Microbes can help ‘eat’ oil – DENR exec

By Blanche Rivera

MICROBES can help cleanse the shores of Guimaras Island blackened by a massive oil spill from a sunken tanker off its coast, according to an official from the corporate arm of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

A group of three microbes, aptly called “Pristine Sea,” eats the hydrocarbon content of oil, Ray Francis C. Alcoseba, president of the Natural Resources Development Corp. (NRDC), told a press conference Monday.

In Inampulagan Island, Guimaras, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo thanked local and international groups for their assistance in the clean up of a massive oil spill from a sunken tanker off Guimaras.

At the same time, Arroyo said Australia and France have pledged to help the Philippines in the clean up operations.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Coast Guard is trying to contain an oil slick headed for Cauayan town in southern Negros Occidental province, 119.9 kilometers south of here, said Iloilo Coast Guard chief Commander Harold Jarder.

Jarder said an aerial survey showed the slick was thick in some sections and came in several long streaks, some stretching a half kilometer long.

Cauayan is home to beach resorts and the Danjugan Island Marine Sanctuary, an important resting place for migratory birds.

The direction of the slick on Monday has moved from a northeasterly to easterly direction, threatening southern Negros Occidental, Jarder said.

He said Coast Guard vessel 002 was chasing the slick from ground zero to the Cauayan and spraying it with dispersants.

At the press conference Monday, Alcoseba said three microbes – Pseudomonas azelaica, Serratia marcescans, and the Xanthomonas maltophilia – die as soon as they have eaten the oil, up to 87% of which consists of hydrocarbons.

Left by itself, oil degrades over time through a process called biodegradation, but it takes a long period. Bioremediation, on the other hand, is the introduction of organisms that can hasten biodegradation, Alcoseba said.

The DENR will ask Petron to purchase from the United States a bioreactor machine that can produce the Pristine Sea at a rate of 100 million/milliliter, Alcoseba said. A medium-sized machine costs $500,000 according to Alcoseba.

Solar I, carrying about 2 million liters (500,000 gallons) of bunker oil, sank off Guimaras on August 11 in rough seas, then began spilling oil that has affected a 220-kilometer stretch of coastline.

(Condensed from Inquirer and AP reports, Aug 28, 2006. Click here for the full stories.)

Senate inquiry…Day 1

By Veronica Uy

(UPDATE) PETRON Corp., which owns the more than two million liters of oil that sank along the Guimaras Strait in early August, assured a joint congressional hearing on Monday that it would do everything “humanly possible” to clean up the oil spill that has destroyed marine life in the area and the livelihood of its residents.

At the same time, the owner of the MT Solar I, said the tanker was insured for 250 million dollars to 300 million dollars, which “amply covers” the expenses that will be incurred from the operations.

Jose Jesus Laurel, Petron vice president for legal and external affairs, told a joint congressional oversight committee on clean water the Protection and Indemnity Insurance and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund would shoulder the bulk of the cost from hauling the ship from under the sea.

Laurel said Petron “would do everything humanly possible” to clean up what has been reported to be the worst oil spill in the country.

“We’re amply covered,” said Clemente Cancio, president of Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., which owns the MT Solar I.

Laurel said that 62 kilometers of the contaminated shorelines have been cleared by more than 1,000 people who were hired for the clean-up operations.

“We assure everybody that we will be there to restore the natural beauty of Guimaras no matter the cost,” Laurel said, adding even if the cleanup would take three to five years or longer.

In their presentation, Petron said 2.19 million liters of oil was in the tanker that sank on August 11.

Jimmy Baban of the Guimaras provincial planning and coordination office said 23 of the 53 coastal villages were directly affected by the oil spill. He said Guimaras had 98 villages.

Baban said a total of 3,918 families made up of about 26,000 people were fisherfolk whose catch could not be sold.

“Thirty families have been recommended for evacuation for the unbearable smell,” Baban said.

(Originally published on INQ7.net, Aug. 28, 2006. Click here for the full story.)


Donate cut hair and chicken feathers!

AUTHORITIES reiterated their appeal to the public to donate hair and chicken feathers as an oil spill absorbent.

The idea of using indigenous materials like cut hair and chicken feathers was suggested by international environmentalist group Greenpeace to soak up the floating bunker spilling into the sea.

Heeding the call, numerous beauty salons and barber shops in Metro Manila reportedly started collecting up the cut hair of their customers in the effort to help out in the Guimaras ecological disaster.

The city government of Manila, for its part, expressed support in the campaign to collect cut hair from barber shops and beauty salons and chicken feathers from the markets.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said the materials will be used to contain the massive oil slick that has already threatened the fish stocks of nearby Negros and Panay islands.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Coyme said donations could be brought to the PCG headquarters at South Harbor in Manila, which will immediately ferry the unique cargo to Guimaras.

(Originally published in the Philippine Star, Aug. 28, 2006. Click here for the full story.)

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SPECIAL call goes out to Rep. Rodante Marcoleta! 😉

Also to all the ladies in the shampoo ads. Do Guimaras a favor…magpagupit na kayo!

Hey wouldn’t this be a good gimmick for some publicity-starved artistas out there? Attention talent managers…make a star today!

Gov’t to tighten regulation on tankers; DOJ to summon spill ‘suspects’

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said today the government will now require all oil tankers to be double-hull and double-bottom ahead of the international requirements as a result of the massive oil spill in Guimaras.

This developed as the Justice Secretary is expected to meet with officials of Petron Corp. and the owner of the sunken M/T Solar 1 for the government to determine if both are criminally liable for the oil spill in Guimaras, ANC reported.

In a radio interview, Arroyo said “We will not wait until 2015. We will now require oil tankers to be double-hull and double bottom.”

A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is somewhat further into the ship, which forms a redundant barrier to seawater in case the outer hull is damaged and leaks.

MT Solar 1, which was ferrying Petron’s 2 million liters of bunker fuel when it sank on August 11 some 24 km off Guimaras coast, was a single-hull tanker.

Arroyo is returning to Guimaras today and will stay overnight at the Costa Aguada Resort in Sibugan town to encourage tourists to return to the popular island resort.

For his part, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said: “What the President is asking me, for example, is to find out if there is a criminal act [and if] some people should be responsible.”

Arroyo ordered the DOJ over the weekend to establish who is responsible for the oil slick during her visit to the island. She is scheduled to return to Guimaras this afternoon to check on the progress of the clean-up operations as well as to promote the island’s tourism industry.

Petron, meanwhile, assured the public that its officials will attend the DOJ meeting as well as the planned Senate investigation.

“You know, the DOJ has the right to demand explanation. Further than that I don’t know what [it will do],” Virginia Ruivivar, Petron spokewoman, told a separate interview.

(Condensed from GMA 7 and ABS-CBN 2 postings, Aug. 28, 2006. Click GMA News and ABS-CBN for the full stories.)

Fish, seashells are safe to eat-BFAR Cebu

By Jasmin R. Uy
The Freeman

THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has assured the public that the fish and seashells in Cebu are still safe to eat despite the threat of contamination in the Visayan Sea brought about by the oil spill in Guimaras.

BFAR Information Officer Lourdes Arciaga said that seashells and fish sold in the market are still safe to eat. She said that these came from Samar, Bohol and Leyte.

Arciaga pointed out that only Pulupundan Bay in Negros Occidental is the contaminated area in the region.

She said that it will also be easily noticed if these seashells are contaminated will the oil spill because it will be coated with dirt brought about by the oil.

She also said that fish and these seashells will die if they are in an area that has been contaminated.

Arciaga said that they are constantly monitoring the seafood products entering in the market.

It has been reported that folk from Bantayan Island are bracing for the possible arrival of an oil slick sighted in the Visayan Sea between Bantayan Island, Masbate and Biliran waters through a satellite photograph taken last Thursday.

Antonio Oposa, team leader of the Visayan Sea Squadron, said the slick is about 18 kilometers off Madridejos’ shores. The quantity and quality of the slick could not be determined yet and he surmised it might be just thin films of oil.

(Originally published in the Philippine Star, Aug. 28, 2006. Click here for the rest of the story.)

Oil spill will not reach Boracay: Coast Guard

THE world-famous beaches of Boracay, the Philippines’ leading tourist destination, are safe from the oil spill rolling across the seas off Guimaras Island in the Visayas.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) made this assurance following the two agencies’ assessment of the environmental impact of the disaster triggered by the sinking of the M/T Solar-1 in the Guimaras Straits. Admiral Arthur Gosingan, PCG commandant, told a press briefing in Malacañang [last week] that the PCG’s latest assessment showed that the oil slick would not reach the beaches of Boracay which are 200 kilometers away from the center of the disaster.

“Boracay is 200 kilometers away from Guimaras Island, and before the oil slick would reach the famous beach resort, it will traverse the Sibuyan Island,” Gosingan said.

(Originally published on the Sunstar web site, Aug. 19, 2006. Click here for the rest of the story.)

German resort owner plans P10-M damage suit vs Petron

By Hazel P. Villa

ILOILO CITY — The German owner of an island resort heavily affected by the oil spill in Guimaras Island is threatening to file a 10-million-peso damage suit against oil refiner Petron Corp. and the owners of the sunken MT Solar I.
“I will ask the German government and the German Embassy if they can assist me in filing a case for damages,” said Martin Stummer, owner of Nagarao Island Resort in the southwestern part of Guimaras.

Stummer, 66, said he had invested 100 million pesos over the past 18 years to protect the corals and marine life around Nagarao and to beautify the 10-hectare island off the coast of Sibunag.

European guests normally stay for several weeks or months on Nagarao, which is 30 percent mangroves, 50 percent white beach, and 20 percent rock formation surrounded by coral gardens.

Stummer said one of his three sons with Ilongga wife Helen Solayao-Stummer had reported that the island’s beach was covered with thick bunker fuel oil.

“I consider my investments a total loss,” said Stummer in a telephone interview Tuesday evening from Binalbagan town, Negros Occidental province, where he is temporarily residing.

(Originally published on INQ7.net, Aug. 24, 2006. Click here for the rest of the story.)

Cleanup ‘completed’ in 45 days; Senate pushes spill fund

Senate President Manuel Villar takes a look at the hundreds of drums and plastic bags containing the oil-covered trash—dead animals and plants, mostly—gathered by fishermen-volunteers from the coastline of Barangay Tando, Nueva Valencia town in Guimaras Island, which continues to reel from the effects of a spreading oil slick from the sunken Solar 1, contracted by giant refiner Petron Corp. to ferry its bunker fuel. With Villar are Guimaras Rep. Eduardo Espinosa, Mayor Diosdado Gonzaga and a coast guard officer. —Roy Domingo/BM

OUR CAPTION: Saan ‘yung hundreds of drums and plastic bags? Another politico rides on a tragedy to score pogi points with voters. Sus.

RELYING more heavily on human hands than modern equipment, Petron reported it expects to complete the cleaning of the beaches of Guimaras in 45 days, using as basis its cleanup of 25 kilometers of shoreline under its Ligtas Guimaras program in about 14 days.

“We are employing 869 people from affected communities daily and we aim to increase this number in the coming days. We have also deployed about 5 percent of the total workforce of Petron to the work being done on the island,” said Petron chairman Nicasio I. Alcantara.

In any case, future oil spills may be more quickly dealt with than the slow-paced response to the massive Petron spill on August 11 should Congress approve the proposed “Ship Pollution Prevention Act of 2006” now being developed in the Senate by the Committee on Environment headed by Sen. Pia Cayetano-Sebastian.

She said a key provision of the bill is the section on the Oil Spill Liability Fund that will compensate for damage from oil spills on the ocean. Cayetano said financial support for the fund would be the collection from ships. “In this case, vessels that carry toxic substances like oil would be asked to contribute so that there will be a readily available fund to respond to emergency cases like an oil spill.”

The United Nations is extending, meanwhile, $16 million in aid to the Philippines for the cleanup and containment of the oil spill and rehabilitation of the affected areas. The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) is providing emergency health kits, drugs, water-purifying tablets and some tarpaulin.

(Photo and story published in the Business Mirror, Aug. 28, 2006. Click here for the rest of the story. Link is good for today only.)

Oil firms join Petron in Guimaras cleanup

By Iris Cecilia C. Gonzales

OIL firms are pooling their resources to help contain the damage caused by the massive oil spill near Guimaras island, company executives yesterday told BusinessWorld.

“We are working directly with Petron [Corp.],” Total Philippines spokesperson Malou Espina said yesterday.

She said Total is providing oil dispersement supplies and other needs such as rubber boots and gloves for the cleanup.

M/T Solar I, the vessel that Petron tapped to transport oil went down amid bad weather last August 11 off Guimaras island, causing a massive spill said to be the worst to hit the Philippines.

Petron chairman Nicasio I. Alcantara said the oil firm is doing what it can to contain the damage caused by the spill, including shouldering expenses and other clean-up obligations.

Petron, a publicly listed firm, however maintained that it did not cause the spill but said it is exerting all efforts to contain the problem.

Other independent oil players are also providing assistance to Petron to contain the problem.

Members of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association, Inc. are pooling their resources to help Petron, chairman Fernando L. Martinez said yesterday.

(Originally published in BusinessWorld, Aug. 28, 2006. Click here for the rest of the story.)

Oil spill traced to corruption, incompetence

BIG DEAL

By DAN MARIANO

PROBERS would be well advised to place the owner of Solar I, Sunshine Marine Development Corp., under close scrutiny too. They need to review the company’s track record and find out if its other tankers are seaworthy.

Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources investigating the Guimaras oil spill have promised to release the results of their inquiry sometime this week.

If the DENR officials make good on their promise, it would be an improvement over the investigation of a similar incident on December 18 last year when a barge of the state-owned National Power Corp. ran aground off Semirara island. The NAPOCOR barge spilled 364,000 liters of fuel and ruined vast stretches of the coast of Antique province.

Informed quarters, however, doubt that DENR would be able to wrap up its probe of the Guimaras oil spill as quickly as promised. They point out that the investigation of the Semirara incident took at least three months to complete—and the results were widely regarded as insufficient since they produced no new policy, standards or practices that would have prevented more oil spills.

Case in point: The oil spill from the MT Solar I, which sank in rough seas August 11, has affected over 200 kilometers of the Guimaras coastline, including beaches and mangroves—killing wildlife and disrupting the livelihood of at least 10,000 Guimareños. Nearly a week after the tanker sank, the cleanup has been described as spotty, haphazard and ineffective. Worse, the oil spill happened right smack in the middle of the monsoon season, raising the danger of the slick spreading to other islands.

The DENR probe of the Guimaras oil spill is focused on the ecological destruction wrought by the oil spill. However, the investigators should not stop there. In the first place, industry sources said, Solar I should not have been contracted by Petron Corp. to transport oil. Sources described the obsolete, single-hull tanker as a disaster waiting to happen. And happen the disaster did.

The Petron-chartered tanker was carrying 2.1 million liters of oil when it sank in the Guimaras Strait. As of noon Friday, the Philippine Coast Guard estimated that over 200,000 liters of oil have already leaked into the waters of Western Visayas. Some 1.9 million liters remain in the tanker’s nine other compartments. But if the vessel is not raised soon, the remaining oil could also spill out and cause even more widespread destruction.

The problem is that similarly decrepit tankers remain under contract with Petron and other oil companies to ferry petroleum products from depots in Luzon to islands throughout the archipelago. In other countries, petroleum products are transported in more modern, double-hull tankers, which can better withstand the vagaries of weather than their single-hull counterparts.

Why has Petron, which is jointly owned by the Philippine government and Saudi Aramco, contracted obsolete, single-hull tankers to ferry oil products from island to island? Answering that question will require looking into who approves multimillion-peso tanker contracts. There is talk in industry circles of kickbacks and “syndicates,” which not only allow vessels of questionable seaworthiness to service Petron but also engage in other criminal activities such as pilferage, hijacking and smuggling. These are serious charges, to say the least.

(Originally published on ABS-CBN News web site on Aug. 26, 2006. Click here for the rest of the column.)