Alert on for foreign ship with toxic chemical

TACLOBAN CITY — A 24-hour alert is on in Isabel, Leyte where a foreign vessel carrying 8,000 metric tons of sulfuric acid, a toxic substance, is expected to arrive this week.

Peter Anthony Abaya, director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), ordered the agency’s Eastern Visayas office based here to alert authorities about the impending arrival of M/V Golden Oceania, a Korean vessel, in the western Leyte town, some 120 kilometers west of this city.

A special team, composed of representatives from the EMB, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Bureau of Customs and Philippine Ports Authority, has been formed to look into the vessel’s entry.

Letty Maceda, chief of the EMB’s environmental quality division, confirmed that the vessel is due to arrive this week.

The sulfuric acid the vessel is carrying was reportedly bought by the manufacturing arm of the Philippine Phosphate and Fertilizer Co. which is located in the 500-hectare Leyte Industrial and Development Estate.

Maceda said the inter-agency team will check whether the sulfuric acid is in the form of waste or raw material. Once the ship arrives, samples of the toxic substance will be tested.

The team, she added, will also check whether the vessel was able to secure a "trans-boundary permit" for the shipment.

"We will also look into the handling procedures," she said.