Sick families in Guimaras now being evacuated

Evacuation is underway in the oil-slick affected areas of the island province of Guimaras, disaster officials said yesterday.

Some 120 people from 60 families living along the contaminated shorelines of Guimaras have been evacuated to safer ground, National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) executive director and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator Glenn Rabonza said.

Raboza said the residents of the coastal barangays of Lapaz and Cabalagnan, both in Nueva Valencia, were relocated almost a kilometer from shoreline.

According to Rabonza, the relocation came following recommendations made by the NDCC technical working group that noted the shorelines of the two villages are contaminated.

"Hindi na safe ang air at ang soil and water (the air, soil and water are no longer safe)," Rabonza said, quoting the scientific study conducted by the disaster teams of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

Besides evacuating affected residents to safer ground, Task Force Guimaras headed by Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz is providing 200 pairs of chemical boots and 500 pairs of household gloves to the provincial government for distribution to residents in the affected towns.

Rabonza said the ongoing cleanup operation has so far cleared 62 kilometers of the coastline in Barangays Tando, San Antonio, Lucmayan, and Igdarapdap all in Nueva Valencia that were affected by the oil spill.

Arrangements are now underway for the deployment of dump trucks to collect all the recovered crude oil and debris from the different cleanup sites in Barangay Cabalagnan, Rabonza said.

These toxic materials will be transported to a landing craft tanker moored at the pier. The tanker was provided by the Petron Corp.

On the other hand, the World Wildlife Fund Philippines (WWFP) observed a potential oil slick 18 to 20 kilometers from the shorelines of Ilog, Negros Occidental.

Ships and personnel from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) dispatched to the area to validate the report found that the reported oil slick was a mixture of oil slick and an "oil sheen."

As this developed, more international assistance has reached Guimaras, including the coast guard personnel and seacraft of the Japanese and American coast guards.

Germany has donated P1.6 million for immediate disaster relief in heavily affected areas, while the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is providing financial and technical assistance to the DENR. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has donated emergency health kits, medicines, water-purifying tablets and tarpaulins.

The French and Australian governments are providing technical support to contain the oil spill and assisting in the ongoing cleanup operations.

The Japanese salvage ship Shinsei Maru, which was commissioned by Petron, arrived and has already located the MT Solar I tanker, which sank off the Guimaras coast with its cargo of crude oil on Aug. 11, causing the worst oil spill in Philippine history.

Using its state-of-the-art Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) Hakuyo 2000, the Shinsei Maru found the MT Solar I on the seabed of Guimaras Strait Saturday.

‘Last of its kind’

Malacañang said the Solar oil spill would "be the last of its kind in our generation," as President Arroyo ordered the concerned government agencies to submit their comprehensive assessments and recommendations to hammer out more stringent maritime regulations.

"The executive department is prepared to certify the proper legislation in the public interest that will give more teeth to our maritime laws and stiffer penalties for negligence leading to environmental disasters and threatening the people’s safety and welfare," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

Bunye said the DOTC and the PCG were ordered to lead other government agencies in coming up with an assessment of the mishap.

"Meanwhile, Task Force Guimaras will continue to ensure that the affected communities will be assisted and that justice will be pursued relentlessly against those culpable for this tragedy," he added.

The Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) has recommended the preventive suspension of the captain of the MT Solar I.

Coast Guard Rear Admiral Danilo Abinoja, head of the 11-man SBMI created to determine who should be liable for the catastrophe, said they found basis to suspend Solar I Capt. Norberto Aguro.

Besides suspension, Abinoja said the owner of the fuel tanker, Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. (SMDC), will be fined P35,000 for violating the limit on the number of crew allowed aboard the tanker. The vessel had 18 crewmembers when it could accommodate only 16.

SMDC will also most likely be fined for allowing a shipmaster and some crew to operate the fuel tanker with expired certificates.

The panel found that Aguro’s certificate on Advanced Training on Chemical Operations had expired in March 2002.

Abinoja said they were looking at three possible factors that led to the sinking of the tanker, which was carrying two million liters of bunker fuel: Lack of competency of the captain and the crew, instability of the vessel and other external factors.

However, Aguro has insisted that he cannot be held liable for the mishap because strong waves, not human error or a wrong decision, caused the oil tanker to sink.

SMDC owners conceded during the hearing that Aguro made a "wrong decision" when he allowed Solar I to sail despite the bad weather and damage sustained by the vessel when it was hit by huge waves in the Guimaras Strait. — With Aurea Calica and Ronilo Larido Pamonag