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BOTH
Sulpicio Lines and Del Monte Philippines should pay for
the cost of the safe and immediate retrieval of 10
metric tons of the Del Monte-owned toxic pesticide
endosulfan from Sulpicio’s sunken vessel MV Princess of
the Stars, a legislator insisted over the weekend.
“Finger-pointing by Del Monte, Sulpicio
and maritime authorities won’t help,” Sen. Pia Cayetano
said, pointing out that “the situation calls for a quick
response to retrieve the substance and avert any
contamination of the surrounding seawaters and marine
life.”
Cayetano, who chairs the Senate
environment committee, cited a similar situation at the
height of the MT Solar I oil spill in 2006, where Petron
initially balked at taking responsibility by denying any
legal liability for cleaning up thousands of liters of
oil which leaked off the Guimaras Strait from its hired
tanker, MT Solar I.
She recalled that the incident triggered
the speedy enactment of the Oil Spill Liability Act
(Republic Act 9483), a law requiring a quick- response
fund to address oil spills.
At the same time, Cayetano said maritime
authorities and concerned agencies, including the
Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority and Bureau of
Customs, should explain why they allowed a highly toxic
substance to be loaded on a passenger vessel in
violation of maritime rules.
“We need to find out exactly what the
regulations are and what violations have been committed,
including the reported nondeclaration of the substance
and transport in big quantities onboard a passenger
ship,” she said. “We should also look at the
corresponding penalties to find out if these are
commensurate. Because these are old laws and the
penalties are very minimal.”
She indicated that the Senate will mount
an independent investigation “to find out our level of
compliance with international standards, but the first
thing we must do is gather from the concerned government
agencies whatever information they can give us.”
She noted that Sulpicio Lines even
declared on its web site that it meets the requirements
of the International Quality Assurance Management
Standard ISO 9002 and the International Maritime
Organization’s ISM Code of Safe Operation of Ships and
Pollution Prevention.
“Interestingly, Sulpicio acquired these
two international accreditations on June 18, 1999, and
July 17, 1999, respectively—or just barely a year since
its biggest ship then, the MV Princess of the Orient,
sank in the middle of a storm on September 1998,”
Cayetano pointed out.
“It’s the height of irony that Sulpicio
was the very first local shipping line to be accorded
such distinction despite its long and bloody record of
sea accidents, which is unparalleled in the world.”
An environment group working on toxic
chemicals, meanwhile, urged Sulpicio Lines to disclose
the full inventory of the cargo carried by MV Princess
of the Stars that capsized during the height of Typhoon
Frank.
At the same time, International
Persistent Organic Pollutants Elimination Project (Ipep)
called for the creation of a toxic crisis action
committee to deal with the situation, anticipating a
possible chemical spill as a result of the latest sea
tragedy.
“The government should compel Sulpicio
Lines to disclose the full registry of cargos in the
sunken ship, especially items that can potentially harm
the public health and the environment. The public has
the right to know,” Manny Calonzo, Ipep cocoordinator
for Southeast Asia, stressed.
Ipep made the call upon the discovery of
some 10 metric tons of endosulfan in the sunken vessel. Endosulfan
is a highly toxic pesticide.
The Coast Guard has stopped rescue-and-
retrieval operation inside the capsized passenger ship
after learning of the presence of endosulfan in her
hold, as reported by Del Monte Philippines, the cargo’s
consignee.
“Considering the known acute and chronic
effects of exposure to endosulfan, the government should
even consider creating a toxic crisis action committee
to deal with the imminent threat of chemical spill,”
Calonzo said, adding that “the incident should also lead
to an exhaustive review and reversal of the lifting of
the endosulfan ban in the Philippines,” Calonzo said.
Because of the established links of
endosulfan to serious immune, nervous and reproductive
disorders and other major health problems, many
governments and nongovernment organizations have taken
steps to ban or restrict the use of endosulfan.
The Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, meanwhile, brushed aside allegations
that the severe flooding in Iloilo during the onslaught
of Typhoon Frank last week was aggravated by mining
operations.
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said
it is premature to blame mining because there is no
active large-scale mining operation in the province.
Church leaders and environment experts
claimed that mining was one of the major causes of the
heavy flooding that occurred in Iloilo as a result of
Typhoon Frank.
Atienza has directed the Mines and
Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to determine the allegations
made about the impact of mining on the flooding in
Iloilo.
Atienza received a report from Leo Van
Juguan, MGB regional director in Western Visayas, after
conducting preliminary geohazard assessment studies,
which revealed that the areas of Tigbauan, Oton,
Alimodian, Pavia, Leganes, Zarraga, San Miguel, New
Lucena, Dumangas, Barotac Nuevo, Janiuay, Pototan,
Barotac Viejo, Balasan and Iloilo City are naturally
flood prone because of their topography. With J.
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