Tuesday, October 03, 2006 130-kilometer area rid of oil spill: task force By Lory Ann B. Bilbao
SOME 129.59 kilometers of seas in Guimaras affected by an oil spill have been cleaned up, a report of the task force created to oversee rehabilitation efforts in the area said.
Task Force Solar 1 Oil Spill (SOS), also said in its report dated September 29, that the 1,045.26 metric tons of oil debris it has collected were hauled off.
"A total of 134,571 sacks of collected contaminated oil debris--hauled from the affected barangays--were loaded in barges at Cabalagnan Wharf," the report stated.
In Iloilo, some 94.60 percent of the affected area or 38.42 kilometers were also already cleaned. The volume of debris collected was 61.77 metric tons.
"Five hundred metric tons were already disposed of and delivered to Holcim Philippines thru Barge Carmen last September 21. Loading of sacks of oily debris is still ongoing. Barge Martam and Barge RAS are loaded each with more or less 350 metric tons of oily debris."
The report also aid that Petron hired a vessel to collect the debris.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spearheaded the conduct of the cleanup and containment operation together with fishers hired by Petron Foundation and owners of the oil tanker in Nueva Valencia, Sibunag, San Lorenzo, and Buenavista in Guimaras, and Ajuy and Concepcion in Iloilo.
The task force noted that the number of daily medical consultations has steadily declined since the third week of September based on the report of Department of Health in Western Visayas.
The decline started when half face respirator masks were distributed, it added.
Out of the 1,600 masks received, 1,537 or 96 percent were already distributed to cleanup workers. "Its proper use was being monitored in coordination with municipal and barangay task forces."
"From August 28 to September 25, a total of 1,005 consultations were done in 17 barangays in the Province of Guimaras. Based on number of consultations and or cases reported, the most common ailment is cough with and without fever," the report said.
Funding
Congress has spared no expense to ensure the restoration of all areas spoiled by the oil spill in Guimaras caused by the sinking of MT Solar I, said Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, chairman of the House committee on fisheries and aquatic resources.
"We provided adequate funds in the approved P46.4-billion supplemental national budget to cover the rehabilitation of all zones corrupted by the discharge, including the highly bio-diverse Taklong Island National Marine Reserve," Villafuerte said.
He said the funding committed by Congress exclusively for sectors ruined by the spill include:
Some P867.4 million under the Calamity Fund, to be distributed as follows:
* P250 million for the cash-for-work livelihood (Department of Social Welfare and Development);
* P250 million for the recovery plans of local government units;
* P100 million for the restoration of coastal resources (Department of Environment and Natural Resources);
* P100 million for alternative livelihood projects (Department of Agriculture);
* P50 million for the University of the Philippines-Visayas' Taklong Island Marine Station;
* P30 million for waste disposal management (DENR);
* P22 million for disease surveillance (Department of Health); and
* P65.4 million for other agencies;
* P364.6 million for livelihood and other support services for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program beneficiaries in the provinces of Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental tainted by the spill (under the Department of Agrarian Reform); and
* P118 million for the Philippine Coast Guard's cleanup of sections sullied by the discharge (under the Department of Transportation and Communications).
To ensure judicious spending, Villafuerte said Congress has required the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) to submit a by-monthly report on the use of funds from all sources in connection with the spill. A congressional oversight committee was also created.
Villafuerte also said Congress has mandated the Department of Budget and Management, Department of Finance, and the NDCC to seek reimbursement from the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund and from other appropriate sources for all government spending incurred in the cleanup.
The IOPC Fund is part of an international regime of liability and compensation for oil spill damage.
Petron Corp. previously said the IOPC Fund would extend up to P15.75 billion to cover "pollution damage" as a result of the spill.
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