Australia boosts Guimaras aid fund

Australia is contributing $147,400 in emergency aid to the Philippines following a major oil spill in waters off Guimaras province that displaced thousands of residents and damaged pristine marine environments.

The Australian embassy said the fund would be used to provide shelter, food and school supplies for children in the worst-affected areas. The money would also be used to fund day-care centers and buy tents, medicine, water and sanitation equipment, the embassy statement added.

The aid package was pledged after the tanker Solar I sank in rough seas off Guimaras island on Aug. 11, spilling some of its 500,000 gallons of industrial fuel oil and forcing 39,000 people from their homes.

The oil spill has affected residents in 58 villages of Guimaras and the nearby province of Iloilo, and threatens 37 more towns in Iloilo and two other provinces, according to the latest figures released by the National Disaster Coordinating Council.

The spill has damaged 1,143 hectares of marine reserve, 234 kilometers of coastline, 478 hectares of mangroves, and nearly 16 square kms of coral reef, the agency added.

Some P68.65 million have been spent so far to assist displaced residents and to clean up the environment, the NDCC said.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said yesterday a fact-finding panel is now looking at the possible involvement of ship captain Norberto Aguro and his crew in the smuggling of oil through pilferage.

At a press conference, Gonzalez said the hole in the sunken M/T Solar I off Guimaras was man-made and had been deliberately punctured.

Gonzalez said a report of Justice Undersecretary Fidel Esconde Jr. quoted maritime industry sources as saying that an underwater video survey of Solar I taken by the Japanese ship Shinsei Maru showed that the tanker was used in oil pilferage.

"The video allegedly showed the following: a hole of triangular shape in the port side of the M/T Solar I, scratches on different parts of Solar I, and open valves on some compartments where the transported oil was stored," Gonzalez quoted Esconde’s report, dated Sept. 15.

Esconde said these findings bolster the theory that another ship was traveling alongside Solar I when it sank, and it probably caused the triangular hole in the hull of Solar I.

"Moreover, these findings also point out to the possibility that the unknown vessel traveling alongside M/T Solar was engaged in paihi operation," he said.

"Industry sources claimed that the people behind the paihi operation most likely used submersible pumps, the same type of pumps used to dewater M/T Solar I, to illegally pilfer bunker fuel oil."

Esconde also told Gonzalez that the video taken on the sunken ship allegedly showed that the valves for the compartments where they stored oil were open.

"The valves are supposed to be closed and are even sealed to prevent pilferage," he said.

"To verify all these reports, the Special Task Force on Guimaras oil spill will issue a subpoena to the Philippine Coast Guard to produce a copy of the said video currently in their custody," he said.

Gonzalez said aside from Aguro, the fact-finding panel will also call back to testify Aguro’s crew and some officials of the Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., owner of Solar I.

"That is an angle that they are looking at now because there had been many complaints of smuggling through the same process, except in this case, the boat sank," he said. "All these circumstances point to smuggling."

If this was the case, Petron which leased the Solar I could be the victim, being the owner of the oil that was pilfered, Gonzalez said.

On the other hand, Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes has ordered the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) to "take cognizance" of the oil spill off Guimaras island.

Lawyer Jonas Leones, PAB secretary and legal counsel, said the order of Reyes means that the PAB could now assume jurisdiction over the pollution cases involved in the oil spill.

The PAB is a quasi-judicial body of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to hear pollution cases, he added.

Meanwhile, the regional office of the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) yesterday submitted its report, including assessment of the pollution impact of the oil spill, and recommendation to the PAB.

The report and recommendation might serve as a complaint against Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. and Petron Corp., said Julian Amador, DENR Western Visayas executive director.

"But we will still be discussing the strategy with the PAB... whether to consider the report and recommendation as the complaint," he said.

Leones said that the report and recommendation of the regional office would be used as the basis of the PAB for the imposition of fines and sanctions, possibly against SMDC and Petron.

"Our laws are not that clear (specifically) on jurisdiction issues so we have to be careful on dealing with this," he said, pointing out the

authority of other government agencies like the Marina on the incident.

Leones said the PAB would meet on Thursday to calendar the discussion on the report and recommendation of the DENR and EMB in Western Visayas.

"But we are ready for this and we will give due course on this," he said.

Initially, violation of Republic Act 9275, the Clean Water Act, and Presidential Decree 979 banning marine pollution would be looked into in the PAB’s investigation of the incident, Leones said.

Leones said under the Clean Water Act, violators might be slapped with fines from at least P50,000 to as much as P3 million per day.

As for the impact of the oil spill on marine life, the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau is still conducting its assessment, he added.

Leones said sanctions on the impact of the oil spill on marine

life could be based on Republic Act 9147, the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act and Wildlife Resources Conservation Act. The SMDC and Petron might not be sanctioned under Republic Act 6969, the Toxic and Hazardous Waste Act because the transport of the bunker oil was not illegal, he added. — AP, Jose Rodel Clapano, Katherine Adraneda