ILOILO CITY -- The International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund has paid a total of P120.3 million to victims of the Solar I oil spill in Guimaras.

IOPC Deputy Director Joe Nichols said in an e-mail that the IOPC has approved and paid the claims of 11,361 residents from the towns of Jordan, Sibunag, Nueva Valencia, Buenavista and San Lorenzo in Guimaras. Around 300 claimants did not come forward to receive their compensation, Nichols said.

The IOPC will soon process the claims of 3,000 residents engaged in fishing from the towns of Oton, Concepcion and Ajuy in Iloilo. It will also process around 77 claims by seaweed farmers and 90 fish pond operators from Guimaras Island.

Nichols said they will settle the claims of the second batch of victims from Guimaras after they have paid the claimants from Iloilo.

The oil spill has affected 5,437 families or 26,740 persons after the M/T Solar 1 sank in stormy seas off Guimaras on Aug. 11 and dumped more than 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel oil it was transporting for Petron from Bataan to Zamboanga.

The Coast Guard believes around 300,000 liters had spilled into the sea, contaminating coastal areas with oil sludge.

Around 13,000 residents mostly engaged in fishing have filed claims for damages after the spill contaminated fishing grounds and devastated the island's rich marine life and tourism sites.

The IOPC, a London-based intergovernmental agency that indemnifies losses resulting from oil spills, has paid the claimants engaged in fishing amounts ranging from P3,000 to P32,000. It has also released initial payments to around 34 operators of resorts and other tourism sites from P1,000 to P250,000.

Church groups led by Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo along with environmental groups and non-government organizations have called for higher compensation for the victims, claiming that the amount being paid by the IOPC is not enough to cover the losses of the residents.

But the IOPC officials have said that the amount of compensation was derived from IOPC field surveys and based on the type of fishing the claimants were engaged in.

Nichols said the removal of the remaining oil from the wreck is expected to start around March 14. He said the duration of the operation will depend on how much oil there is remaining onboard but they expect the operation to take from 10 to 20 days.

Insurers of the sunken tanker and the IOPC have contracted the salvage firm Sonsub to remove the oil from wreck 640 meters on the sea floor. The operation is estimated to cost between $6-12 million depending on amount of oil left in the tanker.*NPB

back to top