2GO urged to remove ship

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard has stood firm in its demand for 2Go Group Inc to remove the sunken ferry M/V Thomas Aquinas, owned by the company, from its current site despite 2GO’s claim that it does not pose threat to navigation.

The vessel sank off Lawis Ledge in Talisay City after colliding with the M/V Sulpicio Express Siete on August 16 last year, killing more than a hundred.

PCG earlier sent a letter to 2Go reminding the company’s responsibility in removing the wreck as it poses risk and danger.

Commander Weniel Azcuna of PCG - Central Visayas said the removal of the wreck would ensure navigational, environmental and public safety, adding that hazardous objects may surface in the future.

“We really feel that there is threat kasi there are so many uncertainties kasi. Di natin alam kung ilan na ‘yong mga liferafts na lumutang na d’yan. So those are the reason behind kung kaya kinompel natin sila na-i-remove talaga,” he said.

Azcuna said they have not given ultimatum yet to the shipping company pending the review of its own assessment which has been submitted to the PCG head office. The technical committee formed by the PCG has yet to give its recommendation.

In a report of the Philippine Star, PCG Cebu District commander Commodore William Melad said 2Go aired that it should not be required to salvage its ship as this would close the south gate of Mactan to the Cebu Harbor and eventually hamper the shipping in the area.

2Go said the 11,405-gross ton sunken ship would not pose danger to navigation because it lies 150 feet below sea level.

Melad, however, said there may be no danger yet at present, but the container vans which are still inside the sunken ferry will refloat in the event that there would be another strong earthquake like the one that hit Bohol and Cebu last year.

Last year in Bohol, a cargo ship that sank 20 years ago off Panglao Island caused an oil spill in the area, which PCG said could have been triggered by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

Oil spill findings

“Let nature recover by itself.”

This was the message stressed by Dr. Rex Sadaba, head of University of the Philippines-Visayas Oil Spill Program during an environmental study presentation yesterday at the Provincial Capitol where he and the UP-Visayas team discussed their findings on the oil spill caused by last year’s collision of vessels owned by 2GO and Philippine Span Asia.

Sadaba said that since last year, he has already advised the local government unit of Cordova and other groups not to conduct mangrove planting activities in the oil-spill affected areas.

“Nag-recommend na kami na no planting yet kasi we haven’t done the assessment pa,” said Sadaba, adding that even during their early phase of study, they have stated that there is no need to plant new mangroves as it will regenerate on its own.

“Now it has been confirmed,” said Sadaba, disclosing that based on the finished assessments, ‘new recruits’ of mangroves have already been seen in oil-spill areas. The increase in the density of the ‘new recruits’ in mangroves, he explained, is “a good sign of early recovery.”

In Sadaba’s presentation yesterday, he showed that in the mangrove areas that they studied, around 145 hectares of mangrove land, only 0.29 percent showed a mortality rate.

He said they assessed 13 barangays and three were most affected by the oil spill, including barangays Day-as, Buagsong, Bangbang and a part of Poblacion.

The objective of the tests was to map the degree of oiling, the overall community structure in terms of composition of tree saplings, the composition, the height of the oiling, condition of lenticels, condition of pneumatophore and percentage of mortality among different groups of plant forms.

Sadaba clarified though that the oil spill did not damage more than 10 percent of Cordova’s mangroves. — (FREEMAN)