Food-for-work program on in oil spill areas

MANILA, Philippines - Cavite fishermen who find themselves without work as a result of a massive oil spill are now getting emergency food rations from the local government.

To get rice and canned goods, however, they have to help clean up the shores by collecting spilled diesel using bottles and other improvised scooping implements.

Mayor Jose Ricafrente of Rosario, Cavite said he implemented an emergency “food-for-work” program that involved residents in the cleanup of the spill that contaminated Manila Bay and the waters near the coastal town.

Ricafrente said fishermen and their families would help in the cleanup in exchange for rice and sardines.

Dead fish floated on the water and some residents fell ill from the fumes, as authorities said an estimated 500,000 liters of diesel oil cast a slick across 20 kilometers of the coastline of Rosario and the nearby towns of Naic, Tanza and Ternate.

Authorities said the slick was caused by either a leak at the submerged pipeline of the Petron Corp. oil terminal in Rosario or the tanker MT/Makisig ship that had unloaded diesel there last Thursday when the oil spill was discovered.

A four-liter bottle of diesel collected from the sea could be swapped for three kilos of rice and six cans of sardines.

The residents were collecting diesel from the water using bottles and other improvised scooping implements.

Residents who clean the beach in front of their houses are paid one kilo of rice.

“Even the children are helping out. We have asked them to wear face masks,” he said.

Locals said they feared for the immediate future of the bay’s vibrant fish and shellfish industry, which feeds millions of people in the capital and surrounding areas.

“Fish and shellfish are floating up dead. It could be months before the shellfish industry is revived unless the water is cleaned up soon,” Ricafrente told AFP.

He said 40,000 people dependent on the fishing and shellfish industry in the bay were temporarily without jobs.

Asis Perez, head of the government’s fisheries and aquatic resources bureau, said the oil spill was impacting a vital section of the region’s fishing industry.

“Each boat here would typically haul in 30-40 kilos of fish a day, so definitely the impact is huge,” Perez said.

“Many of our young and elderly residents are getting sick,” Marcos Solis, the captain of a fishing village near the worst of the oil spill, told AFP.

“The price of fish and shellfish has also collapsed. Even those who fish far out to sea are affected because the fish smell the oil and swim away.”

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Marine Environmental Protection Unit chief Commodore Joel Garcia told reporters the slick stretched seaward about 15 kilometers from the shore, covering an area of 300 square kilometers.

“I cannot say that we have contained it because it has affected so wide an area,” Garcia told reporters.

The area described by the coastguard covers about 15 percent of the bay, the country’s busiest body of water in a region where about 30 million people live, according to government data.

The PCG said that oil spill containment efforts were conducted yesterday despite heavy rains.

Commander Armand Balilo, PCG spokesman, said that the cleanup operations ordered by PCG Commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena have gone smoothly and that the Manila Bay waters off Rosario, Cavite were already clean of oil sludge yesterday.

However, Isorena has ordered the PCG to double check the shoreline and the surrounding waters before they officially declare the spill as totally cleaned up.

Balilo said that PCG divers inspected the M/T Makisig and the Petron pipeline to check where the leak came from.

President Aquino had ordered a speedy cleanup of the oil spill that contaminated Manila Bay.

The PCG will form an adjudication body to handle the investigation to determine the cause of the oil spill, Balilo said the other day. He reiterated that the priority of the PCG was the containment and cleanup of the oil spill.

Commander Ramon Reblora, head of the PCG-National Capital Region legal unit, will reportedly lead the adjudication team.

The team was tasked to find out where the leak came from and file charges if an entity would be found to have committed negligence.

Those found liable for the oil spill would face possible charges for violations of the Clean Water Act, the PCG said.

The PCG officials met with representatives of Petron Corp. and Herma Shipping and Transport Corp., owner of the M/T Makisig.

The owner of M/T Makisig has categorically denied that it has anything to do with the spill, while Petron has since shut down its Rosario depot and had also started its own investigation.

House Deputy Minority Leader and LPGMA party-list Rep. Arnel Ty said parties responsible for the oil spill in Manila Bay near Rosario are expected to pay for the cleanup operations and provide compensation to those who suffered economic losses due to the environmentally destructive discharge under the law.

Ty was referring to the Oil Pollution Compensation Law of 2007, or Republic Act 9483, which enforces in the country all the international rules on the accountabilities for fuel spill damage of all ship owners and companies that receive petroleum after sea transport.

“We have a law imposing strict liability for oil pollution damage and ensuring prompt and adequate reparation for affected people, including fisherfolk,” Ty said in a statement.

“Whether the diesel was inadvertently discharged by an oil depot in Rosario, Cavite, or by a tanker that had just unloaded fuel at the terminal, sufferers can expect reasonable repayments,” he said

Under the law, he said ship owners that “cause pollution damage or create a grave and imminent threat of causing such damage,” are liable for expenses actually incurred in cleanup operations at sea or on shore; costs incurred for preventive measures and further loss or damage caused by such preventive measures; consequential loss or loss of earnings suffered by owners or users of property contaminated or damaged as a direct result of the spill; pure economic loss or loss of earnings sustained by people, even if the property tainted or spoiled by the slick does not belong to them; damage to human health or loss of life as a direct result of the incident; and environmental damage and other reasonable measures of restoration.

The liabilities of ship owners are defined in maximum amounts based on international standards, and depending on the volume of oil discharged and the vessel’s gross tonnage, the lawmaker said.

“As to companies that receive petroleum products after sea transport, we know for a fact that they have all been contributing to the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund,” he said.

Ty said the IOPC Fund is part of an international regime of liability and compensation for oil spill damage.

Under the system, he said the owner of a tanker and/or its insurer is liable up to a certain limit for damage following a spill. If that amount does not cover all admissible claims, further compensation is available from the IOPC Fund.

Ty also said the law has a compulsory insurance system for ship owners to cover potential oil spill damage.

He said ships carrying over 2,000 tons of oil without valid financial security are supposed to be banned from Philippine waters. – Rainier Allan Ronda, Paolo Romero