Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Arroyo: Guimaras will recover fast from oil spill
By Lory Ann B. Bilbao
ILOILO CITY -- With the aid of an international wildlife conservation group, Guimaras would recover fast and even come out better than before the oil spill incident, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said during her second visit to the island Monday.
The National Government is talking with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on how best to provide assistance to the island.
The WWF project was eyed in Anilao, Iloilo but Arroyo said it would be applied to Guimaras instead.
WWF is an international funding agency for environmental rehabilitation and conservation.
Arroyo urged the scientific and environmental community to scientifically assess the environmental threats of the spill to Guimaras.
After the assessment would be the WWF project, she said. The process was in line with the comprehensive plan of the National Government to revive the island's endangered marine wealth.
Calamity
Arroyo on Friday declared the Guimaras oil spill as "a national calamity" and urged all Filipinos to cooperate in order to clean up the biggest and worst oil spill to affect the country so far.
She also ordered Task Force Guimaras to work with the private sector and the maritime industry to put up drop-off centers all over the country for human hair and chicken feathers, which will be used to absorb oil from the seas.
Although the oil spill mainly hit Western Visayas, the President declared a state of national calamity to allow the National Government to use its calamity funds, said Tourism Secretary Joseph "Ace" Durano and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, who both accompanied Arroyo in Cebu.
Arroyo has ordered the release of P20 million to augment the calamity funds of the affected provinces. Of the amount, P10 million went to Guimaras and P5 million each to Iloilo and Negros Occidental.
Durano said Vice Admiral Willy Tamayo of the Philippine Coast Guard informed him that the bulk of the oil spill has been contained but because of the waves and the wind, "some escaped the first barrier, the first layer."
Some of the sludge has drifted toward Ahuyan Island, in the coast of Panay. (Sun.Star Iloilo/Sunnex)
(August 29, 2006 issue)
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