Oil spill scare hits Antique

By Francis Allan L. Angelo and Alex Carlo S. Magno
The Daily Guardian, 2007-02-28

RESIDENTS near a fish sanctuary in Pandan, Antique were alarmed upon seeing oil sludge on their coastline Tuesday morning, raising fears of another oil spill.

The sludge, which contaminated 10 meters of the shoreline, was discovered at Brgy. Patria, Pandan by Benny Ariowa, researcher of the Barangay Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (Bfarmc) which manages the two-hectare fishing sanctuary in the area.

Ariowa reported his find to municipal and police officials to verify if there was more oil sludge in other parts of the coastal village.

Jomar Pandungan and Efren Unlayaw of the Bfarmc, Pandan police chief Jose Particiala, municipal agriculture officer Ronald Sanchez, environment officer Arnold Demegillo and SB Member Emmanuel Junela conducted an investigation on the barangay.

It was later found out that the oil came from MT Django, a Metro Manila-based tugboat towing a barge loaded with heavy equipment and steel bars to General Santos City.

Commodore Luis Tuason, Coast Guard Western Visayas chief, said MT Django suffered engine problem, particularly on its camshaft, while passing by Patria Point Feb. 17.

“The tugboat is now anchored 550 meters off Patria Pt. while the camshaft is being repaired,” Tuason said.

The tugboat has nine crewmembers led by master Zacarias Punzalan. It is owned by a certain Leandro Jornales of Marikina City.

Reports from Pandan said crude oil leaked from the tugboat during the repair until it accumulated and reached the shoreline.

Tuason said Coast Guard personnel in Pandan and neighboring areas did not see oil slick in the vicinity of Brgy. Patria.

The Pandan municipal government and the Bfarmc are assessing the situation of the sanctuary to find out the liability of the tugboat operator.

Last year, MT Solar 1 which was loaded with bunker oil owned by Petron Corp. sank near Guimaras province, contaminating shorelines, mangrove areas, fishing grounds and seaweed farms.

A barge owned by the National Power Corp. also ran aground near Semirara Island December 2005 spilling 300,000 liters of bunker oil into the sea.

Images of Guimaras oil spill

Photos by Arnold Almacen. Posted on YouTube by totopurz

‘Syokoy’ is not about a sea creature

By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Inquirer, Feb. 24, 2007

MANILA, Philippines – “Syokoy,” a film documentary on the Petron oil spill in Guimaras produced by young filmmakers in Iloilo, gathers what journalists leave out, like stories on the disaster’s effects that are not given much space in the newspapers.

It’s not about whose craft is better, but the power of the film lies in its lingering effect.

It captured stories and the symbols of the daily acts of people who are trying to recover and find healing for their coastal communities that were devastated by the oil spill.

The film has captured more than sound bites, slices of life and atmosphere.

Syokoy won third place in the recently concluded 19th Gawad CCP para sa Pelikula at Video. It was also named the best regional entry. It was directed by Ray Defante Gibraltar and written by John Iremil Teodoro. Oscar Nava was in charge of the cinematography.

The film, which runs for more than an hour, is about the destruction and how people cope with the effects of the oil spill that took place on Aug. 11 last year when oil tanker MT Solar I, which was chartered by Petron and carried more than 2 million liters of bunker oil, sank off Guimaras province, releasing some 250,000 liters of bunker oil into the sea.

The tanker still lies at the bottom of the sea with thousands of liters of oil still inside it.

Experts can’t agree on the cost of the actual and long-term damage of the oil spill on the province’s rich marine life, fishing ground, tourist sites, health and way of life.

(More at Inquirer.net.)

Guimaras oil retrieval to cost at least $6M

Abigail L. Ho
Inquirer, Feb. 22, 2007

MANILA, Philippines – Oil retrieval operations on the Sunken Solar 1 oil tanker will start by March 14, at an estimated cost of between $6 million and $12 million.

Sonsub, an Italian-based deepwater operations company, has been commissioned by the Protection and Indemnity Club (P&I) to retrieve any remaining oil from the tanker, which sank off the coast of Guimaras island in August 2006.

The cost will be shouldered entirely by P&I, the marine insurance company of Solar 1’s owner, Sunshine Maritime.

The Solar 1 is lying at a depth of 640 meters, out of reach of local divers.

(More at Inquirer)

Solar 1 fuel off-loading in Bacolod

THE fuel oil to be retrieved from the MT Solar 1 that sank off the coast of Guimaras will be offloaded by the Allied Shield vessel at the Bacolod Real Estate Development Corp. (BREDCO) port in Bacolod City before its transport to its final destination, Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela said yesterday.

The Allied Shield, a vessel to be brought in by Sonsub, an Italian firm specializing in deepwater operations, will dock at the BREDCO port that is nearer the Guimaras retrieval site than the Iloilo Port that does not have a dedicated berth for it, Coscolluela said.

The retrieved oil that will be offloaded in five tanks or at 100 tons at a time at the BREDCO port will then be loaded on an oil barge for transport to Holcin Cement in Misamis Occidental, Carlos Tan, Petron Health, Safety and Environment manager, said.

Coscolluela assured that the offloading of the tanks of retrieved oil at the BREDCO port will be a safe operation. When the Allied Shield begins its retrieval operations from Solar 1 on March 14 no ships and other vessels will be allowed within a one kilometer radius from it, Coscolluela also said, as a safety precaution.

Retrieval operations estimated to cost $6 million is expected to last 20 days, Mark Phibbs, of Sonsub ROV special projects, said at a press conference in Bacolod City yesterday.

All the risks are being anticipated, Sonsub has put in a contingency plan to address them to ensure a fail-safe operation, he said.

Contingency plans include oil spill response tugboats that will be deployed for the duration of the retrieval operations. The boats will be equipped with oil dispersants, oil skimmers, for the mechanical recovery of oil and spill booms for containment, he said.

One aircraft which has airborne dispersant capability will continuously be monitoring the area, he added.

Sonsub was contracted by the Protection and Indemnity Club, insurer of Solar 1, to retrieve any remaining oil on board the vessel that sank 9 kilometers south of Guimaras to a depth of about 2,100 meters carrying about 2,000 tons of oil owned by Petron in August last year, Phibbs said.

“We do not know how much oil remains on board the Solar 1, it could be 1,000 to only 10 tons or nothing,” Joe Nichols, deputy director of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, said.

“This is only the second time in the history that such a deep sea oil retrieval operation will be undertaken,” Phibbs said.

Sonsub retrieved 13,500 tons of crude oil without spillage from the tanker Prestige which sank in 10,000 feet of water 240 kilometers from the coast of Spain, he said.

Sonsub will be using the latest technologies, including the 80-meter long dynamic positioning vessel Allied Shield and two Remotely Operated Vehicles that will be deployed to work on the sunken vessel, he added.

The ROVs will drill two holes in each of the 10 sunken tanks containing oil on board the MT Solar 1. Water will be allowed to flow into one hole to displace any remaining oil which would flow from the second hole and a shuttle container will be used to capture the oil to be transferred on to the Allied Shield, he said.

The Allied Shield crew will be operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week to hasten the recovery of any trapped oil in Solar 1.

Phibbs said only the oil will be retrieved because the cost of salvaging Solar 1 would be prohibitive.

Coscolluela said that after the oil is retrieved from Solar 1 it will not be a threat to the marine environment.

Meanwhile, Nichols said they have compensated 12,000 fisherfolk affected by the MT Solar 1 oil spill in August last year P120 million. They have also spent $3.5 million for the clean up cost.

Tan said the threat from some sectors in Guimaras of a boycott on Petron products because of the oil spill has had no significant effect on the firm.

Coscolluela said the accusation that Petron has not adequately addressed the cleanup operations is unfair because Petron has started the work at its own expense as a moral obligation. Petron says it has so far spent P200 million for clean up operations. (CPG, Visayan Daily Star, Feb. 23, 2007)

THE SOUTHERN BEAT By Rolly Espina

The Philippine Star 02/22/2007

(An excerpt)

Where’s the P800-M Guimaras rehab fund?

Usually, the national government announces with flair the allocation of big amounts of assistance for rehabilitation work in case of a disaster.

Well, that is something which has miffed Guimaras Gov. JC Rahman Nava. Yesterday, Nava said the rehabilitation plan is in place but its implementation remains a big question mark.

The reason: the P800 million for the Guimaras rehabilitation fund has yet to be released. It is included in the 2007 supplemental budget of the national government.

Nava was scheduled to leave yesterday for Manila to finalize with the National Disaster Coordinating Council the internal rules and regulations for the rehabilitation program. The budget and finance departments will also send their official representatives to the meet.

Health Undersecretary Ethelyn Nieto also reportedly lamented the delay in the release of the funds, especially the P22 million intended for the medical surveillance systems to monitor the long-term effects of bunker oil on the health of affected Guimaras residents.

Nieto disclosed that P12 million will be for disease surveillance which includes the detection and response to outbreaks and the monitoring and evaluation of the operation, among others.

Gov. Nava disclosed that the local government was supposed to get P210 million; Department of Environment and Natural Resources, P130 million; DSWD, P250 million; and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, P100 million. The remaining amount will be distributed to the University of the Philippines, the health department, and the Department of Science and Technology.

What all this amounts to is simple – between the announcement and the implementation lies a major gap. And too often, this becomes too wide that people tend to lose their confidence in the government’s promises.

So, I can only hope that Gov. Nava does not get it on the neck for howling for his P800 million now instead of waiting for those holding the fund to release it at their convenience.

(More at Phil. Star.)

From the Center with Rolly Espina (an excerpt)

Petron is readying preparations to siphon oil from the sunken tanker, Solar I, below the Guimaras Strait. This will start on Feb. 28.

The International Tanker Owners of Pollution Federation is now mobilizing the equipment to remove the two million liters of the ill-fated fuel lying some 650 feet below sea water.

The extraction project has a time-frame of two months, according to the ITOPF.

Three vessels will be used as platforms – Vega, Wise, and Regulus. All have a total tonnage capacity of 141 tons.

The Philippine Coast Guard has already been contracted to help in the event of need for recovery teams in the area just in case of an oil spill.

The SEAFDEC, meanwhile, also said it has already readied its fish cages and other marine reserves with the necessary protective devices.

Petron, meanwhile, claimed that its insurance firm had paid P117 million to some 17,000 Guimaras fisherfolk. It is still in the process of paying other fishermen, resort and fishpond owners.

The oil corporation claimed it had already shelled out P18 million for its own program in cleaning up the oil spill area. (Visayan Daily Star, Feb. 21, 2007)

IOPC lauds pollution compensation bill

ILOILO CITY – The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund has welcomed the passing of Senate Bill No. 2600 or the “Oil Pollution Compensation Act.”

The bill provides for tougher measures on pollution damage and ensures adequate compensation for victims of oil spills consistent with international conventions and practices.

“It is good that the (Philippine) government is treating this as a matter of urgency,” IOPC Director Willem Oosterveen said in an interview.

The IOPC is a London-based intergovernmental agency that indemnifies losses resulting from oil spills through a fund coming from contributions of oil companies

Oosterveen said the passing of a law dealing on oil pollution and compensation would strengthen the enforcement of provisions of the international conventions, which the Philippines have signed.

The Philippines is among the 99 states that have signed the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 Fund Convention which both provide for compensation for oil pollution damage resulting from spills of persistent oil from tankers.

The Senate approved the bill on third and final reading during its special session on Monday. The approved bill consolidates six bills in the Senate and its counterpart bill in the lower house, House Bill No. 4363.

Authored by Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on environment, the proposed law would provide stiff penalties for ship owners involved in oil pollution.

The bill provides that liability shall be imposed on the owners of ships involved in oil pollution and for a fund to cover incidents causing oil pollution damage shall be constituted by owners of ships registered in the Philippines.

It also provides for the creation of an Oil Pollution Management Fund to be administered by the Philippine Coast Guard and requires that any person who has received more than 150,000 tons of contributing oil in a calendar year through carriage by sea shall report this and pay contributions to the IOPC Fund.

All owners of ships whether registered in the Philippines or not, shall also be required annually to maintain insurance or financial security for oil pollution damage.

Cayetano said in a statement that the approved bill “lays down tougher rules to make polluters pay – and make them pay heavily – so that they will be more conscious of the need to protect the environment.”

She noted that the two worst oil spills in the country happened in the span of eight months in December 2005 and August 2005.

Around 300,000 liters of bunker oil were spilled off Semirara in Antique province in December 2005 when a power barge of the National Power Corp. ran aground due to bad weather. The MT Solar I sank southwest of the island-province of Guimaras on August 11 carrying 2 million liters of bunker fuel.

The oil spills devastated marine resources and affected thousands of residents dependent on marine life for their livelihood.

Cayetano said the oil spill in Guimaras “dramatized the lack of a proper response strategy to oil spills and the failure to make oil companies, ship owners and operators responsible and liable for their misdeeds.”

The Philippine Coast Guard has been pushing for the creation of an oil spill fund that would provide them with operational funds for the cleanup operations and without waiting or depending on the release of insurance money. (Nestor P. Burgos, Visayan Daily Star, Feb. 21, 2007)

No funding yet for Guimaras rehab

Francis Allan L. Angelo
The Daily Guardian
2007-02-20

REHABILITATION of areas affected by the August 11, 2006 oil spill in Guimaras remains on the drawing boards with the delay in the release of the supplemental budget of the national government.

Guimaras Governor JC Rahman Nava said the total budget for the island’s rehabilitation is P800 million.

The fund will be channeled to key government agencies that prepared their respective rehabilitation plans for the island.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will get P130 million for the final cleanup and rehabilitation of the mangrove areas while the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources will get P100 million for the livelihood of Guimarasnons.

Some P250 million will be set aside for the Department of Social Welfare and Development while the provincial government will get P210 million.

Another P22 million is for health surveillance to be conducted by the Department of Health.

Other agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology and the University of Philippines-Visayas will also have their own funding.

Nava said they will finalize today the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the use of the rehabilitation fund “but everything now is up to the Department of Budget and Management when to release the money.”

The fund will be released to the concerned agencies on a staggered basis.

“Fifty percent of the allocation will be released while the rest will be given out as the plans progress,” Nava said.

Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Lito Coscolluela said the individual plans and the IRR will be approved within the week during the National Disaster Coordinating Council meeting in Manila today.

“Governor Nava is frustrated with the slow processing of the supplemental budget but we will have to wait,” Coscolluela said.

Guimaras oil recovery could last a month – gov’t press release

ILOILO CITY (20 February) – The SONSUP will be able to recover the remaining oil from the sunken MT Solar I off the Guimaras strait within twenty days to over a month, according to Mr. Robin Galleti, commercial manager of the SONSUP, an Italian firm hired to conduct the oil recovery operations.

Galleti explained during a press briefing that it will depend on the situation considering that “there were no fixed quantity of remaining oil in the vessel, and nobody has the certainty of how much oil will be recovered”.

“Obviously, if we have to recover a small amount of oil, then the operations could last just a few days but we have to go through a very careful analysis of each and every tank,” Galleti said.

The SONSUP commercial manager said that on February 28, 2006 the Allied Shield vessel will be coming in from Singapore to commence the loading of all equipments, and the preparation of the vessel will take about five days. From Singapore, Galleti said, “we will transit directly to Iloilo and after the full clearance is secured we commence the operation by March 14”.

During the oil recovery operations, the SONSUP will be using Remotely Operated Vehicles for underwater operations. It will undertake the drilling of holes on the deck of the submerged tank but assured that there will be no risk of any oil coming out of the tank as these vehicles are equipped with cameras and lights and operated by personnel aboard the Dynamic Positioning vessel.

“A long pipe will be installed in the hole drilled on the deck of the tank. The sea water will go into the bottom and the oil floats into them and it will automatically come up, out of the valves and into the Oil Recovery Shuttle,” Galleti explained.

The oil recovery shuttle is like an upturned cup, Galleti said, and it has a maximum capacity of 28 cubic meters, and the shuttles will be filled with up to about 20 cubic meters per trip so as to ensure that there is no risk of oil coming out of the shuttle while its coming up the surface.

Galleti made the assurance that while the oil recovery operations is on progress, they have also a contingency oil disposal plan.

For safety’s sake, he said, there will be two tanks equipped with oil dispersants and oil boom for containing oil leaks in any eventuality and an airplane will also be on standby at all times.

“Through all these we will be able to deal with any sort of leakage or spill” that might occur while doing the recovery operations, Galleti concluded. (Philippine Information Agency)

Senate passes 53 bills as special session starts

THE Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading 53 bills, including six with national application and 47 local measures, at the opening of Congress� special session called by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Among the national bills the Senate passed were two bills authored by Senator Pia Cayetano, namely SB No. 2600 or the “Oil Pollution Compensation Act” and House Bill No. 68, prohibiting and penalizing the detention of patients in hospitals and medical clinics for non payment of their bills.

The Senate also approved on third and final reading SB 2466, or “An Act Strengthening the Workers’s Constitutional Right to Self-Organization”; SB 5292 authorizing local councils to declare special holidays in their localities; SB 5792, establishing the National Archives of the Philippines; and SB 1120, or “An Act Granting the Right of Reply and Providing Penalties for Violation Thereof”.

The Senate suspended its session, which lasted for barely two hours, after passing the 53 bills.

Cayetano, who acted as the Senate Majority Leader, said SB 2600 provides mechanism for the prevention, abatement, mitigation and control of oil pollution within the country.

“(It) lays down tougher rules to make oil polluters pay, and make them pay heavily, so that they will be more conscious of the need to protect the environment,” Cayetano said in a statement.

The senator noted that in the past two years, the Solar I oil spill off Guimaras Island on August 2006 and the Napocor barge oil spill off Semirara Island on December 2005 were took two of the worst environmental disasters to have hit the country.

Cayetano noted that while some affected Guimaras residents were paid by the Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, insurer of state-run Petron Corp. that chartered the ill-fated Solar I, the bill approved by the Senate would obligate those responsible for long-term damages in incidents in the future.

(For the rest of the story, click GMA News TV, Feb. 19, 2007.)

Guimaras folk struggling to normalize lives

Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Inquirer, Feb. 19, 2007

NUEVA VALENCIA, GUIMARAS – The large tents are gone and the plaza is clear of the cramped makeshift quarters set up six months ago.

The residents of Barangay Tando are slowly regaining their lives and hopes after the massive oil spill that hit their shores last year.

Tando was among the villages badly contaminated by the oil sludge when the MT Solar I sank around 15 miles southwest of Guimaras Island on Aug. 11, 2006 spilling about 300,000 liters of bunker fuel on the waters and coastline.

At the height of the contamination, the government evacuated about 100 residents for health reasons. The fishermen had to stop fishing and worked in the cleanup of the contaminated shores to earn money, which was barely enough to feed their families. They depended on the food donations to survive.

Now, the villagers are struggling to make their lives normal again.

Domiciano Gandesila, 58, said he returned to fishing in January, after receiving P12,000 from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund for economic damages resulting from the oil spill.

He spent P4,800 to buy a 5.5-horsepower motor for his boat while he used some of the money to buy fishing nets and other gear.

Gandesila said he gets about five kilos of fish daily, which he sells at P50 to P60 per kilo.

“There are times when I am lucky I get from 10 to 15 kilos. But mostly, the catch is low and we need to go farther into the sea,” he said.

Boost

The residents’ efforts to get back on their feet received a boost on Thursday after the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives inaugurated a livelihood and rehabilitation project to help residents cope with the long term effects of the oil spill.

The Canadian government provided funds after the Filipino-Canadian community in Canada asked their government to extend assistance to the oil spill victims.

The project involved the donation of four motorized boats, fishnets and other gear for deep-sea fishing to four clusters of fishermen. In turn, the fishermen from the four clusters would divide the income from their catch.

“We wanted a project that would result to a minimum displacement for the residents. So, we decided that our intervention would be concentrated on fishing,” said Myrna Jarillas, senior program officer of the Canadian International Development Agency.

Jarillas said the results of consultations by non-government groups implementing the project showed that residents preferred fishing.

“That’s what they’ve been doing all their lives,” Jarillas said.

The project also includes the distribution of 140 goats to the residents for breeding. The residents would also receive training on disaster management, gender sensitivity and mangrove reforestation.

Gandesila said they welcomed the project because it was the first to be implemented from the many promises that they heard.

Nueva Valencia Mayor Diosdado Gonzaga said the tragedy has brought opportunities for the people. At least 117 groups have donated rice, canned goods, noodles, clothes and cash for the victims.

However, Gonzaga said they were concerned that much of the 2.1 million liters of the bunker fuel were still inside the wreck of the tanker 640 meters below the sea.

“We can never be at peace as long as the threat of another massive oil spill is still there,” said Gonzaga.

But the residents are hopeful that the tragedy would find closure after the scheduled removal of the remaining oil from the sunken tanker next month.

Solar I oil to be recovered through gravity – gov’t press release

ILOILO CITY – There will be no suctioning or pumping of oil from the sunken oil vessel Solar I. This was the assurance given by Mr. Robin Galletti, commercial manager of SONSUP, a division of Saipem FPSO, S.P.A, the Italian firm which will undertake the recovery of oil from Solar I during a briefing conducted for members of the Solar Oil Spill Task Force, local officials of Guimaras, affected municipalities of Iloilo Province and PETRON officials. Instead, Mr. Galletti said they will use gravity by letting water go in and oil to flow out.

Brushing aside fears, that the method might lead to another oil spill, Mr. Galletti said the method has already been tried in the successful recovery in ERIKA off the French coast and in PRESTIGE, off the coast of Spain. In fact, he said, the PRESTIGE was a far bigger tanker which broke in two and they recovered a third of the oil. Galletti clarified that they are prepared for any contingency that may arise, even to the extent of having a standby plane to be used for the operation.

For the particular operation in Guimaras, SONSUP will make use of a single dynamic positioning vessel for the operations. The vessel called AME Allied Shield will provide accommodations for 52 personnel composed of ship crew, client representatives and technical staff.

A Remote Operating Vehicle will be used for the deepwater operation. It will undertake the drilling of holes with a core drill on the deck of the tanks where the oil is located.

Mobilization for the requirements for the operations will start February 28. Actual operations in Guimaras will start 14th of March and is expected to last anywhere from 20 days to one month depending on the amount of oil left in Solar I. The month of March was chosen because of the Northeast monsoon wind, which means it is blowing away from Guimaras and ideal for the operations.

On the other hand, Joe Nichols, Deputy Director of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund said they have already completed the payment of some 11,000 claimants from Guimaras. The next to be paid will be from Iloilo Province, where currently the claims are being assessed. Payment is expected to be done before the Easter break. (Philippine Information Agency, Region 6)

Italian firm to begin oil offloading operations

By Ronilo L. Pamonag
The News Today, Feb . 19, 2007

THE Italian firm hired to offload the remaining bunker fuel from sunken tanker Solar I is expected to commence operations at the end of February.

Carlos Tan, Petron Corporation spokesperson, told The News Today Friday that representatives of Sonsub are already in the country to finalizing matters regarding the offloading operation.

“We expect them to mobilize by last week of February,” Tan said. Presently, Sonsub is loading equipment to be used for the offloading operations to its ship Allied Shield, Tan said.

Sonsub is also talking to local tugboat operators for their assistance in the offloading of oil.

“They’ll be bringing in only one ship, and will hire local tug operators,” Tan explained.

Representatives of insurance firms – the Protection and Indemnity Club and the International Oil Pollution Compensation – are also scheduled to arrive in Manila soon to sit down with Sonsub representatives.

Tan said that P&I Club and the IOPC will be paying for the operation to remove oil from the sunken tanker, now lying underwater off the coast of Guimaras. Its sinking last August due to rough seas triggered the country’s worst oil spill. Petron hired the vessel to transport two million liters of bunker fuel to Zamboanga when it sunk in rough seas.

Over a million liters is estimated to be remaining the in the tanker’s ten cargo holds.

It was agreed that offloading operations would be conducted next month because of the favorable weather.

RP, Sweden to conduct coastal hazards workshop in Guimaras

Sunstar Iloilo
Feb. 17, 2007

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) with the funding support and close cooperation with the Sweden International Development Agency (Sida) is conducting a week-long workshop focused on strengthening the capability of concerned agencies to handle coastal hazards at Raymen’s Beach Resort in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras from Feb. 19 to 23.

The workshop is generally aimed to encouraged and demonstrate how to incorporate risk management particularly coastal hazards management thinking into the standard local development processes. This comprises land use planning, coastal management, environment impact assessment and development application evaluation, flooding and coastal erosion.

Guimaras Island is one of the two identified potential study areas in the country that have dominance occurrence of coastal hazards. The other area is St. Bernard, Leyte in Region 8.

In Guimaras, thousands of people from the different coastal barangays and municipalities had been affected by an oil-spill when motor tanker Solar I sank off in its territorial waters on Aug. 11, 2006, carrying 2 million liters of bunker fuel which hazard is considered man-made. In 2006, in Guinsaugon, St. Bernard, Leyte, the area experienced days of continuous rains that resulted in a massive landslide which wiped out the whole village from the map.

Among the salient topics to be discussed during the workshop are: Case Study Presentation on Solar I oil spill in Guimaras; Provincial Organizational and Institutional Mechanism for Disaster Management; Physical Land-use and Contingency Planning; and Preparation of Recommendation and Presentation to Local Authorities and Field Visit to one of the heavily affected barangays by the oil-spill tragedy, the Lucmayan in Nueva Valencia.

Tim Greenhow, Sida Program Manager, and Conrado Bravante, Jr. of DENR, Bilateral and Innovative Financing Division (BIFD) of Foreign Assisted and Special Project Office (Faspo) will tackle the program overview, workshop objectives and mechanics. They will later present the program output to Guimaras Governor J.C. Rahman Nava and Nueva Valencia Mayor Diosdado Gonzaga for consideration in the Municipal Contingency Plan. Greenhow and Bravante will also serve as full-time lecturers/and resource persons in the entire workshop.

Representatives from the provincial government of Guimaras and its five municipalities, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Regional and Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (R/PDCC) Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC)-Guimaras, Housing Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) Region 6, National Intelligence and Coordinating Agency (Nica). DENR regional office officials, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) are the workshop participants and presenters.

Regional Executive Director Lormelyn E. Claudio believes that this workshop will foster close cooperation among concerned national government agencies with the local government units in addressing hazards on coastal areas through proper planning and management.

Experts downgrade oil spill toxicity in Guimaras to ‘low-risk’

By Maricar M. Calubiran
The News Today, Feb. 16, 2007

IT does not matter if the island-province of Guimaras was not issued a “clean bill of health,” what is important is, it now has a “low risk level” of toxicity, according to experts.

The National Poison Management and Control Center pointed this out in a media briefing yesterday on the status of health-related problems in the island-province relative to the oil spill disaster which occurred six months ago.

Dr. Lynn Panganiban of the National Poison Center and Occupational Safety Hazards explained there is no such thing as a “clean bill of health.” But she said the toxicity level brought about by hydrogen sulfide and other volatile organic compounds specifically in areas worst hit by the oil spill have already dropped.

Panganiban said they conducted their study of the oil-hit areas last September. The results of the study were released Thursday.

(For the rest of the story, click here.)

DOH seeks continuing medical surveillance on oil spill victims

LONG-TERM HEALTH RISK

By DAVID ISRAEL SINAY
Panay News, Feb. 15, 2007

ILOILO City – The Department of Health (DOH) plans to establish medical surveillance systems to monitor the long-term effects of bunker oil exposure to human health, six months after the M/T Solar 1 oil spill that stained the shores of the island-province of Guimaras.

Exposure to bunker fuel has adverse effects to human health. DOH said these include cancer (Category 2B as classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer), anemia, low platelet count, depressed reticulocyte count, spontaneous abortion, birth defects, fatigue, depression, lack of initiative, dizziness and sleep disturbances, impaired attention and sensori-motor speed, among others.

Dr. Lyn Panganiban of the University of the Philippines – College of Medicine – Philippine General Hospital National Poison Management & Control Center reports their findings on the Guimaras oil spill, specifically with regards to health issues. (DAVID ISRAEL SINAY/PN)

DOH and a team of experts from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine – Philippine General Hospital (PGH) National Poison Management & Control Center began studying the health effects of the oil spill right after it occurred in August last year. Yesterday, Health Undersecretary Ethelyn Nieto presented their findings to the media and Guimaras Gov. Rahman Nava.

The provincial government of Guimaras estimated 4,000 households complained of respiratory illness, dizziness, dermatitis and stomach ache.

The DOH-UP team concluded that the clinical findings among residents living in the affected areas were consistent with acute bunker oil exposure.

Of the 594 individuals examined, the team reported that 97 percent had sulfhemoglobinemia while 89.4 percent had methemoglobinemia due to their exposure to bunker oil.

The ambient air monitoring for hydrogen sulfide gas and volatile organic compounds in Barangays Cabalagnan and La Paz in Nueva Valencia town exceeded the US-Environmental Protection Agency Preliminary Remediation Goal (USEPA-PRG) standards, thus presenting significant risk to people’s health.

The study also showed that six out of nine water samples had elevated levels of nickel, lead and arsenic. However, polyaromatic hydrocarbons were “non-detectable.”

Dr. Lyn Panganiban of the UP-PGH Poison Center suggested:

• the immediate medical follow-ups of residents with abnormal physical and laboratory findings
• strengthen the technical capabilities of health care providers in addressing toxicologic health issues related to the oil spill
• ensure the provision of the necessary medical interventions; and
• maintain a multidisciplinary, multi-sectoral approach in the conduct of the surveillance system and rehabilitation programs in the province.

The DOH-UP-PGH team conducted its first inspection on August 23, 2006. The second – to quantify the effects of exposure to bunker oil on human health – was done in September 5 last year.

Last year, the DOH and the National Poison Management & Control Center released initial findings showing high levels of hydrogen sulfide emissions particularly in Brgys. La Paz and Cabalagnan “exceeding the USEPA-PRG which is 0.00071 ppm (parts per million).”

They also disclosed that polyaromatic hydrocarbons exceeded the USEPA-PRG standard.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, on the other hand, measured the quality of ambient air as safe at 0.07 ppm on hydrogen sulfide emissions based on the Clean Air Act of 1999.

Nieto said some P22 million is needed to realize the medical surveillance systems to monitor the long-term effects of bunker oil exposure to the health of affected Guimaras residents.

“P12 million will be spent for disease surveillance alone. This includes the detection and response to outbreaks and the monitoring and evaluation of the operation, among others,” Nieto said.

DOH had already spent some P5 million to purchase medicines, personnel protective equipment and hospitalization of affected residents, including the conduct of the research, revealed Nieto.

For your reference…

Oil spill trial opens in France

THE trial over one of France’s worst environmental disasters – the 1999 Erika oil spill – has opened.

The oil tanker Erika sank off the coast of Brittany, spilling 20,000 tons of oil into the sea and polluting 400km (250 miles) of coastline.

Oil giant Total is one of 15 parties charged with endangering lives or failing to prevent pollution.

If convicted, Total could face damages amounting to millions of dollars. The company rejects the charges.

There are 74 plaintiffs in the trial, including the French government, local councils and environmental groups.

‘Dubious seaworthiness’

The Erika was a 25-year-old rusting, Maltese-registered tanker that broke in two in heavy seas in the Bay of Biscay on 12 December 1999.

Its 26 crew members were winched to safety by helicopter, but two weeks later its cargo of heavy fuel oil began to wash ashore.

A long stretch of France’s coastline was covered in oil and tens of thousands of seabirds were killed.

Total executive Bernard Thouillin and two of the company’s affiliates are charged with chartering a tanker of dubious seaworthiness in order to deliver the tanker of fuel to Italy on time.

The company faces penalties ranging from tens of thousands of dollars for endangering lives to millions of dollars in damages and compensation for causing pollution.

Several French maritime officials, the ship’s Indian captain and the Italian maritime certification company which said the ship was safe are also on trial.

(Story from BBC NEWS, Feb. 12, 2007.)

P120.3M paid so far to Guimaras oil spill victims

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Inquirer, Feb. 12, 2007

ILOILO CITY, Philippines – The International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund had paid a total of P120.3 million to victims of the August 2006 Solar I oil spill in Guimaras.

IOPC Deputy Director Joe Nichols said in an email that the IOPC approved and paid the claims of 11,361 residents from the towns of Jordan, Sibunag, Nueva Valencia, Buenavista and San Lorenzo in Guimaras.

But around 300 residents did not claim payments, Nichols said.

The IOPC will soon process the claims of 3,000 residents engaged in fishing from the towns of Oton, Concepcion and Ajuy in Iloilo. It will also process around 77 claims by seaweed farmers and 90 fishpond operators from Guimaras Island.

Nichols said the IOPC, a London-based intergovernmental agency that indemnifies losses resulting from oil spills, will settle the claims of the second batch of victims from Guimaras after paying the claimants from Iloilo.

The oil spill affected 5,437 families or 26,740 individuals after the M/T Solar 1 sank in stormy seas off Guimaras on August 11 and dumped more than 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel oil it was transporting for Petron Corp. from Bataan to Zamboanga.

The Philippine Coast Guard believed that around 300,000 liters spilled into the sea, contaminating coastal areas with oil sludge.

Around 13,000, residents mostly engaged in fishing, have filed claims for damages after the spill contaminated fishing grounds and devastated the island’s rich marine life and tourism sites.

The IOPC has paid the claimants engaged in fishing with amounts ranging from P3,000 to P32,000. It has also released initial payments to around 34 operators of resorts and other tourism sites from P1,000 to P250,000.

Church groups led by Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, along with environmental groups and non-government organizations, have called for higher compensation for the victims, claiming that the money being paid by the IOPC are not enough to cover the losses of the residents.

But the IOPC officials said they came up with compensation costing based on the IOPC field surveys and the types of fishing the claimants were engaged in.

Nichols said the removal of the remaining oil from the wreck would start around March 14. He said they were expecting the operation to last for 10 to 20 days, depending on how much oil remained onboard.

The insurers of the sunken tanker and the IOPC have contracted the salvage firm Sonsub to remove the oil from wreck 640 meters on the sea floor. The operation is estimated to cost between US$6 million to US$12 million, depending on volume of oil left in the tanker.

14-year-old almost ready to go home

Fourteen-year-old Jemhel Galleto, the boy who recently underwent two operations with the help of DAILY Star readers, is almost ready to go home to Cabalagnan in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras, where he is a high school sophomore.

His recovery from his complicated second surgery had been very slow until late last week when he started showing signs of steady progress. But mounting bills have made his family worry. “Without the help of generous individuals, we can never afford to pay the cost of his operation,” his mother, Mely, said. Jehmel, son of a fisherman who was displaced from his work by the Sept. 11 oil spill, underwent a colostomy mid-November and a pull-through surgery on Jan. 12 at the Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital to correct the problem caused by Hirschsprung’s Disease, which prevented him from moving his bowels normally since birth.

As a result of the disease, Jemhel’s growth has been stunted. At 14, he stands only about 3’6″.

His case was published in the DAILY STAR after St. La Salle Mass Communication students documenting the oil spill in Nueva Valencia stumbled into his unusual medical problem. A DAILY STAR online reader in the United States offered to help foot his surgery bills, then estimated to cost P100,000. He was operated on free of charge by Dr. Roberto Lozada, a Bacolod native, and was confined at the IDH service ward. But his slow recovery and his prolonged stay in the hospital resulted in staggering bills, particularly for medicines and laboratory tests.

As of Feb. 10, Jemhel’s bills had reached about P250,000. A STAR reader sent P20,000 in response to the appeal for additional help last week. Obviously, more assistance from civic-spirited readers is needed to pay for his bills so he can be discharged this week. “I never ever thought in all my life that my son would be operated on as we could not afford it,” the boy’s mother told the DAILY STAR.

Jemhel is looking forward to returning to school after more than two month’s absence. “Thank you all for your help, my life will be normal now,” he said.

The DAILY STAR, which hopes to raise at least P100,000 to help pay Jemhel’s hospital bills, welcomes assistance from its readers. You may contact Tel. No. 034-434-5642 or email us at visayandailystar.com. (Visayan Daily Star, Feb. 12, 2007)

IOPC head arriving in WV to explain Solar 1 moves

BY CARLA GOMEZ
Visayan Daily Star
Feb. 10, 2007

THE director of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, Willem J G Oosterveen of the Netherlands, will meet with Western Visayas officials on Feb. 19 to explain the steps that will be undertaken to remove the bunker fuel from the MT Solar 1 that sank off the coast of Guimaras in August last year.

This was disclosed by Presidential Adviser Rafael Coscolluela yesterday.

Sonsub, a Singapore-based salvaging contractor, is scheduled to siphon out the bunker fuel from MT Solar 1 staring March 8, Coscolluela said the siphoning is expected to be completed within March, and is expected to cost from $8 million to 10 million, he said. The MT Solar 1 was carrying 2.1 million tons of bunker fuel when it sank and an estimated 20 percent is believed to have been released into the water leaving 1.6 million tons still at the bottom of the sea, he said.

Oosterveen, who took over as IOPC director late last year, had been chairman of the 1971 Fund Executive Committee from 1995 to 1998 and of the 1992 Fund Assembly from 1999 to March 2005.

As Senior Legal Advisor to the Netherlands Ministry of Justice, he represented the Netherlands in numerous negotiations in a variety of international organizations from 1990, mainly concerning transport, environmental, liability and electronic commerce law. Since 1999, he has also been a part-time judge at the Court of Appeal in The Hague.

More eco groups call for speedy Guimaras cleanup

The Philippine STAR 02/11/2007

WITH the threat of more sea areas being exposed to the dangers of oil spill and similar sea tragedies involving the natural environment, more environmental groups yesterday called for more vigilance against the prospect of marine pollution.

The Visayan Sea is rich with marine species and forms part of the migratory path of fishes plying the Indian and Pacific oceans. Similarly, the Visayan region is within the coral triangle and is touted as a megabiodiversity region. While these areas can be speedily cleaned up, the damage done is irreversible, said Antonio M. Claparols, president of the Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP).

Once bunker fuel or bunker oil seeps into the water, they will not only affect the whole seashores and land areas immediately surrounding the spill but will likewise settle into the bottom of the ocean, immediately killing all living things there and its vicinities, he explained.

The Guimaras Strait is home to a variety of rich marine species which is the main livelihood and source of food for millions of people in its vicinity.

The strict regulations involving inspection of the ship and the trip of bunker fuel cargoes must be done on its point of origin and every ship carrying them must pass stringent requirements before they are allowed to venture into the sea, he added.

“With more and more ocean vessels plying our area of responsibility, we cannot deny the fact that accidents of this kind occur, and we must be a step ahead of any eventualities,” Claparols said.

Did Petron abandon Guimaras victims?

DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
The Philippine Star 02/09/2007

THE tell tale signs of the tragedy was still visible in the seaside barangay in Guimaras I visited last Saturday. There were signs warning residents not to fish or swim in the still polluted waters. Barangay officials complained that Petron abandoned them, accusing the partly government-owned oil company of not finishing the clean-up job. And since they are essentially fishermen, one wonders how they keep body and soul together now that they are deprived of their main source of livelihood.

I was thinking that even if Petron completed the clean-up, it still wouldn’t have been enough. Petron must help the residents who are victims of their oil spill get back on their feet with a long term solution to their livelihood needs. That’s what the Petron Foundation is for, not just to sponsor some amateur art contest. Petron’s presence must still be felt in Guimaras if their supposed adherence to corporate social responsibility has any meaning at all beyond the press releases.

I was in Guimaras to look into a long-term alternative livelihood project for some of the displaced fisher folk. The Lopez family, through its patriarch Oscar Lopez, has offered to donate land belonging to the family holding company to start a communal farming venture for some of the residents of this seaside barangay. Arrangements are now being made for the Department of Agrarian Reform to allow the donation of the land to residents selected by local officials.

In fact, the Lopez Group Foundation has started to prepare the land for farming, with the installation of a deep water well and the construction of water storage facilities for the project. Technical assistance on what to plant and the possibility of the proposed cooperative entering into contract growing with major food processors are also underway. CODE NGO Iloilo has also been contracted to conduct programs that would prepare the coop members and help them understand the nature of the project and what is expected of them.

Oscar Lopez, talking to them in Ilonggo, emphasized to the residents that the Lopez Group is ready to help them but success of the endeavor depends largely on them. This is not a hand-out. This is going to require a lot of sweat and cooperation from everyone. Beneficiaries must learn to think of group interest above personal. This effort is nothing less than a social experiment whose outcome is uncertain.

Communal farming is something new in this country and while it has proven successful in China, its success here depends on how motivated the beneficiaries are going to be. The choice of a communal farm of 30 hectares owned by a cooperative of farmers rather than distributing smaller lots individually titled but without economies of scale to be productive, is a bold move that goes against current practice. The Guimaras folks however, seem ready to embark with the experiment.

I noticed their eyes lighting up when Mr. Lopez told them that what the project aims to achieve is to give them another source of livelihood. Even before the Petron oil spill, fishing was no longer as lucrative as it was in the past. Overfishing and the use of destructive fishing methods have caused the fish stock to dwindle. But can fishermen be turned into farmers overnight?

The barangay leaders however, are confident they can make something out of the opportunity they are being given. I was also impressed with the barangay leaders as they explained why they disqualified themselves from being among the beneficiaries of the project. It doesn’t look right, they said, for their members to think they took advantage of their positions. Such delicadeza is rare these days. I am glad it is still present at the grassroots.

The project is quite a challenge. But it provides hope for long term livelihood opportunities for the fishermen victims of the Petron oil spill. I imagine there would be a lot of work that must be done to get beneficiaries to align their objectives with that of the cooperative. Hopefully, it works.

We need a new template in dealing with victims of natural and man made disasters in our disaster prone country. Beyond the hand outs of the immediate relief efforts, we need a viable program that would enable victims to normalize their lives and even improve it dramatically.

(For the rest of the column, click Boo.)

Folks welcome oil extraction from Solar I

THE people of Guimaras and Iloilo provinces are relieved by reports that the siphoning operations for the remaining bunker fuel in the sunken MT Solar I will already start in March.

Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela said this has long been the demand of the residents since their apprehension about continuous, and even worse damage to the marine resources of Guimaras remains for as long as the more than one million liters of
oil is still underwater.

“To them, this (siphoning operations) is a big relief dahil yun naman talaga ang demand nila. Dahil hangga’t hindi nasa-siphon ang bunker fuel, malakas pa rin ang apprehension nila,” Coscolluela said in a phone interview.

Coscolluela affirmed that the Italian SONSUD salvage company, which has an office in Singapore, will begin the siphoning operations on March 8, at the expense of the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund. The $8-million operations will last for three to four weeks.

MT Solar 1 was sailing toward Zamboanga City from Bataan, with 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel, when it was battered by big waves, causing it to sink in the afternoon of Aug. 11, 2006 in the waters off Guimaras. The vessel now rests more than 600 meters deep underwater.

Coscolluela said it is believed that the ill-fated tanker still has about 1.6 million liters of bunker fuel.

The tragedy, dubbed as the worst oil spill in Philippine maritime history, affected a total of 8,580 families or 42,109 individuals from 65 villages of Guimaras and Iloilo.

It also resulted in the damage of 1,143.45 hectares of Marine Reserves of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); 234.84 kilometers of coastline; 15.8 square kilometers of coral reef; 478.48 hectares of mangrove; 107 hectares of seaweed farms; and 974 hectares of fishpond.

But Coscolluela said that along with the assurance of the start of the siphoning operations, the government is tasking the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to come up with contingency measures for any kind of emergencies, such as the further spill of bunker fuel to be salvaged.

He said the PCG is asked to prepare equipment and chemical dispersants, and for it to be on stand by during the actual siphoning operations for any possible accidents.

“By and large, we’re seeing normalization. The people have gone back to fishing,” Coscolluela said when asked about the present situation in Guimaras.

He said complaints of reduced fish catch are reported only rarely, but it could not yet be ascertained if it is a direct result of the tragedy.

To date, the IOPC has already released about P120 million in compensation to some of the 11,000 approved claims, mostly by fisherfolks, said Coscolluela.

“It’s possible that it will even exceed P250 million because they are still reviewing the rest of the claims. The IOPC received more than 18,000 claims,” he added.

As of now, Coscolluela said only four mangrove areas in Guimaras, one in Ajuy town in Iloilo and another one in Concepcion, also in Iloilo, remain as problem areas that require clean up activities. (GMANews.TV, Feb. 8, 2007)

Operations to siphon off oil spill in Guimaras begin on March 8 – OCD

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
February 07, 2007

MANILA, Philippines – Operations to siphon off the remaining oil from a sunken tanker off Guimaras Island in the central Philippines will start on March 8, a disaster official said Wednesday.

“That was the window where there will be calmer weather and we don’t expect typhoons… The tentative date is March 8,” Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator Glen Rabonza told a news conference in Camp Aguinaldo.

Rabonza said the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC), a world body of petroleum companies, would shoulder the cost of the operations, Rabonza said.

He said the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) would meet in the coming weeks to prepare for the operations.

The M/T Solar 1 sank into the Guimaras Strait amid stormy weather on Aug. 11, 2006, triggering a massive oil spill. Authorities estimate that at least 200,000 of the 1.3 million liters of bunker fuel it was carrying had leaked into the sea.

Petron Corp., which is partly owned by the government, chartered the ship to deliver bunker fuel from its refinery in Limay town, Bataan province to Zamboanga City.

An investigation by the Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) revealed that bad weather, overloading, and the “incompetence” of the ship captain and his crew caused the vessel to sink.

MT Solar 1 siphoning readied

THE Philippine Coast Guard is releasing a salvage permit this week to Sonsub, a Singapore-based salvaging contractor, that will siphon out the bunker fuel from MT Solar 1 that sank off the coast of Guimaras in August last year, Rafael Coscolluela, Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas, said yesterday.

Sobsub, that has experience in the use of new technology for the recovery of sunken bunker fuel, is expected to start work in the last week of February , he said. The siphoning that is expected to take three weeks, should be completed by the middle of March and cost from $8 to 10 million, he said.

The Philippine Coast Guard will set the guidelines for the salvaging contactor, Coscolluela said.

Sonsub will allow the oil to rise and enter an umbrella that will siphon out the bunker fuel, he said.

The MT Solar 1 was carrying 2.1 million tons of bunker fuel when it sank and an estimated 20 percent is believed to have been released into the water leaving 1.6 million tons still at the bottom of the sea, he also said.

But he said there are some Coast Guard officers who think that there is no more oil left on MT Solar 1 because of the amount that has already surfaced.

There is a bet going around as too how much oil is actually remaining, he said.

Since starting out as an ROV company in the early 1980s, Sonsub has steadily emerged as a leading provider of subsea construction services and remote technologies, according to information posted on its web site at http://www.sonsub.com. (Carla P. Gomez, Visayan Daily Star, Jan. 31, 2007)