Coast Guard contains Calatagan oil spill

Calatagan, Batangas – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on July 8 they have already completed the clean-up operation of an oil spill, which affected nearly 960 square meters of mangrove forest in the fishing village of Talibayog here.      “We’ve already contained the oil spill (in the sea) and it was not able to spread out. What only remains are the oil (that was stuck) in the mangroves,” said Lt. Cdr. Troy Cornelio, PCG-Batangas District Station Commander, in a phone interview.
   He said that the coast guard’s oil spill response team (OSRT) was able to contain the said spill using sorbent pads to absorb sticky oil during high tide.
     The Coast Guard Commander also said that their team conducted high pressure flushing using salt water boosted by two sets of generators, a mechanical high pressure sprayer and two electrical sprayers to clean-up the spill.
     The oil spill was discovered in July 4 afternoon by a small fisherman but the coast guard took at least three days to contain the spill, according to Cornelio.
     In a July 7 report published in its website, the Coast Guard said that based on their aerial inspection, they found minimal traces of oil in the affected mangrove area.
    The Coast Guard’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPCOM), however, said it will be monitoring the said mangroves “for rehabilitation and recovery.”
     Cornelio said they have yet identify the possible source of the oil spill as they are still waiting for the results of the lab test conducted by the MEPCOM, which are expected to be released on July 14.
     “We cannot single out where the oil spill exactly came from because a lot of ships have already passed in the area,” he said.

    Talibayog residents however believe that the oil spill may have come from the ships that were docked in the Balayan Bay, near the villages of Sanpiro and Palikpikan in the neighboring Balayan town.
    Jessie de los Reyes, Calatagan bantay dagat volunteer and project coordinator of environmental non-government group Conserve and Protect Oceans Foundation, said in a separate interview that a day before the spill was discovered, fishermen in the said villages have noticed some people “transferring oil from one ship to another.”
    The following day, he said that fisherman and bantay dagat volunteer Benny De Guzman discovered the oil spill in the mangrove forests of Talibayog.
   He expressed fears that the oil spill might cause fish catches in the town to decline since the mangroves serve as “breeding grounds of the fish.”
   To pinpoint the possible sources of the spill, Cornelio said that the MEPCOM’s technical team has already taken oil samples from four foreign shipping vessels docked in the Balayan Bay, namely, M/V Sta. Annabella, M/V Sta. Alexandra, M/V San Clemente at M/V Sta. Fabiola.

    In its June 8 visit to the oil spill site, the SLI noticed that while several traces of oil were not yet removed in the mangrove trees, where they were first discovered a few days ago, none of the mangroves have died so far from the spill.
    The village’s sea waters have also remained pristine and crystal clear as they were before.
     It is business as usual for some fishermen as they were even seen rowing their boats in the middle of the sunset to catch fish.
    “We’re back to normal now. Luckily it was high tide when the oil spill occurred and the area affected was not a place where a large concentration of fish exists,” De Guzman said in a separate interview.
    “We were also lucky that the incident was immediately reported (to the Coast Guard) because if not, then the oil spill might have spread,” he added.

     He said the fishermen in their village are confident that their livelihood won’t suffer after the oil spill “was already contained.”
     The coast guard also promised the residents that they will be scheduling another clean-up activity in the area to remove the oil leakage.
     Calatagan, a third-class municipality in Batangas province, was declared a marine reserve by virtue of Municipal Ordinance 08-92, and is under the process of rehabilitation.
     Records from the municipal government showed that Talibayog has about 2.14 of the town’s 268.21 hectare total mangrove area with avicena alba as dominant species.
     At least 200 residents of the said village depend on fishing for livelihood, while others are into farming, de Guzman said. (Marlon Alexander S. Luistro)