US$2.7M claims for Guimaras oil spill victims readied
The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF) will be paying about US$2.7 million as compensation claims to the 13,000 claimants in the island-province of Guimaras. This after the claimants are more likely to accept the IOPCF's offer.
IOPCF Deputy Director/Technical Advisor Joe Nichols said they have come up with such figure after their assessment of the claims. Nichols said they hope to release all the claims before Christmas.
Nichols and IOPCF Claims Manager Capt. Patrick Joseph were in Guimaras recently to fast track the release of all the oil spill claims. Earlier, they have already paid 21 resort owners for the damages the oil spill has brought to their property and income. The total claims of 21 resort owners amounted to P396,888 for the 21 tour operators. There are 34 resort operators claimants.
Out of the US$2.7 million, about P22 million are being readied by the IOPCF for the compensation claims of 1,400 fisherfolk in the town of San Lorenzo. The 1,400 fisherfolk is part of the 3,700 fishermen claimants.
There are different types of claims such as the claims for damage, the claims for property damage and claims for economic loss in fisheries, mariculture and fish processing sectors, claims for costs of clean-up and pollution prevention measures, claims for economic loss in the tourism sector, claims for costs of measures to prevent economic loss and environmental damage and post-spill studies.
As a matter of IOPCF policy, only the qualified claimant can get the check from the bank and no other parties are authorized to transact or receive the check in behalf of the claimant. This cut downs any dubious claims from any individual or group.
In the IOPCF's web, it said the IOPCF is part of an international regime of liability and compensation for oil pollution damage caused by oil spills from tankers. Under the regime the owner of a tanker is liable to pay compensation up to a certain limit for oil pollution damage following an escape of persistent oil from his ship. If that amount does not cover all the admissible claims, further compensation is available from the 1992 Fund if the damage occurs in a State which is a Member of that Fund. Additional compensation may also be available from the Supplementary Fund if the State is a Member of that Fund as well.
There are at present three IOPC Funds: the 1971 Fund, the 1992 Fund and the Supplementary Fund. These three intergovernmental organizations were established at different times (1978,1996 and 2005 respectively), have different maximum amounts of compensation and have different Member States. The membership of the 1992 Fund is increasing.
The Supplementary Fund was established to supplement the compensation available under the 1992 Civil Liability and Fund Conventions with an additional third tier of compensation. Membership of the Supplementary Fund is optional and any State which is a Member of the 1992 Fund may join. The membership of the Supplementary Fund is expected to increase fairly quickly.
Due to a number of denunciations of the 1971 Fund Convention, this Convention ceased to be in force on 24 May 2002 and the 1971 Fund therefore no longer has any Member States. The 1971 Fund will continue to deal with a number of incidents which occurred in 1971 Fund Member States before that date. The three organizations have a joint Secretariat, based in London.
The IOPC Funds are financed by levies on certain types of oil carried by sea. The levies are paid by entities which receive oil after sea transport, and normally not by States.