Oil spill clean up delay: Sec. Roxas wants new contractor, guv eyes raps vs PSALM, Kuan Yu

ILOILO CITY, Philippines— DILG Sec. Manuel Roxas asked Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM), to hire another contractor to fast track the siphoning and oil spill clean-up operation to make up for the delays committed by its first contractor, Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc.

The delays also caused Gov. Arthur Defensor, Sr. to warn PSALM and Kuan Yu that he will be filing charges against them if they could not meet the deadline, which was extended to Dec. 6 and still failed to do so until now.

PSALM is the owner of Power Barge 103 that leaked and caused oil spill in Estancia town while Kuan Yu  was the contractor hired to siphon off the oil slick.

Defensor got angry when PSALM acting vice president Elmer Cadano said, in a briefing Wednesday, that Kuan Yu needs another week to prepare before the cleanup starts. The governor said that, on top of lack in equipment, the contractor has no action plan.

Roxas, after PSALM admitted it could not meet the deadline said PSALM should look for another contractor that is equipped with effective equipment to use on its operation particularly the pump, the barge oil where to put the collected oil, absorbent booms and other actions to prevent more damages on the environment and the people living near the oil spill site in Brgy. Botongon of Estancia town.

As of the latest development, the Philippine Coast Guard-Region 6 reported that a total of 157,000 liters of spilled bunker oil and 60 tons of debris were already collected.

PCG-6 commander Commodore Athelo Ybañez said around 900,000 liters of bunker fuel leaked into Estancia's coastline from the power barge of  Napocor that was loaded with 1.4 million liters of oil at the height of typhoon Yolanda.

Around 492 families or at least 2, 500 individuals have been housed at the evacuation center inside the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College in Estancia. As of  Monday, the five-day 'cash for food' sponsored by the Estancia LGU has already started, with each evacuee getting P30 food allowance per day, apart from 15 kilos of rice and canned goods for each family. Next week, the Iloilo provincial government will shoulder the cash for food for the remaining weeks of the evacuees until the time they return to their respective homes.

Meanwhile, the Japan government in a press release through its Embassy in Manila, said it has dispatched a Japan Disaster Relief Expert Team that will give advice on oil removal and control, and the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) to assist in the oil spill cleanup. 

JCG's international affairs and crisis management unit deputy director Commodore Iwao Mabuchi said his team will only provide "technical advice" on the extent of the damage, an act that was requested by the Philippine government.

The JCG had also assisted the Philippines during the Guimaras oil spill in 2006, which was considered the worst incident in the country ever. (FREEMAN)