Group questions IOPC refund to oil firm
A national federation of fisherfolk organizations has questioned the P118 million reimbursement given to Petron Corp. by an international agency compensating oil spill victims for the clean up of areas affected by the oil spill in Guimaras.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has also called on the United Kingdom-based International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF) to recall the reimbursement and use the fund to compensate the affected residents.
In a letter to IOPCF officials, Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said Petron should not be reimbursed for its expenses because the giant oil firm was allegedly responsible for the oil spill, considered the country's worst environmental disaster after the M/T Solar I sank in the waters of Guimaras on Aug. 11, 2006 and spilled around 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel.
The IOPCF said in a June 12, 2007 report that it had reimbursed Petron Corp. P118 million for the costs of shoreline clean up. The oil firm had submitted a claim of P196 million.
"Does Petron Corp., the principal criminal suspect in the Guimaras oil spill tragedy that made miserable the lives of hundreds of thousands of small fishermen and residents of Guimaras and Panay Islands, ...deserves the right to damage claims?" said Hicap in his letter to the IOPCF.
Hicap said paying Petron for its expenses is "grossly immoral and totally unfair to the victims of Guimaras oil spill tragedy and "a direct assault to the people's quest for truth, justice and fair play."
He cited the findings of the Special Board of Marine Inquiry (SBMI) which investigated the sinking of the tanker and the oil spill. The SBMI found Petron liable for overloading the sunken vessel, which contributed to the sinking of tanker.
Petron has repeatedly denied this allegation.
The SBMI had also found the Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., the owners of the tanker, administratively liable for disregarding maritime regulations, policies and requirements for seaworthiness of the vessel. It also found the vessel's captain, Norberto Aguro, administratively liable lacking the training and qualification to handle oil tankers.
But the IOPCF defended the reimbursement to Petron.
Capt. Patrick Joseph, IOPCF claims manager, said in a letter to Hicap dated August 28, that the payments "were in respect of the costs incurred by Petron in conducting clean up operations, which could also be considered 'preventive measures'...since they prevented further damage by contamination."
He said the cost incurred by Petron was scrutinized and compared with the information provided by experts appointed by the IOPCF and the insurance firm Shipowners' Club.
He also pointed out that the payment to Petron was in accordance to the criterion and policies provided in the IOPCF's 1992 Fund Assembly.
"The payment of P118 million to Petron as compensation refers only to those costs that could be verified as justifiable under the criterion established by the 1992 Fund Assembly. This admissibility process has been followed for all clean up operations conducted in response to the incident and there is nothing in the conventions that would require or allow the Fund to treat Petron differently from other claimants," said Joseph.
But Hicap said the reimbursement of Petron's expenses in the clean up "almost absolve Petron of its crimes against the people and environment of Guimaras and relegated their status from a principal offender and criminal to one of the victims. This is preposterous."
Hicap said the P118 million should better put into used by giving it to all the victims of the oil spill.
The IOPCF has paid a total of P169.9 million to 22,644 claimants (P113 million to 11,321 claimants in Guimaras and P56,937,752 to 11,323 claimants in Iloilo).
But there are still pending claims from affected residents, farmers and owners of resorts, fishponds, and other businesses.