IOPC starts paying oil spill claimants in city
The International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Fund has started paying nearly P3 million to residents of Iloilo City affected by last year's oil spill in Guimaras.
OPC Fund claims manager Patrick Joseph, said they will pay a total of P2,790,614 to 819 residents of coastal villages of the city.
The residents received checks ranging from P1,200 to P6,200 at the Barangay Fundidor gymnasium yesterday and until today.
Joseph said the oil spill had "minimal effect" to claimants in Iloilo City. "They suffered disruption of their fishing for around two weeks," said Joseph.
City Agriculturist Jose Gil Parreñas said the claimants are fishermen along the coastline and along the Iloilo River.
The IOPC will also pay P57 million to around 11,000 claimants of Iloilo province.
Last year the Fund paid around US$2.4 million (P118.5 million at P49.375=$1) to 11,225 residents of Guimaras Island. The victims each got around from P4,800 to P32,000 from the IOPC, a London-based intergovernmental agency that indemnifies losses resulting from oil spills.
Joseph said they will next evaluate the claims of around 15,000 residents of Guimaras in the next round of payments.