PB backs Cordova demand for oil spill compensation

The Coat Guard help in the oil spill clean-up in the mangrove area in barangay Buagsong, Cordova town. (CDN FILE PHOTO/ TONEE DESPOJO)

THE Cebu Provincial Board (PB) expressed its support to the Cordova municipal government’s demand for a P126.8-million compenstion from two shipping companies and an insurer whose vessels caused a massive oil spill in their area last year.

In a resolution authored by Boardmember Arleigh Sitoy, the PB said 2GO Group Inc. and Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corp (PSACC) should pay for the damage caused by the oil slick to the town’s coastal environment and families who lost their livelihood as a result.

The resolution said compensation should also be sought from the Pioneer Insurance and Surety Corp. which extended marine insurance coverage for the vessels.
The resolution was unanimously approved by the PB in their session last Monday. A copy of the resolution will be sent to the offices of the shipping companies and the insurance firm including the office of the Cordova municipal government.

Last week Sitoy’s father, Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy, sent demand letters to 2GO, Span Asia Corp and Pioneer and gave the three companies 30 days to comply before the municipal government pursues their case in court. 2GO is the registered owner of the M/V St. Thomas Aquinas which capsized off Lauis Ledge off Talisay City while Span Asia owns the M/V Sulpicio Express Siete which collided with the ferry.

The collision caused 120,000 liters of bunker fuel inside the St. Thomas Aquinas to leak out along with 40,000 liters of diesel and lubricants causing a massive oil spill that damaged hundreds of hectares of mangroves in Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7) in the region also demanded P41.7 million as “environmental damage compensation” for the ruined mangroves in Cordova.