Friday, September 08, 2006
Arroyo orders closure of affected areas in Guimaras
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday ordered Task Force Guimaras to start sealing off portions of the Guimaras shoreline contaminated by the oil spill to prevent residents, particularly children and loiterers, from being exposed to possible health risks.
Arroyo also directed health authorities to step up their medical assistance to affected residents and clean-up workers as Health Secretary Francisco Duque III beefs up the medical personnel deployed to the area.
"Public health is among the President's top priority concerns in this campaign and we will exhaust all measures to ensure that the damage brought by the oil spill will not take its toll on the health of local residents who have had enough of the adverse effects of this tragedy," said Press Secretary Ignacio
Bunye.
Arroyo on Wednesday made a third visit to Guimaras to check on the ongoing clean-up and relief operations on affected barangays, particularly in Nueva
Valencia, the hardest hit town in the island.
The President also met with the task force led by its chairman, Defense secretary and National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) head Avelino Cruz Jr., while in the island to plot their next actions.
Cruz said his team has already come up with 10 critical tasks "in order to restore the environment, the livelihood and the tourism industry of Guimaras to as close to as what it was before, and in some areas, even better."
He said these include: improving the cleanup of the oil spill in the sea and shorelines of Guimaras by recovering the oil in the sunken vessel as recommended by Petron, salvage experts, and insurance companies and submission of a proposed law to Congress implementing the other provisions of the 1992 civil liability compensation relating to oil spills.
Cruz said the other tasks are: identification of dedicated sea lanes and implementation of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) ruling requiring all tankers to be equipped with double hulls and double floors by April 2008 in order to prevent another oil spill from happening again.
It also includes continuing ongoing relief programs and implementation of science-based responses that will provide needed inputs in the integrated rehabilitation plan that the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC), Department of Science and Technology, University of the Philippines-Visayas, and e Worldwide Wildlife Fund is developing.
Also part of the 10 critical tasks are the implementation of the socio-economic plan to be drawn up by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the PDCC that would provide alternative livelihood, including enhanced fishing techniques for fishers--whose main source of livelihood is fishing and the continuous implementation of the health department's surveillance and treatment of people whose health may be affected by the oil spill.
The last task is the pushing for the Philippines' application to the International Oil Pollution Fund worth US$310 million to address property damage, expenses incurred in the clean-up operation and in the implementation of preventive measures, lost profits, and expenses incurred in the restoration and rehabilitation of the environment. (JMR/Sunnex)
(September 8, 2006 issue)
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