‘Semirara rehab to take 10 years’

ILOILO CITY — Antique Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez said the rehabilitation of areas on Semirara Island affected by the massive oil spill could take 10 years, as she described the damage to be "very wide."

"We need professional cleaners, not just the residents," she said in a public affairs program.

Perez said the oil spill left Semirara residents with no means of livelihood since "their seaweed (farms) are all gone, so do the fishes."

She said the provincial government is struggling to provide new means of livelihood for the 250 families affected by the oil spill in Barangay Semirara in Caluya town.

She said they have, in fact, sought the help of the National Food Authority which, in turn, provided 50 sacks of rice for the villagers.

Bienvenido Lipayon, regional director of the Environmental Management Bureau, said cleanup operations are still underway with the Coast Guard leading them.

He said as many as 400 local folk could be hired once the cleanup goes full-blast.

Perez said they have tapped marine experts of the University of the Philippines-College of Fisheries in Miagao-Iloilo to "evaluate the actual damage (of the oil spill)."

She criticized the National Power Corp., which owns the barge that spilled more than 340,000 liters of bunker fuel last Dec. 18, for failing to reveal the extent of the oil spill.

"They are glossing over the oil spill. They are not telling the truth," she said.