ILOILO CITY-A group of business operators on Boracay Island has urged the tapping of foreign experts to help in the cleanup of the massive oil spill in Semirara Island, about 60 kms from Boracay.

The Boracay Chamber of Commerce and Industry said in an e-mailed statement that countries that have experienced oil spills such as France, Canada and the United States should be immediately consulted on how they can help to clean the oil spill.

Philippe Bartholomi, BCCI executive committee member, said they are concerned that the spill would severely affect the popular island-resort when the wind and water direction changes from Semirara towards Boracay during the habagat season.

"Considering that we are already getting oil streaks on the white beach during the habagat season without this oil spill, we could just imagine how it will be in the coming months. We would like to urge the national government through its various agencies to take immediate massive measures commensurate to the oil spill," Bartholomi said.

The Coast Guard said around 364,120 liters of bunker fuel have been spilled off the coast of Semirara after a power barge of the National Power Corp. ran aground 200 meters from the island on Dec. 18.

The cleanup has reached 33 percent of the total affected areas and will be completed by April, the Coast Guard said.

Capt. Arturo Olavario, head of the field operations group of the Coast Guard's Task Force Semirara, said that the cleanup has covered 37 hectares of the total 112 ha of mangrove forests around the island.

Dr. Rex Sadaba, a mangrove expert from the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, said the oil spill has affected 97.64 ha of old growth mangrove and 10.97 ha of reforested areas. The rest are natural grown forests.

Sadaba said the cleanup has been swift considering the volume of the oil spill which stretches to a five-kilometer shoreline.

The cleanup which started on Dec. 21 involves 23 Coast Guard personnel and 250 residents.

They have collected more than 25,000 sacks of contaminated materials. Olavario said they are still spraying oil dispersants in the affected areas off the coast of Barangay Semirara, the biggest and worst hit of the island's three villages.

A joint panel from the Senate and House of Representatives will a conduct an on-site inquiry on the incident on Saturday.

The investigation will be led by Sen. Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources and co-chair of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Clean Water.

She will be joined by Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta, chair of the House committee on ecology and co-chair of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Clean Water, and Sen. Edgardo Angara who authored Senate Resolution No. 430 which called for a congressional investigation into the oil spill.

"The panel will inspect the site of the oil spill and look into the progress of cleanup operations, as well as the real extent of damage to the environment two months after the incident," said Cayetano in a statement.*

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