A group of Negrenses are calling on celebrities with links to Western Visayas to help drum up public awareness of the extent of the Guimaras oil spill damage and put pressure on government to hasten the removal of the source of the leak.

The group calling itself the Negrense Civilian Crisis Committee yesterday said they are calling on Negresense celebrities like Kuh Ledesma, James Yap and his wife, Kris Aquino, Monsour de Rosario, Peque Gallaga and Joel Torre to join the clamor for immediate action to put a stop to the oil spill before it can cause further damage, Alvaro Pertierra said.

Pertierra said that, unless the M/T Solar 1 that was carrying 2 million liters of bunker fuel when it sank in the Guimaras Strait is removed, the oil spill will not stop.

We must continue to raise public awareness and clamor for action so the national government will put pressure on Petron to remove the problem, he said.

The organizers of the group, Carla Kramer, Pertierra, Omon Maravilla, Cristy Zayco and Reina Garcia yesterday met with Gov. Joseph Marañon to ask how they can help in the fight against the oil spill.

We want the effort to create public awareness to continue nationwide, because the oil spill will not affect only the people of the Western Visayas but eventually the food needs of those from other parts of the country, Kramer said.

This is not just a Western Visayas problem, it is a nationwide concern. When the oil spill reaches the Visayan Sea and other areas it will deplete the food supply from the sea, she said.

Their group is contemplating to join a class suit against Petron, she also said.

Kramer said their group also wants to help the provincial government gather needed materials to ward off the entry of the oil spill in the coasts of Negros Occidental.

Marañon informed them that a Task Force Oil Spill has already been created by the provincial government to cover all the coastal towns of Negros Occidental to prepare against the oil spill, and that the citizens' group can coordinate their effort to help with the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council.

Meanwhile, Iloilo organizations have launched the Save Our Seas Movement, Melvin Purzuelo of the Green Forum - Western Visayas said.

The group was organized by the Green Forum, Iloilo Mountaineering Club, Iloilo Mountain Bikers Federation, Western Visayas Caving Association, Phil-American Progress School, CPU (Central Philippine University), West Visayas College of Science and Technology, Paulinian Environmental Society, Iloilo-Students Alliance for Nature and Development, Professionals for Social Responsibility, and We-Heal (Workers for Environment and Health).

Indigenous booms are being prepared at the Iloilo Fishing Port Complex, he said.

SOS welcomes volunteers and absorbent materials like: corn cobs, rice straws, coconut husks, dry grass, jute sacks, vegetable sacks/screen sacks or bags, old fishing nets, plastic containers for floaters, empty mineral water bottles with caps, plastic gallons, plastic straw, tie wires, plastic twines, ropes, drums, bamboos, geo-textiles, coconut coir, food for affected communities and for volunteers, rubber boots, rubber gloves and face masks, Purzuelo said.*CPG

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