Petron admits social responsibility to public

Petron Corp., which chartered the sunken Solar I tanker that caused the oil spill at Guimaras island, admitted social responsibility over the spill that has affected over 3,000 families in the island-province.

Jose Jesus Laurel, Petron’s vice president for legal and external affairs, told a joint congressional hearing yesterday that Petron has a social responsibility to the public.

Laurel read a prepared statement on behalf of Nicasio Alcantara, Petron chairman of the board, assuring the members of the joint congressional committees on clean water and environment and natural resources that Petron would do "everything humanly possible to assist" all those affected by the oil spill and clean up the slick that has ruined marine life in the area.

"We at Petron, deeply regret this unfortunate incident and we have taken responsibility in addressing the containment and recovery of the oil spill on both land and sea, and more importantly, map out the long-term rehabilitation of the Island of Guimaras," Alcantara’s statement said.

At the hearing, when Sen. Edgardo Angara asked if Petron recognizes the tremendous damage of the oil spill wrought by Solar I, Laurel said Petron was aware that it has a "moral obligation and social responsibility" because it was their product that was involved.

"On the first working day that we have a meeting, all of these were assessed and our chair and top management said that over and above the legal and contractual obligations and faultfinding, we have moral obligation and social responsibility simply because it is a Petron product and we immediately mobilized our people," Laurel said.

Angara also raised the credibility of Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., a company with a mere capital of P5.5 million, an unlicensed ship captain, and one which does not book revenues from chartering of fuel for Petron.

"There are many signs that this may be a bogus, but actually a dummy corporation. That would have an impact of citizens on Petron because they allowed a disqualified and incompetent captain to drive the vessel Angara said."

Jimmy Baban of the Guimaras provincial planning and development coordination office, said that the oil spill has affected a total of 53 out of 98 coastal barangays, and directly affected 23 barangays as fishes caught in the areas "cannot be sold in Iloilo and nearby areas."

Baban said a total of 3,918 families composed of 26,000 people, including 3,652 registered fishermen and 164 unregistered fisherfolks, were affected by the oil spill.

Petron reported that the oil slick affected almost the entire coast line of the municipalities of Nueva Valencia, Sibunag and San Lorenzo.

Baban added the oil spill expanded to 320 kilometers of shoreline, affecting further 454 hectares of mangroves and 58 hectares of seaweed farms.

With Petron’s admission of social responsibility, Angara said all those who have been affected would be indemnified.

Laurel explained to senators earlier that it has a $300,000-million indemnity fund from the Protection and Indemnity Insurance, and its partner, the International Oil Pollution Fund, which are both available for the use and reimbursements of cleanup in Guimaras.

Under the cash for work program, Petron has increased the daily compensation for volunteers from P200 daily to P300 a day with strict policy on the wearing of protective gear.

Laurel recognized the failure also of Petron to immediately relay to the people what they have been doing to help contain and clean up the oil spill.

Apart from the Ligtas Guimaras program that has tapped the assistance of some 1,000 displaced fishermen, Petron announced that it has deployed substantial equipment including oil skimmers, oil spill booms, dispersants, and water-borne industry spill equipment (WISE) tugboats to combat the oil spill.

Petron is awaiting the arrival of vessel Shinsei Maru, owned by Fukada of Japan, to be able to identify the exact location of the sunken tanker. It is equipped with a Remote Operated Vehicle, which has the capability to search the seabed down to 2,000 meters and take videos to determine the location of the ship and condition.