Oil spill reported off Piscador Island

THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Cebu has started an investigation into an oil spill in the coastal waters of Piscador Island off the town of Moalboal in southern Cebu.

PCG Cebu Station Commander Agapito Bibat said traces of mixed oil were found in the area since Friday night, and islanders who conducted a clean up said they had collected 30 sacks of oil off their beach.

Bibat said the spill appeared to be “minimal” but it had reached the shorelines of the island.

“We still have to investigate where the oil came from,” Bibat added in a phone interview yesterday.

Bibat said there was no report of any sea mishap in the area, which led him to suspect that the oil spill might have come from a ship that was passing in water off Piscador Island. The area is part of Tañon Strait, the sea that separates the islands of Cebu and Negros.

“The Tañon Strait is also a shipping lane where vessels pass from Visayas to Mindanao,” Bibat told Cebu Daily News.

Bibat said they would still have to find out if the spill might have been caused by a commercial fishing vessel, which is banned in the area. In 1988, the then President Fidel Ramos issued Presidential Decree 1234 that proclaimed Tañon Strait as a protected seascape where commercial fishing is prohibited.

Bibat said that if the ship owner would be identified, the company would be held liable and would have to pay the administrative fines and penalties corresponding to the amount prescribed in the marine environmental protection circular.

Yesterday, Piscador residents conducted a coastal clean up on the island and around 30 sacks of oil were recovered, according to Bibat.

Bibat said he also asked the personnel from the Port of Tangil, PCG’s nearest substation located in the town of Dumanjug, to monitor the condition of the waters off Moalboal. By Saturday afternoon, however, the spill had dissipated, he added.

William Cunado, regional director for Environmental Management Bureau in Central Visayas (EMB-7), said by phone yesterday that they would be sending a team to the area tomorrow, Monday, to conduct a sampling.

He said that once the ship owner is identified, the shipping firm would be required to clean up and rehabilitate the affected area and would face a fine of at least P200,000.

Bibat said they were coordinating with the local and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Councils to address the concern.

Cebu Daily News tried to reach Moalboal Mayor Inocentes Cabaron, but his phone was out of reach.