DENR reiterates call for cleanup

CEBU, Philippines - Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional executive director Dr. Isabelo Montejo reiterated an urgent call for both shipping companies, 2Go Group Inc. and Sulpicio, to conduct immediate and appropriate environmental remediation and cleanup measures.

Montejo stressed the need to aggressively pursue the proper handling, storing, transporting, and disposing of oil collected as these are considered hazardous.

With the violation, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7 conducted a technical conference last Friday after it issued a notice of violation but a commitment sheet was not signed by 2Go representative, a certain Calvin Rosellosa, as he is not authorized to sign the said document. However, Rosellosa received the commitment report for 2Go.

DENR-7 spokesperson Ed Llamedo said the results of the August 18 water samples collected (released last Friday) in four different sites recorded very high oil and grease contents at 10,170 milligrams per liter. The samples were gathered 500 meters away from the accident area near Isla Duping.

The other four sampling sites indicated 6, 8, 11, and 3,027 milligrams per liter. The standard is 2 milligrams per liter under the category for bathing and fishery production.

On the other hand, DENR-7 through the EMB-7 filed a water pollution case against the 2Go Group Inc. as a result of the oil spill incident causing extensive environmental damage to the coastal waters in Cordova and Lapu-Lapu City.

EMB-7 regional director William Cunado, in a press statement, said that the water pollution case was already received last Friday by the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) of which the violation carries a maximum penalty of P200,000 per day reckoned from the time of the discovery of the oil leak. —/MIT (FREEMAN)