Palace assures comprehensive rehab of Guimaras
Malacañang vowed to spare no effort to bring back Guimaras province to its healthy state before the Aug. 11 MT Solar I oil spill that turned the pristine shores of the tourist island into a disaster area.
Press Secretary and concurrent Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye said the full rehabilitation of Guimaras "may take a long time" but with the government's sustained socioeconomic interventions and the support of all stakeholders, the slick would be mopped up.
"TF Guimaras continues to be on top of the environment, health and justice issues," he said.
He added that with the arrival Wednesday of the Japanese salvage ship MT Shin Sei Maru, "the cause of the crisis is now in full view."
As directed by the President when she visited Nueva Valencia town in Guimaras Saturday the other week, the sealing of the leaks, the offloading of the remaining bunker fuel trapped inside the sunken vessel, and the retrieval of Solar I is about to be accomplished, Bunye said.
The Japanese salvage ship has confirmed the report of the vessel commissioned by the National Mapping and Resources Information Authority (Namria) that the ill-fated MT Solar I sank some 24 kilometers away from Guimaras' Luzaran Point in waters 640 meters deep.
Last Saturday, the President, who was in Barangay Luzaran, Nueva Valencia, issued a marching order to Petron, which commissioned Solar I, and other parties concerned "to work quickly and decisively to clean up this ecological mess."
Nueva Valencia is one of four towns of Guimaras hardest hit by the sludge.
The President said that to avert further damage to the environment and the residents of the affected areas, the sunken ship must be retrieved and off-loaded of its remaining load.
The Chief Executive has visited Guimaras twice in three days since the last weekend to keep herself posted on the efforts in the ground to contain the oil spill and map out a comprehensive strategy to speed up the rehabilitation of the stricken areas.
She will be back in the island province on Sept. 6 for another meeting of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).
The President has directed the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to identify sea lanes that vessels carrying oil and other potentially hazardous cargoes could use without posing a threat to the environment and safety of the people in case of incidents similar to the Solar l oil spill.
Bunye said that the MT Solar I accident "will leave us enduring lessons not to repeat this man-made calamity again."