WATCHING THE WORLD: Whitewash in the Philippines?

Sept. 11, 2006
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last week received a proposal from her country’s coast guard concerning dedicated sea-lanes for vessels carrying oil and other chemicals.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last week received a proposal from her country’s coast guard concerning dedicated sea-lanes for vessels carrying oil and other chemicals.

The aim of the proposal is to prevent environmental disasters from happening in ecologically sensitive areas, a hazard underscored by the sinking of the M/T Solar I, which went down off Guimaras Island Aug. 11, spilling much of its 2 million l. of bunker oil.

The president was expected to issue an executive order on the proposed sea-lanes and other measures such as stiffer penalties and the use of double-hulled oil tankers to toughen the country’s maritime laws. All of that was in addition to the judicial investigation she ordered into the disaster.

Effectively contained

The extent of the damage was revealed on Sept. 6 when Macapagal-Arroyo, on her third visit to Guimaras, declared that the oil-spill “disaster has been effectively contained” but still called for intensified and continuous clean-up operations in areas that had been affected.

On her Sept. 6 visit, Macapagal-Arroyo also vowed there would be no whitewash in the investigation into the oil spill. “As we clean up the coast of Guimaras with all the intensity we can muster, we will make sure that there will be no whitewash in ferreting out the truth behind the accident,” she said.

Underscoring her words, she ordered Justice Sec. Raul Gonzales to “ensure an airtight case” against those liable for the oil spill.

That may be easier said than done, however, as the spill seems to have been caused by an accident at sea involving a cargo vessel. Indeed, video footage taken by Japanese experts shows a hole in the bow of the MT Solar I that indicates it may have struck a loose shipping container.

Shipping container

The video reportedly captured a triangular puncture on the port side of the vessel below the waterline, according to an expert witness who said the hole was consistent with a floating container. He testified that he thought the Solar I hit the object after it left shelter in Iloilo.

Speculation suggests that the container fell off a cargo vessel in stormy waters, causing the tanker to sink and bunker fuel oil to spill into the sea.

Despite that possibility, a Department of Justice panel recommended criminal and civil charges against the captain of the MT Solar I and its owners as well as executives of Petron Corp. for what was described as the worst oil spill in the nation’s history.

They will be charged with violation of the Revised Penal Code provision on reckless imprudence resulting in homicide and damage to property, the National Internal Revenue Code, the Corporation Code (Batas Pambansa Blg. 68), the Anti-Dummy Law (Commonwealth Act No. 108), and the Clean Water Act (Republic Act No. 9295).

Sounds pretty official, doesn’t it? To us it sounds like a rush to judgment.