Task Force SOS revisits site where Solar I sank
Fr. Heintje Canete officiates the Holy Mass on
board the BRP Edsa II while en route to the site
where MT Solar I sank.
ECGarcia photo
Flowers were tossed into the seas of Guimaras Saturday to remember and honor the victims and heroes of last year's massive oil spill, considered the country's worst environmental disaster.
Members of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) and the Task Force Solar I Oil Spill (TF SOS) led the commemoration of the sinking of M/T Solar I on board the Coast Guard vessel BRP Edsa 2 on the site where the 998-gross-ton tanker sank spilling 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel it was transporting for Petron Corp.
The officials and reporters attended a Mass as the ship traversed the route of the tanker from the Guimaras Strait to the seas around 13.5 nautical miles southwest of Guimaras Island.
Police chaplain Fr. Heintje Canete, said the Mass was offered to all the victims especially to Victor Morados and Art Ian Nabua, crew members of the sunken tanker who remain missing and presumed dead.
Sixteen other crew members and two Petron surveyors on board the ship were rescued last year.
Chief Supt. Wilfredo Dulay, RDCC chair and Western Visayas police regional director, said the tragedy was "one of the darkest moments" in the history of Guimaras.
"It was also a defining moment of the resilient and compassionate side of Filipinos," said Dulay during a program that followed the Mass.
Dulay recalled the outpouring of help from all over the country from groups and individuals from all walks of life who donated food and clothing for the victims.
He also cited the thousands of volunteers who helped cleaned the sludge from the shoreline. These included prison inmates who shaved their hair to be use as absorbents in the cleanup.
"The tragedy highlighted the need to protect and preserve the environment and natural resources," said Dulay.
Petron Foundation Executive Director Malou Erni said they are committed to held island get back on its feet.
"We regret that this had to happen. Nobody wanted this to happen," said Erni.
Outgoing Presidential Assistance Rafael Coscolluela, head of the TF SOS, said rehabilitation remains the main concern especially because of the delay in the release of around 75 percent of the P863-million rehabilitation fund.
He said he is confident that the damage to the environment will be reversed. "Nature is the best cure."
But he said he is also concerned with reports of fisherfolks of a drop in volume of fish catch and the continued dying of mangroves which were extensively contaminated by bunker fuel.
Despite getting flak from reporters at times, Coscolluela thanked members of the media for being "makulit" (pesky). "You kept us on our toes," he said.
But a nationwide organization of fisherfolks scored the official commemoration rites as a "trivial and cheap publicity stunt.
"No doubt it was a cheap publicity stunt engineered by the self-proclaimed and closet apologists of Petron Corp. and MT Solar 1," said Gerry Corpuz, spokesperson of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya).
"It is very, very trivial. A mere display of how public officials can exploit photo op sessions to project good and caring image before the starving and justice hungry people of Guimaras. Enough of these
cheap tricks, and we want productive results for the people of Guimaras," added Corpuz.