Gov’t to go after oil spill culprits

The government assured the public yesterday that the government would go after those responsible for the massive oil spill off Guimaras island, saying they would be punished in accordance with the country’s environmental laws.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said an investigation was already under way and a massive cleanup was ordered by President Arroyo to prevent further damage to the environment.

"We will go after those who may be found responsible and liable for this environmental catastrophe," Bunye said.

"In the meantime, let us focus our energies and resources on a fast cleanup to prevent the spread of pollution," he said.

The M/T Solar I fuel tanker lying 3,000 feet under the sea is "like a ticking time bomb," the Philippine Coast Guard said yesterday, as officials did not know how much oil has spilled out of the sunken vessel.

"Honestly speaking, we really have no way of knowing how much it has spilled," said Commander Harold Jarder, the Coast Guard officer supervising the country’s worst oil spill that has ravaged marine life and other coastal resources in Guimaras island and nearby provinces.

And it could get much worse without urgent help to lift the stricken tanker off the ocean floor, warned Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Commander Joseph Coyme.

"We cannot just sit and wait," Coyme said, as authorities tried yesterday to contain a leak from the sunken tanker.

An oil slick about 16 kilometers long was observed early Wednesday moving northeast between Guimaras and Negros Occidental, Jarder said.

Coyme said the spill could not be cleaned up for the moment and called raising the vessel the "foremost priority."

The provincial government of Guimaras has yet to decide whether Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. and Petron Corp. will be sued for the oil spill.

SMDC owns the ill-fated vessel while Petron chartered it. MT Solar I sank Friday in deep waters south of Guimaras while transporting two million liters of bunker fuel oil from Limay, Bataan to Zamboanga City.

"We have not talked about it yet," said Gov. JC Rahman Nava during a press conference with Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes last Wednesday. "But that is an option."

In a text message sent to The STAR yesterday, Nava said "the legal team is working on it. They are preparing all the evidence needed."

He added that their legal team is asking for more time until next week to come up with a recommendation.

The team is still waiting for a copy of the contract between Petron and SMDC. Petron chartered Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. to deliver P40 million worth of industrial oil to a power plant in Mindanao.

"We have to conduct relief operations first," Nava stressed.

MT Solar I’s sinking left two of the 20 crew missing.

Coyme said survivors indicated only one of the ship’s 10 containers had ruptured, emptying more than 50,000 gallons of oil into the seas.

Around 450,000 gallons are still on board, and there are fears that sea water and metal stress could corrode the containers and cause them to burst, dramatically worsening what is already acknowledged as the worst oil spill in the country’s history.

Urgent call for help

Bunye said the President has instructed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) and other concerned agencies to seek all necessary domestic and international assistance to contain and remove the threat as well as extend relief and livelihood aid to affected communities.

Reyes told provincial officials that Mrs. Arroyo has instructed him to seek help from Indonesia and Malaysia.

But Coyme said the ship would have to be refloated before the cleanup begins, adding that the United States had also been asked for urgent assistance.

He said there had been no formal offer of help so far from Tokyo, Japan or Jakarta, Indonesia.

Defense Secretary and NDCC chairman Avelino Cruz suggested Manila could also seek possible military help from the US via the newly created Security Engagement Board (SEB).

SEB is a special mechanism for cooperation between the US and the Philippines on non-traditional threats like oil spills and other threats to the environment and public health.

While the oil slick could not be cleaned up for the moment, teams were trying to contain it with giant oil booms and chemical dispersants, Coyme said.

Nicanor Alcantara, chairman of Petron Corp., the fuel supplier that chartered MT Solar I, promised to help with the cleanup.

SMDC will send British experts to assess whether the tanker might be salvaged or the remaining fuel oil siphoned out, according to company official Clemente Cancio.

Both SMDC and Petron have accepted responsibility for the oil spill.

Environmental group Greenpeace International said the spill itself could take months or even years to clean up.

"This shows how ill-prepared we are for this type of disaster," said Von Hernandez, Southeast Asia campaign director for the group.

Greenpeace has dispatched a team to Guimaras to document the oil spill.

‘Black paradise’

The oil slick now stretches across 13 nautical miles of water.

Coyme said the black sludge had already reached Negros, the country’s fourth largest island, and contaminated the beaches of Bago City and two adjacent towns.

Nava said Wednesday the oil spill has affected or damaged 15 square kilometers of coral reefs, over 200 kilometers of coastline, 1,000 hectares of marine reserves, at least two resort islands and 50 hectares of seaweed plantations.

Environment Undersecretary Teresita Samson-Castillo said the oil leak has initially affected 1,128 hectares of mangrove and at least 3,000 families in coastal communities nearby.

"We are still in the process of making total assessment on the incident, on the damages... so it may take some time," she said.

In Guimaras’ hard-hit La Paz village, the oil slick has stained nearly everything on its shore, including the walls of shanties that dot the beach.

Small fishing boats have been grounded for nearly a week and many fishermen chatted idly amid a strong stench that resembled burning rubber.

Village leader Connie Gamuyaw of La Paz said the slick was taking a toll on the poor village’s livelihood and threatening its marine resources, including teeming mangroves. Some residents have begun coughing and moved away.

The Department of Health on Wednesday issued an advisory to residents, warning them that some of the compounds found in oil are highly volatile and would affect their health via inhalation, ingestion and skin absorption.

Gamuyaw said nearby Taclong island, a marine reserve, used to lure a lot of foreigners, but with its beachfront and mangroves stained by the smelly slick, the visitors are gone.

"It used to be known as a paradise island, but now it’s a black paradise," she said.

Nava said about a third of his province’s 150,000 constituents live off the sea and an estimated 10,000 residents of coastal villages who rely on fishing are temporarily without livelihood.

"Only lately, we pulled ourselves out of the 20 poorest (provinces in the Philippines). Now I suppose we will be going back," Nava told The Associated Press, adding that tourism and fishing were hit particularly hard.

The provincial government on Monday declared a state of calamity in Guimaras, allowing the speedy release of relief funds in the area.

Valladolid town, in nearby Negros Occidental province east of Guimaras, made a similar declaration Tuesday as the slick approached its shores. — With Ronilo Pamonag, Evelyn Macairan, Katherine Adraneda, AP, AFP