(Originally published in the Business Mirror , Aug. 25-26, 2006.)

Petron may use $1-B insurance to clean up spill

By Luzi Ann Javier
Bloomberg

PETRON Corp., the larger of the country’s two oil refiners, may use $1 billion in insurance to clean up the nation’s worst oil spill and repair the damage to Guimaras Island caused by a tanker contracted by the company.

Petron chairman Nicasio Alcantara said the company will tap the insurance to augment other funding the Philippines and the operator of the sunken tanker may access. The government can draw as much as $301 million from an international pollution fund of which it is a member, while Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. is insured for $6.7 million, Alcantara said.

The tanker, which Petron contracted from Sunshine Maritime to transport fuel, was carrying at least 2 million liters of bunker oil when it sank on August 11 off the coast of Guimaras.

The vessel spilled at least a tenth of its content and may still be leaking fuel at a depth of 3,000 feet (914 meters).

The Manila-based refiner is eyeing these options: dump concrete on the sunken vessel to “entomb” it and prevent further leaks, bring up the tanker to the surface or pump out the remaining fuel, Alcantara said.

“Assuming the oil has stopped leaking, we can finish the cleanup in 45 days,” the company president said.

Shares of Petron, which is owned by the Philippine government and Saudi Aramco, fell 2.5 percent to P3.9 at the noon close of trading in Manila. That’s the stock’s lowest closing since July 17.

Petron “is not under any legal or contractual obligation” to pay for the cleanup, the company reiterated Thursday. The company “as mere cargo owner did not cause the spill and had no part” in operating the vessel.

(Originally published in the Business Mirror, Aug. 25-26, 2006.)

In the interest of fair play…

STATEMENT OF PETRON CHAIRMAN & CEO NICASIO I. ALCANTARA ON THE GUIMARAS OIL SPILL (August 24, 2006)

WE at Petron, deeply regret this unfortunate incident and will take responsibility in addressing the containment and recovery of the oil spill both on land and sea, and more importantly, map out the long-term rehabilitation of the island of Guimaras and other affected areas.

We are doing everything humanly possible to assist those affected. In our effort to attend to the needs of the people immediately, we may have inadvertently set aside our equally important obligation to keep the media and the rest of the country informed of what we are doing.

Under our Ligtas Guimaras program, we have already cleared 25 kilometers of shoreline and we expect the on-shore clean-up to finish in 45 days. We are currently employing 869 people from affected communities daily and we aim to increase this number in the coming days. We have also deployed about 5% of the total workforce of Petron to participate in the work being done on the island.

In this clean-up and rehabilitation efforts, we would want to make it clear that we have made funds readily available for legitimate expenses and requests. We will continue to commit all necessary Petron resources in support of this effort. We are committed to the solution of this problem.

At sea, we have deployed substantial equipment including oil skimmers, oil spill booms, dispersants, and Waterborne Industry Spill Equipment (WISE) tugboats to combat the oil spill. We have also placed properly-equipped vessels in strategic areas to monitor the oil spill and ensure that this is contained.

As we reported yesterday (Wed., Aug. 23), we are bringing in Fukada Salvage and Marine Works. Their vessel, Shinsei Maru, is equipped with a Remote Operated Vehicle which has the capability to search the seabed down to 2,000 meters and take photos to determine the sunken ship’s exact location and condition. We expect the vessel to arrive before the end of the week and begin its work immediately. This will dictate our next course of action.

We are also in touch with environmental experts from U.P. Visayas, Siliman University and the World Wildlife Fund to develop a long-term rehabilitation plan.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all those groups and individuals who have sent their assistance to the province of Guimaras.

In closing, I would like to assure the people of Guimaras that we will be there and do whatever it takes to clean-up and rehabilitate the strait and island of Guimaras and other affected areas.

Maraming salamat!

(From the Petron web site http://www.petron.com)
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NO, Nick, it wasn’t because you were so involved in the clean-up efforts that you forgot to inform the media what you were doing. In fact, if it weren’t for the media, the public wouldn’t have known how badly your company has managed this crisis. Hell! you even told the PSE that you had “no obligation” to pay for the clean-up and rehabilitation of the area, not to mention, offer any economic aid! (Click here for the story.) Sino ba ang niloloko mo ha?

Anyway, thank you for the inspiring insipid speech.