UN gives RP accessto P800M for cleanup Palace says no sacred cows in oil spill probe - Malaya 08.28.2006

THE United Nations has offered the Philippines access to $16 million (P800 million) in regional environmental funds for the cleanup of the Guimaras oil spill, the worst to hit the country and which President Arroyo declared a national calamity on Friday.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said it is providing financial and technical assistance, through the environment department, to help consolidate the ongoing damage assessments leading to damage claims by the community and the rehabilitation of affected ecosystems in Guimaras.

It is also providing immediate relief assistance such as alternative livelihood support for the locals.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), which executes the $16 million regional program Partnerships for Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia, has also provided information and technical assistance in relation to the oil spill containment and cleanup.

The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) will provide emergency health kits, drugs, water purifying tablets and some tarpaulin.

In coordination with the DENR, UNDP conducted site assessment last week in preparation for its intervention. Continuing consultations will be conducted to better understand the concerns of the community, the NGOs and the local government, it said.

The Philippines is considered to be among the globally significant, biodiversity rich, countries in the world. For this reason, UNDP’s Environment Portfolio has invested decades and millions of dollars in the preservation of the Philippine’s natural environment.

UNDP is investing about $15 million in environment programs annually in the Philippines.
The Guimaras oil spill is viewed as a significant drawback to the country’s coastal and marine development agenda.

Some 11 towns and 3,487 families from Guimaras have already been affected by the oil spill in addition to 16 towns in Iloilo and 17 towns and cities in Negros Occidental.

A tanker chartered by Petron Corp., MT Solar 1, sank in heavy seas off Guimaras island on Aug. 11.

At least a 10th of its cargo of 2 million liters of bunker oil initially gushed out, polluting beaches and a marine park with black sludge, but there have also been signs of fresh leaks from the sunken tanker.

An alliance of people’s organizations, academic institutions, non-government organizations and public officials has sent a communiqué to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) expressing its plan to file a case against government, Petron Corp. and tanker owner Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. for the oil spill.

The alliance calling itself Save Our Seas, Save Our Lives (SOS) said the victims of the oil spill are "growing in numbers and have been agonizing by the day" because of the damage to livelihood wrought by the disaster.

Andy Salatan, Chemistry professor at the University of the Philippines and spokesman of the scientists’ group Agham, said SOS is gathering data and documenting the situation to support the case to be filed before the UNHRC.

The data gathering is being conducted through member organizations in Guimaras and Iloilo like Pamalakaya and Madia-as Ecological Movement,

Frances Quimpo of the group Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment said they are filing the case because they are "alarmed by the slow and inadequate response the national government has been giving to the environmental catastrophe."

Salatan said, "At the rate things are going here, we might be ending up with a whitewash and token gestures for relief and clean up, so much like the past disasters we had."

SOS, formed this month, identified three major tasks for the alliance – coordinate relief generation and distribution efforts, monitor economic and environmental rehabilitation, as well as sustain quest for justice for crimes on the environment and the people.

Malacañang said there would be no sacred cows in the ongoing investigations on the oil spill.
Cabinet secretary Ricardo Saludo said President Arroyo wants those responsible brought to justice and authorities would leave no stone unturned in their probe.

Arroyo over the weekend named Justice secretary Raul Gonzalez as the newest member of task Force Guimaras chaired by Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz.

The President said the inclusion of the DOJ aims to ensure that aside from a full investigation aimed at determining the cause of the incident, those who are responsible would be prosecuted.

Other members of the Task Force are Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes, Health Secretary Francisco Duque, Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral and Coast Guard chief Vice Adm. Arthur Gosingan.

Arroyo inspected the spill on Saturday. She is scheduled to fly to Guimaras again today and stay there overnight to make sure her instructions are carried out.

The President during her visit ordered government agencies involved, Petron Corp., and the owner of the sunken MT Solar 1 to speed up the cleanup.

Senate President Manuel Villar over the weekend said the Senate would rush the approval of a special fund for the cleanup.

"I would immediately file a proposal creating a special fund to address this crisis, similar to the fund allocated for the Lebanon repatriation," said Villar who visited the island last weekend. "I believe the Senate will have no objection to its passage."

Villar said the special fund could be inserted in the Malacañang-proposed P46.4 billion supplemental budget awaiting approval by both chambers.

He said the oil spill special fund would not be limited to Guimaras but would be tapped and replenished periodically by the Senate for future oil spills.

"We can’t give an exact amount yet since we would also want to know how much the guilty parties like Petron and the government would shell out," he said.

He warned that once the Senate names the amount that it could appropriate, this could be used by as an excuse to become stingy.

"They might say, ‘O meron na pala from Congress, bakit pa kami magbibigay," Villar said.
He said they will come out with the amount after their hearings on the oil spill. The hearing starts today.

"Magbayad ang dapat mag-bayad. Hangga’t maari, huwag sanang masyadong magastusan ang gobyerno dito," he said.

Former Guimaras Gov. Emily Lopez said it would take hundreds of millions to fully rehabilitate the oil-stricken coastal areas and waters off the island and millions more to bring the back the livelihood lost.

She said the cost per drum of the cleaning detergent used to restore the luster of blackened sand is P80,000. A more sophisticated cleaning agent costs P540,000 a drum.
She said the cleanup last years.

Lopez said the damage to tourism, fishing and agriculture would impact adversely in the coming years.

She said provincial leaders are emotionally devastated because the province has just earned the top prize as one of the "ecologically protected" areas in the world. – Reinir Padua, Jocelyn Montemayor and Dennis Gadil