November 27, 2007 | 12:00am
This is neither to abet the vociferous opposition of small-time fisherfolk to the oil and gas drilling in Tañon Strait, nor to condemn them as obstructionists to economic progress. Directly affected, the fishermen of coastal Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan are expected to be ballistic against it.
To the hand-to-mouth dependents on the largesse of the sea, with no other livelihood, it’s a matter of survival. There’s that reported fisherman with 11 children to feed from his daily catch. While the sealane and the seabed are constantly disturbed by the Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. (JAPEX) drilling, so long will his usual catch elude him. It’s thus explicable for them to raise Cain. What is eye-catching is for left-leaners and NGOs to come barging in for media mileage, in the guise of empathizing with the poor fisherfolk.
What the officials of both towns must keep tabs during the entire drilling operations is the commitment of JAPEX to support the affected families’ basic needs. Likewise, the LGUs concerned have to address with immediacy some possible interim projects or other sources of income for the adversely affected. It’s gratifying that Cebu Province through the ever helpful Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has likewise committed to extend the needed helping hand.
Certainly, there’s the negative backlash in disturbing the rich Visayan Sea marine life, and upsetting the livelihood of many. But then, there’s also the soaring price of crude oil now in the $100 per barrel level – no signs of going down – and the desperate need to reduce our oil import. And oil and gas exploration within, may tide us over the hump towards 50% and lower dependency on oil sourced outside.
If the exploratory testing be nearly accurate, the Tañon Strait deposit estimate is somewhere in the 2 B barrels volume, so they say. Hopefully, the JAPEX timeframe of two months drilling shall have been finished and, not lasting for years. Thus, hopefully when positive results of finding and tapping the black gold shall come to reality, there be no further disturbance of marine life and other biodiversity resources.
The what ifs and other speculative and subjunctive uncertainties, or such other similar repercussions, are matters of finger-crossing. In fact, some lawmakers are cold and bullish against the Tañon Strait exploration as destructive of protected marine life in the Visayan Sea. Senator Jamby Madrigal, for one, has filed Senate Resolution No. 141 against the project to protect the people’s health and the environment. Also evincing concerns on the protected Visayan seascape (per Pres. Proclamation 1234) come from lower house solons, including some Cebuano congressmen.
Far from being paranoid, one is worried about a couple of concerns not being factored in… One - The black gold frenzy is a scourge among African, Mid-Eastern and Asian countries resulting in misery of massive graft and gaping hole between the oil-rich and the destitute. Two – Further tectonic disturbances of the earth’s crust and seabeds, like, mining, oil-drilling, atomic testing, and other destructions of nature worsen climate change and global warming, as in domino effect.
Both the Arctic of the north and the Antarctic of the south have their millions of square miles of giant icebergs melting so fast as a result of global warming. The National Snow and Ice Data Center reports that only 1.65 M square miles survived the yearly meltdown and, the Arctic or North Pole could be ice-free by 2030, so says TIME magazine.
Although the Tañon Strait drilling is just another tiny hole into the crust of the Earth, nonetheless, it’s a tectonic destruction that adds to the thousands, or millions, of tiny holes globally that could abet the seismic jarring of geological structures. They in turn could trigger earthquakes, volcano eruptions, landslides, tsunamis and other apocalyptic backlash of Nature’s wrath.
