Oil leak detected in Romblon

By Ronron
September 5, 2007

A little over a year since the country experienced the worst oil spill in Philippine history, an oil leak was detected Tuesday in Romblon province, prompting local residents to rally against a salvage operation that caused the incident.

Romblon Police Provincial Director Sr. Supt. Mario Velando said the leak of diesel oil was detected around 12:15 pm the other day (Tuesday) off the island town of Concepcion.

“There was an ongoing salvage operations for M/V Mactan, a vessel that sunk in the area many years ago, and they were trying to blast it. The fuel compartment was probably hit that’s why there was an oil leak,” Velando said in a phone interview yesterday.

There was no immediate information regarding the depth of the vessel and the volume of oil that went out from it, Velando said.

Velando said the residents of Barangay Masadya in Concepcion detected the leak after an “offensive odor” spread immediately after the blasting operation. He described the smell as “threatening to health and safety.”

Because of this, the local government issued right away a memorandum for the immediate stoppage of the salvaging operations until the leak is contained or cleaned up, and until an Environmental Compliance Certificate is secured from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said Velando.

The salvage operations, being carried out by Eduardo Calixto Enterprises, immediately complied with the order. Velando said the salvage operations began on August 31st, the reason for which he has yet to ask.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said an aerial survey at the affected area at around 6am yesterday by its helicopter revealed that the sheen of diesel oil was some 600 meters away from the shoreline of Concepcion, and was about 115 meters in length.

With this information, the PCG said the incident is therefore “minimal” only that it “can be dispersed naturally through wave action and evaporation.”

The PCG did not say if further action will be undertaken like placement of spill booms, or spraying of chemical dispersants.

Asked about the matter, Velando just said: “As of this time, (there are) no reports (I have) obtained regarding action taken.”

Last year’s oil spill in Guimaras Island occurred after the oil tanker M/V Solar 1, which was sailing from Bataan to Mindanao to transport bunker fuel product of Petron, was battered with big waves, causing it to submerge./DMS