This is explosive! And not only because fuel oil is involved. Just a moment ago, I shared the story under todays banner headline of Panay News: ‘GET MOVING!’ Oil spill cleanup delay irks Defensor This certainly would raise the hackles of Governor Defensor, as it would disturb and scandalize not only the Ilonggos but decent people everywhere. In his column below, Prof. Alex Magno summarizes the problem this wise: So many questions are now asked of a P100 million contract awarded to clean up the oil spill threatening the livelihood of fishermen in northern Iloilo province. The contract appears to have been awarded recklessly and, as a consequence, the cleanup, if it happens at all, might be improperly done. This story was first taken up by Jojo Robles in his November 27 column in the Manila Standard today where he wrote: One of the lesser calamities that occurred when Yolanda swept through the Visayas was the grounding of a power barge off Estancia, Iloilo, which caused an oil spill that affected eight coastal barangays of that town. Last week, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., which owns the distressed 32-megawatt Power Barge 103, held a bidding for the cleanup contract and the refloating of the vessel – and immediately got buffeted by a storm of questions surrounding the award to the winning bidder. [manilastandardtoday/2013/11/27/lying-for-dfa/] Todays Panay News story has this paragraph: Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon had criticized Napocor and PSALM for failing to act immediately after the oil spill was reported. But Alex Magno raises this curious point somewhere in the middle of his column: The very next morning (Nov. 21), the PSALM bids and awards committee (BAC) convened to evaluate the winning bidder. They recommended disqualification of Kuan Yu because the company did not have the financial capacity to undertake the project. On the afternoon of the same day (Nov. 21), quite oddly, Senate President Franklin Drilon announced that PSALM awarded the cleanup contract to Kuan Yu. Nothing was heard since about the BAC recommendation to disqualify Kuan Yu for having insufficient financial resources to credibly undertake the project. He continues: According to the company’s filings with the SEC, the company’s industry classification is collection, purification and distribution of water. The company likewise reported its business address as Lot 25, FTI Complex, Western Bicutan, Taguig City. No such company holds office in that area, a detail that calls up the practices of the Napoles NGOs. As required by the contract, the supposedly winning bidder did deploy to the site of the oil spill a couple of days after award. A check on the oil spill site showed several pieces of equipment of the Coast Guard Marine Environment Protection Command (MEPCOM) being used. It turns out, the president of Kuan Yu used to be a former officer of this unit. When a team from the Department of Health visited the site of the oil spill, they were alarmed that the people hired for the cleanup job were not wearing any protective gear. It turns out, they were local residents hired to clean up the oil spills using dirt rags, plastic pails and tin cans. Instead of oil spill booms, the firm had deployed used tire interiors. To make matters worse, the grounded barge continued to spill its deadly fuel content. Elsewhere, oil spills are cleaned up using hi-tech equipment and proper solvents. Not in this case. Good luck to the Ilonggo fishing communities threatened by this calamity. Good luck, indeed! I say, bloody murder!
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 09:48:48 +0000
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