IOPCF hastens release of claims for fisherfolk
The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF) will try its best to compensate individual claimants in the island province of Guimaras whose livelihood are affected by the oil spill as soon as possible.
In an email, IOPCF Deputy Director/Technical Advisor Joe Nichols said they are trying their best "to compensate individual claimants as quickly as possible. The IOPCF will certainly do that in the coming weeks."
Nichols along with Capt. Patrick Joseph, IOPCF claims manager, were here in the city last week. Nichols even grabbed the headlines when he commented on the media's treatment of the oil spill story which, for him, focused more on the negative news.
This is the second time that Nichols and Joseph visited Guimaras. Few weeks after the oil spill, Nichols, Joseph and David Rees, associate director/claims manager of The Shipowners' Protection Limited went to Guimaras and met all the stakeholders. They also set the requirements needed for the claims.
At present, some 500 applications for claims were submitted to the IOPCF through Guimaras Rep. Edgar Espinosa. The application for claims are from the fisherfolk in the town of Nueva Valencia. The action of the solon in processing the claims of the affected residents is being questioned by Guimaras provincial legal officer Plaridel Nava. He claimed only Gov. Rahman Nava has the sole authority to process the claims of the affected people.
The IOPCF 1992 which is also known as the 1992 Fund is a worldwide intergovernmental organization that provides compensation for oil pollution damage resulting from oil spills of persistent oil from tankers. The 1992 Fund is administered by a Secretariat in London, United Kingdom.
Those which are covered by the compensation claims are pollution prevention measures and clean up; property damage; economic losses in the fisheries, mariculture and fish processing sectors; economic losses in the tourism and related sectors and environmental damage and post-spill activities.
The compensation fund is $ US 310 million. The fund is released if the damaged exceed the ship owner's liability under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention.
In the 1992 Civil Liability Convention, claims for compensation for oil pollution damage caused by persistent oil may be made against the registered owner of the ship from which the oil that caused the damage originated.
The ship owner can normally limit his financial liability amount determined by the size or tonnage of the particular ship involved. The ship owner is obliged to maintain insurance to cover his liability under the Convention. In the case of M/T Solar 1, it was insured for P6 million with the Protection and Indemnity Club.
Meanwhile, Nichols said he wasn't trying to grab the headlines when he made the statement against the local media. He said it was "merely to remind the media that it has a lot of power and I don't think it always uses it properly."
Nichols added that if the media went to Guimaras Island and tasted the fish and found it to be free of an oily taste they should report it, since this will help the fisher folk get back to their livelihoods."
"Similarly, if you report that the beaches are clean and safe to swim from this would help the tourism resort owners get back on their feet. I was just making the point that I rarely see such reports in the media," said Nichols.