Only 10% of oil has spread, but 'devastation is extensive'

Only 10 percent of the oil from sunken MT Solar I has spread off the southernmost coast of Guimaras and yet it has reached a very wide area and caused much destruction, according to a statement released Sunday by Greenpeace. The government, Greenpeace said, should hold responsible Petron, the company that hired the tanker to ferry 2.1 million litres from Bataan province in Luzon to Zamboanga del Sur in Mindanao. "Petron has so far refused to accept responsibility for the worst oil spill disaster in Philippine history," the Greenpeace statement said. Scientists and environmental scientists on board the Greenpeace ship MY Esperanza arrived at the oil spill ground zero at about 8 a.m. Sunday. The origin of the slick, Greenpeace said, is 7.3 nautical miles southwest of Unisan Island, the southernmost isle in the group of islands forming Guimaras province. The Greenpeace team also saw a Philippine Coast Guard vessel monitoring the oil spill at ground zero. Coast Guard officials told them that the sunken oil tanker has been pumping out between 100 to 200 liters of oil per hour as of Sunday afternoon. The MT Solar sank on Friday, August 11, due to turbulent seas brought about by the monsoon season. It was carrying 2.1 million litres of oil. According to the Greenpeace statement: "More than 200,000 litres of oil has already spilled into the sea, smothering marine sanctuaries, pristine beaches as well as fishing villages that depend on them for food and income." "This is only about 10 percent of the oil contained in the sunken tanker, but it has already reached a very wide area and devastation is extensive," Beau Baconguis, a Greenpeace campaigner aboard the Esperanza, said. The oil spill could be cleaned up, but would have long-term effects, according to Janet Cotter, a member of the Greenpeace Science Unit in the United Kingdom. “Although the visible pollution can be cleaned up to a certain extent, the long-term toxic effects of the oil pollution can kill mangroves and corals, impacting the rich marine biodiversity found in this area and affecting people’s livelihoods for years to come," Cotter said. Guimaras, though world-renowned for its mangoes, is highly dependent on fishing. Tourism in nearby coastal provinces could also be affected, as the oil spill has started to spread towards Negros Occidental and Iloilo, according to statement made on Saturday by Edwin Trumpeta, Department of Tourism regional director for Western Visayas. If nothing is done, Trumpeta added, the oil spill may even affect Boracay, world-famous for its beach resorts. In an earlier report, Guimaras Gov. Joaquin Carlos Nava said Petron's competitors, Shell and Caltex, have committed to send vessels to the province to help in the cleanup. The government has also asked the owner of the ill-fated oil tanker, Sunshine Development Corp., to shoulder the cost of the cleanup. The Esperanza is in the Philippines on the latest leg of her global Defending Our Oceans expedition, a campaign for the establishment of marine reserves around the world. Greenpeace, founded in 1971 in Vancouver, Canada, is an independent organization that campaigns for solutions to global environmental problems. - GMANews.TV