British experts arrive in Guimaras to help contain oil spill

British experts arrived on Guimaras island yesterday to help assess the damage from the country’s worst-ever oil spill, even as the Philippine Coast Guard is set to deploy five more of its vessels and one helicopter to contain the oil spill.

At the same time, Sen. Richard Gordon requested the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) to send oil spill mitigation equipment to Guimaras.

He said that when he was SBMA chairman and administrator, Coastal Petroleum had oil spill mitigation equipment in order to address any accident that may result from its operations.

A spokeswoman for the company that chartered the tanker Solar I, which sank eight days ago in rough seas off the island of Guimaras with two million liters of bunker oil on board, said two pollution experts arrived in the area on Thursday.

"As of now, there are two representatives of the International Tanker Oil Pollution Federation there," Petron Corp. spokeswoman Virginia Ruivivar said.

"They are assessing what needs to be done. After that, we would know what kind of assistance we would be asking from the other countries," she added.

The spill has already affected more than 200 kilometers of coastline, covering beaches and mangroves in black sludge and threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of poor fishermen living in villages along the shore.

The provincial government has said at least 10,000 people in Guimaras have been affected. Two of the 20 crewmen were still missing Thursday.

The two oil spill experts "will check the oil pollution, all the cleanup to be done, and to assess and come up with the recommendations," said Clemente Cancio, president of tanker owner Sunshine Maritime Development Corp.

He said they were sent by the Luxembourg-based Shipowners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association, his company’s insurer.

Cancio said the Britons conducted an aerial survey over Guimaras on Thursday and will work closely with the Coast Guard.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it will come up with its initial assessment of the extent and cost of the damage caused by the oil spill next week.

Coast Guard commandant Vice Admiral Arthur Gosingan, who attended the joint session of the regional and provincial disaster coordinating councils at the Guimaras provincial capitol yesterday, said their vessels 001, 003, Davao del Norte, Pampanga and Kalinga were en route to Guimaras, loaded with drums of oil dispersants needed to battle the oil spill.

Coast Guard vessels Edsa Dos and Ilocos Norte are already in Guimaras, spraying oil dispersants to prevent the oil slick from reaching the island province’s coastline.

The Coast Guard’s Islander aircraft provides aerial surveys that give containment teams a bird’s eye view of the movement of the oil spill.

Gosingan said all the Coast Guard’s resources are being utilized to contain the oil spill. He said President Arroyo has ordered them to prioritize the containment and cleanup of the oil spill and to maximize the use of their resources.

He also said they will ask Petron to provide their vessels with fuel — the Coast Guard has spent about P10 million on fuel alone since Monday, when they began containment operations.

The government has requested help from the Indonesian, Japanese and United States governments to refloat the vessel but as of early yesterday, nothing had been forthcoming.

The Coast Guard has said the main priority now is to try and refloat the tanker before more tanks rupture due to the water pressure. The tanker is lying in 3,000 feet (900 meters) of water off Guimaras.

"As long as that ship remains on the ocean floor, we have a problem," said regional Coast Guard commander Harold Harder.

Greenpeace’s Southeast Asian campaign director Von Hernandez said oil trapped in the tanks could pour out at any time. Only around 50,000 gallons have leaked into the sea so far.

"Although the spill from the tanker has subsided, the real danger still lies underwater. What you are looking at is a ticking time bomb," he said. "How long we have before tanks onboard the vessel rupture due to the water pressure is anyone’s guess."

On Guimaras, small groups of residents were busy shoveling the sludge off the blackened beaches in and around Nueva Valencia.

"No one wants to buy our fish anymore. They tell us it’s full of poison," said Hanito Gonzales, 45, as he and about 20 neighbors shoveled oil-coated sand into sacks in the coastal village of Sumirib.

"Fish have also become scarce at sea," he said, adding that as a result, 96 households in Sumirib face the very real possibility of going hungry.

Regional environment official Bienvenido Lepayon said teams were fanning out to estimate the damage on coastal resources, as dead fish and other species washed up on the shore.

"It would be a lot better for us if the rest of the oil does not reach the coast," he said.

Harder said a "huge and expensive operation" would be needed to clean up the mess, estimating that it could take seven months.

Provincial Gov. Joaquin Nava said the oil slick has covered 300 kilometers of coastline and about 500 hectares of mangrove forests.

"We can only watch in horror how an oil spill can undo in a few days our initiatives which have taken decades to implement," he said, referring to efforts to develop fishing, agriculture and tourism.

Nava said the contamination has spread to 20 villages in three towns and several islets. He earlier said the oil spill has affected or damaged 15 square kilometers of coral reefs, 1,000 hectares of marine reserves, at least two resort islands and 50 hectares of seaweed plantations.

He said residents were helping contain the slick with bamboo floaters fitted with sacks of absorbent materials like rice straw, rice hull and coconut husk and possibly chicken feathers.

Nava said about 26,000 people who depend on fishing have lost their main source of income. He was also concerned over the "long and hard process" of rehabilitation and finding alternative livelihoods for fishermen who have little or no other skills.

The oil slick has stained nearly everything on the shore of hard-hit La Paz village, including the walls of shanties that dot the beach. Small fishing boats have been grounded for nearly a week and many fishermen chatted idly amid a stench similar to burning rubber.

Coast Guard district commander Capt. Luis Tuazon said the slick was moving northeast and threatening three towns in Negros Occidental province.

Speedy probe

At Malacañang, officials assured the public yesterday of a speedy investigation into the massive oil spill off Guimaras as the DENR, the Coast Guard and other concerned agencies rush against time to contain the damage.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said these government agencies "are working round the clock" to contain the oil spill.

He said the probe would also encompass recommendations on preventing a recurrence of such ecological disasters and the reparations due for the rehabilitation of damaged marine resources.

The Coast Guard has ordered Petron to hire a salvage company capable of safely recovering the remaining cargo and the firm was also tasked to pay for the entire cost of cleanup, including the fuel for the Coast Guard and other vessels involved.

Residents of Guimaras — including the fishing town of Nueva Valencia — have been warned against bathing, swimming, washing clothes or wading in the affected bodies of water while the sale of fish and shellfish harvested on these areas is discouraged.

Violations, lack of resources

A Coast Guard insider said the lack of resources and equipment has been causing delay in the recovery of Solar 1.

"I think the owner of the vessel was still waiting for the release of the insurance funds it would use to shoulder expenses for the containment and cleaning operations," the source said.

Gosingan said while they continue investigating the reason why the tanker sank, the owner of the sunken vessel, Sunshine Maritime, would be held liable for the damages of the oil spill. He has estimated the cost of the clearing operations to be at least P50 million.

He also said he would personally suggest the hiring of fishermen in the cleanup operations along affected shorelines.

"Locals may be hired for the cleanup... For P300 daily salary, these fishermen could be dependable since we know they are really affected by the situation," Gosingan said, adding that the cleanup could take them up to three years.

In its preliminary investigation of the circumstances behind the sinking of Solar 1, the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) said it has uncovered violations of maritime regulations.

Marina recommended administrative sanctions against ship captain Norberto Aguro and Sunshine Maritime Corp.

During a meeting, Marina lead investigator for Western Visayas Arnie Santiago said Aguro was not trained in oil tanker operations.

While he was trained for bulk and chemical carrier operations, still he lacked special training in oil tankers, Santiago said, adding that the Professional Regulation Commission issues a different license for ship captains of oil tankers.

Santiago told members of the provincial and regional disaster councils that Aguro’s lack of training contributed to the sinking and is a possible factor in the oil spill.

He also wondered why Sunshine Maritime allowed Aguro to captain the ship when he was not qualified.

Santiago also discovered that the ship’s safety management certificate was expired. This document proves that the ship has complied with safety regulations. He stressed that Solar 1 was "seaworthy but had ventilation problems."

Showing the ship’s blueprint to reporters, Santiago theorized that the ship might have taken in water through faulty ventilation, causing it to list towards starboard and eventually sink.

Santiago said Aguro should be made to answer these allegations.

Full force of the law

Meanwhile, the Citizens Against Pollution urged the government yesterday to use the full force of the law in going after those responsible for the oil spill.

This citizens’ group advocates the protection of the country’s status as "biodiversity queen" because the Philippines hosts 500 out of 700 coral species in the world.

In a related development, Sen. Ralph Recto said the amount needed for the cleanup of the oil spill is "just a drop in its barrel of profits" for Petron, which enjoyed a banner year in 2005 and controls 38 percent of the market.

Recto said Petron’s 2005 net income was at P5.765 billion from P3.886 billion the previous year, representing an increase of 48 percent. This was on gross sales of P191.2 billion, up 29 percent from P147.5 billion in 2004.

The oil firm’s earnings per share improved to 61 centavos from 2004’s 41 centavos, Recto said, adding that Petron paid an income tax of P2 billion.

He said that Petron’s finances can easily accommodate the request of some local government units in Guimaras and Iloilo for financial assistance to clean up more than 200 kilometers of coastline affected by the oil slick.

"One town was asking for P2.5 million in assistance and clearly this is within the capability of Petron to grant," he said. "Figures don’t lie. Petron can’t invoke lack of income in rejecting well-meaning requests for assistance."

To its credit, Petron has been proactive in the way it is handling the crisis, Recto said, adding that "now is the time for it to renew its good corporate citizenship credentials." — Ronilo Pamonag, Paolo Romero, Edu Punay, Evelyn Macairan, Perseus Echeminada, Katherine Adraneda, Christina Mendez, AFP, AP