7 years after oil spill, affected Guimarasnons still not compensated

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Seven years after the country's worst oil spill disaster in the island of Guimaras and over a thousand of affected Guimarasnons, mostly fishermen, were not given compensation yet by Petron Corp.

On August 11, 2006, Petron chartered the ill-fated MT Solar 1, owned by Sunshine Maritime and Development Corp. (SMDC), to deliver more than 2,000 metric tons of industrial fuel from Bataan to NPC Western Mindanao Corp. in Zamboanga City when the accident happened at Guimaras waters.

An oil spill occurred and polluted the seas off the towns of Nueva Valencia and Sibunag in Guimaras province, causing death, illness, damage to property and economic loss to the coastal inhabitants and environment.

This disaster was commemorated by the people of Nueva Valencia, led by Mayor Emmanuel Galila, in a gathering held at the town's covered gym where the claimants carried placards and streamers airing their complaints against the seeming neglect to their rights to compensation for the damages that ruined their lives.

Galila said the commemoration was a way of sending a message to the Petron management for granting compensation to the affected residents. He added that these people will appeal to President Benigno Aquino III to resolve this concern.

The mayor said only a few of the claimants were compensated by the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund and there are still more than a thousand fishermen who were not paid. A hundred more municipal employees filed claims for pollution damage and cleanup and relief activities.

These affected Guimarasnons have since then organized the Kalikasan Ingatan, Dagat Linisin, Abuso Tigilan group (KIDLAT), which complained that, over the years since the disaster, they could not yet return to their previous livelihood of fishing because the sea still have traces of the oil slick, affecting their catch.

These claimants were also the ones who filed at the Regional Trial Court-Guimaras two civil cases against SMDC, Petron and IOPC for pollution damage and for reimbursement of clean-up and relief expenses. — (FREEMAN)