Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Guv to validate Petron's 14-km. clean up completion claim
By Jay Dooma Balnig
GOVERNOR JC Rhaman Nava of Guimaras is in the process of validating the claim of Petron Corporation of having cleaned up 14 kilometers of the island's shoreline.
The validation came after Carlos Tan, Petron spokesman, announced in a radio interview that after they hired thousands of volunteers and laborers, they were able to clean most of the places in Nueva Valencia, Guimaras.
However, some local folks, especially those on the shorelines of Nueva Valencia, do not agree with this.
Last week, Nava got irked after he found that the claim of Petron Corporation of having cleaned the villages of San Antonio, Igdarapdap and Lukmanan, is not true.
It was Nava who spearheaded the inspection on these areas.
There are now 26 affected villages in the island-province.
On the other hand, Gualberto Galea, Guimaras environment and natural resources officer, Monday clarified that not all of the Guimaras seawater area was affected by the oil spill leaked from MT Solar I.
Galea also reacted on reports that several participants in the Aksyon Radyo's annual Kayaba Festival backed out because of fear.
The cross-channel competition has an average of 180 participants every year. But, after the oil spill, only 12 have registered their names in the official entry list.
Most of those who did not participate are students from public and private schools in Iloilo and their reason was they were not permitted by their parents to join to avoid the risks posed by the oil spill.
Remediation
Meanwhile, all remediation chemicals, technologies and procedures to be used in dealing with the effects of Solar 1 oil spill must pass the evaluation and screening of competent authorities. This was the consensus arrived at by members of Task Force Solar 1 Oil Spill (SOS) in a meeting Monday.
The meeting was in line with the directive of Presidential Assistant and Task Force Oil Spill Incident Commander Rafael "Lito" Coscolluela to DENR Executive Director Julian D. Amador to set up the structure, formulate systems and procedures in evaluating remediation chemicals and technologies.
The Task Force likewise agreed that all chemicals and technologies used in the oil spill cleanup must be environment friendly.
According to Amador, the principal concern of the Task Force is that any object or method utilized in the oil spill cleanup should not be harmful to marine and terrestrial life, especially human beings and that these would have no ill-effects to the environment in the near and distant future.
Those who attended the Task Force SOS meeting were the Regional Directors of the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Science and Technology, Department of Health, Office of Civil Defense, DENR and Secretary Rafael Coscolluela. (JDB/DENR/PIA)
(September 5, 2006 issue)
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