Oil spill prompts forced evacuation

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — After surviving the wrath of typhoon Yolanda, more than a thousand residents of a village in Estancia town of Iloilo have to hurdle the effects of an oil spill caused by a damaged power barge.

Yesterday, authorities have started the forced evacuation of almost 5,000 residents of Barangay Botongon, as per order of the Iloilo provincial government.

Police and military authorities were sent to the area to compel the residents to leave their houses after the power barge of National Power Corp. (NAPOCOR) leaked more than 200,000 liters of bunker fuel into the shoreline.

Governor Arthur Defensor, Sr. ordered the evacuation after DOH-Region-6 director Marlyn Convocar said residents in the area stood pat in not leaving their destroyed or damaged houses even if these were near the oil spill area.

In her letter to Defensor, Convocar said they "have made efforts to address the health concerns of the 1,100 households highly exposed to the health consequences of the oil spill."

She added: "A team composed of toxicology experts from the DOH, the East Avenue Medical Center and the Philippine General Hospital was tapped to conduct monitoring activities of the affected households."

Convocar revealed that results showed the initial ambient monitoring on site had the highest level of 16.9 parts per million (ppm) or 32 times higher than the normal ambient air level of benzene, which is 0.5 ppm.

DOH-6 chief epidemiologist Glenn Alonsabe said residents are now in danger of chronic respiratory and skin diseases if exposed to toxic fumes for a time. The effects, though, will not be immediate as it will manifest after three to five years.

Commodore AtheloYbañez, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG-6) chief, said that aside from the spilled 200,000 liters of bunker fuel, some 1.2 million liters of bunker fuel are still inside the damaged power barge. These must be sucked out of the hull, he added.  (FREEMAN)