Continued psycho-social intervention for Guimaras oil spill victims urged
Social scientists have recommended continued psycho-social monitoring and support for Guimaras residents affected by the massive oil spill two years ago after a study showed significant levels of distress suffered by the victims.
The study conducted by former University of the Philippines in the Visayas chancellor Ida Siason, showed a "significant level of psycho-social distress" among 42 percent to 73 percent of around 250 survey respondents from seven highly and moderately affected barangays.
The barangays are mostly in Nueva Valencia town, the hardest hit of the province's five municipalities.
The study conducted on February to April this year showed a marked decline in income of the respondents compared to before the August 11, 2006 oil spill.
While there has been a recovery of income levels compared to during the containment and cleanup operations, these has not returned to pre-oil spill levels, according to the study, which was among those presented at the 2nd National Oil Spill Conference held here last week.
Around 2 million liters of bunker fuel was spilled on the waters of Guimaras after the cargo ship MT Solar I sank due to rough seas southeast of the island. The cargo ship was chartered by Petron Corp. and was transporting the fuel from Bataan to Zamboanga.
The oil spill contaminated a significant part of the the island's coast and marine resources and ravaged the livelihood of thousands of residents mostly dependent on fishing, shell gathering and other sea-based sources of income.
The study also showed that at the time of the data gathering, few of the respondents said they were beneficiaries of any livelihood project that was set up in response to the disaster.
It recommended intervention on the mental health of the victims to be administered by medical, health and social welfare agencies.
But the study also showed a positive outlook among the respondents in coping with their situation showing their resiliency amid the challenges.
Studies presented during the conference said that while there was considerable efforts from all levels and agencies to respond to the disaster, there is also a need to improve the management of rehabilitation efforts.
A study conducted by UPV-based social scientists Rosalie Arcala-Hall, Joseph Loot and Leo Quintilla said there was competing disaster response frameworks between various agencies and task forces.
Rehabilitation efforts and projects of non-government organizations (NGOs) were not also integrated with government plans especially in the provincial and national levels resulting to conflicts.
In most rehabilitation programs including livelihood projects, beneficiaries were mostly left out or had limited participation in information-gathering, planning, decision-making, implementation and monitoring of initiatives.
It said the rehabilitation efforts were carried out per agency and not collaborative and were adversely affected by delays in the release of funds.
The study also cited the lack of inter-agency collaboration affected the efforts of of NGOs and in the delivery of their assistance. NGO rehabilitation projects also paralleled those of the national agencies and replicated many initiatives including livelihood and disaster prevention activities projects.