I am appalled at how slow the government and Petron is acting on the recent oil spill off the coast of Guimaras province. Tens of thousands who depend on their once lush beaches for livelihood are now rendered helpless as the sunken tanker continues to leak oil from below. What more, Petron asserts that it’s not their legal responsibility to do the cleanup but on “moral” grounds, they are doing it at their expense. Whoa, these corporate @$$hol3s just don’t know how to mince their words.
Everyone’s biggest concern right now is to get that tanker out before it can do irreparable damage not only on Guimaras, but to the surrounding provinces of Western Visayas as well namely Negros Occidental and Iloilo. There were about 2 million liters of oil inside the vessel, 15% of which have already seeped out.
Take a look at this satellite photo from CERN that shows the extent of the spill as of August 25, 2006:
The yellow area denotes the oil spill, which according to CERN spans 66 square kilometers. Should all the 2 million liters be released, the area of damage will easily be as big as the island of Guimaras!
I’m calling for everyone to help out to avert this crisis at the soonest possible time. The governor of Guimaras, Dr. JC Rahman Nava, setup an excellent website called “Project Sunrise” where he provides news updates on the oil spill and ways for you to get involved.
On the Web: Project Sunrise
Greenpeace’s Ocean Defenders are also giving a helping hand. Cool.
It’s really a pity that the national government has not given enough limelight on this situation. In fact, only a handful of politicians have expressed their concern over the crisis. The national government should really put pressure on Petron.
At kapal ng mukha ng Petron ha!!!
hi andrew, may i repost this entry at saveguimaras.wordpress.com? I have just launched this blog and will be followed by a (citizen) youth-action oriented blog
– tuesday gutierrez
Tuesday, by all means, do so. Thanks.
andrew,
id like to invite you to be a contributor to the site so you can continue posting entries to guimaras. please let me know what your thoughts are on the matter.
I remember we use to take field trips when I was in UP around that place. There was a small islet with such lush coral fauna. I suppose all of that is gone now. It was a beatiful place, great place for biology classes. Especially great to go camping with the demure and pretty Ilonga.
I visited Iloilo around the start of 2006, such a densely populated urban center now. Maybe the oil spill will rival the damage that regular daily run-off from the city will do to the environment.
I bet the government officials are just raring to see if they can use UN funds which they will ultimately steal and pocket “ti bayaan mo na lang na, malunod man na pagkatapos pila ka bulan.”
@Tuesday: No problem. When I do another post, feel free to republish it on your site.
@Roger: Hey, what’s new right? I have never been to Guimaras but everything that I’ve heard about it was nothing short of breathtaking. It’s a shame the way things are happening right now. Looks like Iloilo is safe for now, but Negros isn’t enjoying the same fate.