117 bottles of pesticide recovered from sunken ferry

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) commandant Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo reported yesterday that divers from the two salvage firms have already recovered 117 bottles of pesticide owned by Bayer Crop Science (BCS) from the sunken M/V Princess of the Stars that capsized off Romblon last June.

Tamayo said that the crew of the salvage firms Titan Maritime Inc. and Harbor Star had already removed the 402 packs of the toxic pesticide endosulfan of Del Monte Philippines Inc. from the wreckage of the ferry after salvage operations started last Monday.

“As of 2:20 p.m. yesterday, the divers have already removed 117 bottles of Tamaron, which is part of Bayer’s products. As of now, I still have to determine if there are other Bayer products that have to be retrieved,” said Tamayo.

It was earlier reported that the crop chemicals listed under BCS are antracolWP70, Tamaron 600SL, Trap 70WP, and Fuerza GR3.

“What is important is that we are trying to beat the deadline,” he added.

Task Force Princess of the Stars earlier gave the divers from the salvage firms one month or until Oct. 19 to complete the removal of all the toxic chemicals and the 250,000 liters of crude oil inside the ship.

The Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI), left the Port of Manila bound for Cebu City and sank at the height of typhoon “Frank” off Sibuyan Island in Romblon last June 21.

The PCG reported that 32 people have survived, more than 200 others were confirmed dead and 500 more victims have not been recovered as most of the bodies are believed trapped inside the ship’s wreckage.

PCG officials said the salvage teams would first remove all the hazardous cargo before recovery operations can be resumed for the remains of the other victims.

Tamayo also clarified that the government has not yet lifted the fishing ban in the vicinity of the capsized ship until all the toxic chemicals are removed from the area.

“As of Monday evening, we have decided that we would wait one week from the time we have removed all the endosulfan, then conduct a water sampling test and if there are no signs of contamination then we would lift the ban on fishing,”

The residents in the area have complained that the presence of the hazardous cargo inside the wreckage had triggered the fishing ban and affected their livelihood. The authorities ordered the ban for fear that the waters have been contaminated.

Meanwhile, the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed for lack of merit the civil case filed by SLI against the Board of Marine Inquiry seeking for a writ of prohibition and preliminary injunction, more than a month after the BMI issued the findings and recommendations of its investigation on the sinking of Princess of the Stars.

Manila Judge Antonio Eugenio denied the petition filed by SLI against the BMI to stop the board from further conducting an investigation on the tragedy.   – With Sandy Araneta