The Provincial Disaster Management Team yesterday advised local governments along the coasts of Negros Occidental to be on alert because of the Intertropical Convergence Zone that is expected to bring on isolated rainshowers and thunderstorms, especially in the afternoons.

It is a factor that may induce the MT Solar 1 oil spill to hit landfall in coastal areas, PDMT chief Vicfran Defante said.

MT Solar 1 sank off the coast of Guimaras with 2 million liters of Petron bunker fuel on Aug. 11, which spill has been threatening Negros Occidental.

"The oil spill had not hit the shorelines of Negros Occidental, we are safe at this time and are thankful for this," Gov. Joseph Marañon said yesterday, but he reiterated the need to remain vigilant to prevent the oil spill from entering Negros Occidental waters.

Defante also said that there was no oil spill landfall in Silay City yesterday despite three sightings of oil sheen traversing the north east direction.

Petron officials are set to met with Marañon this afternoon to update him on oil spill clean up in Guimaras and discuss some of his concerns, Defante also said.

The Negros Occidental Peace and Order Council is meeting at the Capitol in Bacolod this morning, where the Guimaras oil spill will be discussed.

Defante said the Philippine government is considering using oil-eating microbes to speed up the cleanup of the oil spill, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The process called bio-remediation involves using a machine that reproduces million of oil sapping bacteria, he added.

The same process was used to clean up an oil spill in the US gulf state of Louisiana in a matter of months, Defante quoted Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes as saying.

The Coast Guard said the Guimaras clean-up could take at least 8 months using conventional methods.

Meanwhile, Rep. Carlos Cojuangco (5th district, Neg. Occ.) yesterday said a doable action plan against the oil spill threat has been set up for Pontevedra town.

He said today a banca will be sent out to throw bagasse into oil spill hit waters to see if it will sink or float.

The oil soaked bagasse will then be brought back and be given to a sugar mill that has agreed to power its generators and give more bagasse to deal with the oil spill, he said. Pontevedra is also making its own oil dispersant sprayers, he said, and taking a pro-active response to prevent the oil from reaching its shores.*CPG

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