Japanese firm drilling for oil in Tañon quit RDC meeting

Officials of the Japan Explorations, a Japanese oil company involved in explorations for oil in the Tañon Strait were disappointed after the Regional Development Council deferred their supposed presentation on the update of its explorations for oil in Cebu.

The Japanese oil experts, accompanied by some officials of the Department of Energy Manila and DOE regional office, hurriedly left the grand ballroom of Cebu Grand Convention Center where the RDC full council meeting was held yesterday.

The deferment of Japex's presentation came after Tagbilaran City mayor Danny Lim questioned why the foreign company had to introduce itself instead of giving development planners updates on the activities in Tañon Strait.

Lim added that the presentation would be useless because Japex and DOE already have service contracts for the explorations and drilling of wells.

"Why do they have to present when there's already a service contract?" Lim asked. He also added that if Japex and DOE is concerned about transparency, they could have presented the contract and briefed development planners before Japex started its activities in Tañon Strait.

Lim said that Japex did not follow the proper procedure because it only distributed copies of its presentation a few minutes before the scheduled time to present.

"If you talk of a done deal, why mag-present pa? Besides, it did not follow the procedure and mechanics of presentation," he explained.

Teresita Fernandez of Lihok Filipina Foundation, who also sits as chairman of the Social Development Committee of the council, seconded Lim's motion.

With this, RDC co-chairman Robert Go ordered for deferment of Japex's presentation and referred it back to the Infrastructure Development Committee to settle the matter.

Although disappointed by what happened, DOE-7 director Antonio Labios said he respects the opinion and decision of the RDC.

According to Labios, they Japanese experts just wanted to inform the development planners of the background of Japex and update them on the explorations and drilling in Tañon Strait.

He added that if the concern of Mayor Lim is about the profile of Japex, he assured that the company is not fly-by-night and was carefully scrutinized before it was awarded the contract.

IDC chairman Emmanuel Rabacal said that although he was absent when Japex made a presentation during the IDC committee meeting in Dumaguete City early this month, he has no objection to the presentation of Japex during the RDC full council meeting.

On December 21, 2005 DOE signed Service Contract 46 with Japex for the survey and explorations in Tañon Strait. Japex has already conducted first and second level scoping for the ongoing processing of permits for the proposed drilling of exploration well.

Labios said that next year Japex will start drilling for its first well in Tañon Strait using a floater rig. Due to operational risks to the environment, Japex has laid mitigating measures to comply with standards to prevent oil spill and impact to marine life. - Wenna A. Berondo/BRP