Arroyo orders Petron, government agencies to speed up oil spill clean up
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered Petron Corp. and different government agencies composing the Task Force Guimaras for an immediate waste disposal program for the collected oil sludge washed up on the shores of Guimaras.
Mrs. Arroyo was in the province of Guimaras Saturday and visited Sitio Lusaran, Barangay Lapaz in Nueva Valencia and personally saw for herself the damage brought about by the oil spill.
The President was saddened by the situation of the environment as well as of the affected residents. This prompted her to order the immediate solution on the waste disposal to prevent further damage to the environment and affected communities.
When in Sitio Lusaran, the President along with the different cabinet secretaries also distributed relief goods to the affected residents. The President is set to return to the province this week.
The oil spill has already affected 220 kilometers of shoreline, damaged 454 hectares of mangroves and also damaged 58 hectares of seaweed farms. It affected 11 barangays in Nueva Valencia, seven in Sibunag and nine in the town of San Lorenzo. Some 4,000 families are also affected by the oil spill.
The President directed Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes Jr. and Philippine Coast Guard Vice Admiral Arthur Gosingan along with Petron Corp. to effect an immediate waste disposal action plan to contain more effects on the environment.
Other than the environment department and the coast guard, the President also asked the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to see to it that whatever technology employed for the waste disposal program could not harm the environment and the residents.
As this developed, Petron agreed to hire barges from private contractors to be used as temporary depository of the collected oil sludge. This will prevent leachate to penetrate the ground and contaminate the source of drinking water.
There are two options that could be done in the collected oil sludge, to use it as fuel for cement plant or through bio-remediation process. The latter calls for the infusion of enzymes bacteria.
Earlier, Carlos Tan, Petron's Health and Safety Officer presented to Gov. Rahman Nava a plan to allow them to use "bio-remediation" for the collected oil sludge. He said with bio-remediation process all the collected oil sludge will be placed in one area covered with plastic. The plastic cover will prevent leachate to leak.
The collected sludge will undergo a process. Once the process is done, only clean water will come out of the industrial fuel oil. The same process was used in the Semirara oil spill.
In Petron's report, they have already collected 207.44 metric tons of debris and cleaned up 27.88 kilometers of shoreline. They have also declared Barangays Canhawan and Igdarapdap as "clean" of oil spill. The collected industrial fuel oil is kept in sacks and containers placed beneath the shoreline.
Tan said bio-remediation is a very safe and environment-friendly process. The introduction of the bio-remediation process in cleaning the island of the oil slick is part of Petron's recovered oil disposal program under its action plan dubbed as Ligtas Guimaras.
The Ligtas Guimaras includes the containment and recovery operations, cash for work and relief operations. Petron's relief operation is in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development.