Containment teams struggle to halt spread of oil spill
GUIMARAS Province--As teams from the Philippine Coast Guard started its difficult job of containing the oil spill yesterday, government officials have issued calls for help as the magnitude of the disaster starts to show. Up to 10,000 individuals have already been affected by the disaster.
"We're helpless. The resources of the region alone is not sufficient for this," said Chief Superintendent Geary Barias, police regional director and concurrent head of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, yesterday.
Guimaras Governor JC Rahman Nava said, "we have already manifested our need for help from all the government agencies."
He said that he has already talked to President Arroyo, Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz and Environment secretary Angelo Reyes regarding the oil spill, the result of the sinking of M/T Solar I, which carried two million litters of bunker oil off the southwestern tip of the island province Friday afternoon. Nava also said that are deliberating on the possibility of seeking help from international agencies, particularly on the aspect of rehabilitation of the affected areas.
"The President is supportive of our efforts. She said that while we are addressing the disaster ourselves, they in the national government will also be doing what they can," Nava told reporters yesterday. Reyes is due to arrive in the area soon to personally assess the disaster. Nava also directed local government units to form coordinating teams so as to facilitate monitoring of the damage of the oil spill in their respective areas.
According to Barias, containment teams began operations yesterday.
Presently, there are four containment teams battling the oil spill.
The first group is blocking the oil spill from further going south towards Negros Occidental; the second team, prevents the oil slick from being carried up north towards Panay, particularly Iloilo. The third team is in charged with the suctioning of the oil from the sunken vessel, now lying under 600 meters of seawater. The fourth team is deployed along the coastline for the clean up operations. Drums of oil dispersants have already arrived at the PCG Iloilo station, the staging area for the containment and the clean up operations.
Roland Salonga of Petron Corporation told informed The News Today yesterday that there are tugboats ringing the site of the oil spill. PCG has its vessels 002 and 3501 cordoning the area; there is also the privately-owned polluted oil collecting vessel 'Wise.'
Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation, which owns the Solar I, has contracted four tugboats from Manila to assist in the containment. They are due to arrive today, together with two underwater survey teams that will go down to check the condition of the sunken ship.
In the meantime, Barias said that bunker oil continues to leak from the ship's hold.
The whole island of Guimaras is already affected, Nava said. The oil spill has already affected the towns of Nueva Valencia, Sibunag and Jordan.
Up to 10,000 individuals have been estimated affected; 239 kilometers of coastline having up to four inches of oil; 15.8 square meters of coral reef damaged. The 1,143.45-hectareTaklong Marine Reservation in Nueva Valencia is heavily damaged. White-sand beach resorts too have oil in their shoreline.
"The years of investment were gone in just one stroke," Nava said.
Also, Nava advised fishermen to refrain from venturing out to sea.
"We cannot guarantee the fitness for consumption of your catch," he stressed.
In the affected areas, there are about 1,180 registered fisherfolks, according to Nava's report to Barias.