Oil spill cleanup gains headway

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Momentum has built up in the oil spill clean-up operations in Estancia town of Iloilo where a power barge ran aground at the height of typhoon Yolanda and spilt thousands of oil into the sea and coastlines, according to private contractor Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc.

In a press statement, Kuan Yu Global said it had figured out that the fuel tanks of Power Barge 103 carried an estimated 1.4 million liters of oil.

Captain Sonny Sarmiento, incident commander of Kuan Yu, said they already took some 117,000 liters of oil out of the stricken power barge's fuel tanks and conveyed these to the M/T Obama, which has a capacity of 850,000 liters.

Sarmiento said they are working 24/7 to quickly remove all the fuel from the barge as quickly as possible. "All are committed to expediting the cleanup of the Estancia oil spill in order to protect marine life and coastal communities, especially local fishermen and their families, but we can't tell when we'll finish the job because we don't have confirmed data on the actual volume of oil left in the barge," he said.

"We can pump out and transfer up to 150,000 liters per hour, but we are now proceeding at a cautious rate of 30,000 to 50,000 liters per hour to avoid potential complications," Sarmiento said.

"As to the spilt oil, it is now contained in boom perimeters, and we've already collected 172,800 liters of fuel from the waters, plus another 73 tons of oil spill debris," he said, adding that Kuan Yu has around 300 locally-hired personnel to help in the cleanup.

"Rest assured no effort is being spared to accelerate the cleanup. Cost is not even a factor because the insurer is covering all expenses," Sarmiento said.

On allegations that Kuan Yu has no track record to speak of, Sarmiento said the people behind the firm have more than 25 years of combined experience in responding to and cleaning up oil spills.

Through First Response Marine Services Inc., the people behind Kuan Yu were involved in the cleanup of the Semirara oil spill in December 2005 as well as in the Guimaras oil spill in August 2006. "With Response Marine Services Inc. now defunct, Kuan Yu Global was established," he added.

Recently, officials of the state-run Power Sector Asset and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), owner of the stranded barge, and Kuan Yu earned the ire of local officials and the residents of Iloilo following the contractor's "sluggish oil spill clean-up operations."

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. even went on to say that charges may be filed against PSALM and Kuan Yu, which has no action plan and seemed to be incompetent for the job.