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STIFFER
penalties for polluters in the shipping industry are in
store with the third-reading approval by the Senate late
Monday of Senate Bill 2600.
Also
known as the Oil Compensation Act of 2007, it imposes
liability on owners of ships involved in oil pollution
based on the vessel’s tonnage.
Damages
include expenses incurred in clean- up operations at sea
or on shore, damage to health or loss of life as well as
environmental restoration, the bill, sponsored by
Senator Pia Cayetano-Sebastian, provided.
SB 2600
also establishes a separate fund to cover incidents
causing oil pollution damage, which fund shall be
constituted by owners of ships registered in the
Philippines “representing the limit of their liability
with the Maritime Industry Authority.”
It
mandates the creation of an Oil Pollution Management
Fund, to be administered by the Philippine Coast Guard,
comprising fines imposed by the law, “as well as grants,
donations, endowments and specific allotments under the
General Appropriations Act.”
“All
owners of ships, whether registered in the Philippines
or not, shall be required annually to maintain insurance
or financial security for oil pollution damage, which
shall be attested to by a certificate in the form
established by the 1969 Civil Liability Convention,” the
bill added.
Despite
an early adjournment of the special session's first day,
the Senate managed to pass on third reading the proposed
law against oil polluters.
“Senate
bill 2600 lays down tougher rules to make oil polluters
pay, and make them pay heavily, so that they will be
more conscious of the need to protect the environment,”
Senator Cayetano-Sebastian said. She cited lessons
learned in the two worst oil spills that damaged the
country’s coastal waters in the last two years,
including the Guimaras oil spill in August 2006, and the
Napocor barge oil spill at Semirara island last December
2005.
Some
affected residents at Guimaras reportedly received
compensation for economic losses from the International
Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, in amounts ranging only
from P4,000 to P32,000 per family.
The
bill, said Cayetano-Sebastian, will allow the government
and affected residents to compel payment from those
responsible for long-term damage in future spills.
SB 2600
consolidates six bills in the Senate and House Bill
4363. |
