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CEBU
CITY—The members of the multipartite monitoring team (MMT)
set up to oversee the exploratory oil- drill operations
in Tañon Strait are set to go to the field after they
were convened for the first time over the weekend in
Cebu City.
The MMT
chairman, Environmental Management Bureau Director for
Central Visayas Alan Aranguez, said the team’s job is to
ensure that Japan Petroleum Exploration Philippines Ltd.
(Japex) adheres to the conditions set in its
environmental compliance certificate.
“We will
also determine if there is damage to livelihood of
fishermen. These must be proven,” Aranguez said.
Members
of the MMT include fisherfolk organizations from the
provinces of Nergos Oriental, Negros Occidental and
Cebu, local government units, government line agencies and
academe.
Japex
Philippines general manager Shigehiro Moriya said their
company is willing to pay for “actual damages,”
especially to fishermen and residents along the coast of
the islands of Negros and Cebu.
He said,
however, that damage during the 60-day exploratory drill
is expected to be minimal, unless a catastrophic oil
spill would occur.
“You
must understand that the oil rig will stay in one point,
so we expect damage to be very minimal compared with the
damage caused by the seismic survey. Boats were moving
around in Tañon during the seismic survey,” Moriya said.
Japex
has started exploratory drill operations some 3 kms off
the coast of Pinamungajan and Aloguinsan towns in
western Cebu to confirm signs of oil deposits found in
an earlier seismic survey in the area.
Discussions Saturday revolved around the proposal for
Japex to set up a P20-million bond to be tapped in
“emergency situations” during the oil exploration. The
team also took an hour to discuss how much compensation
members should get.
Lawyer
Edwin Abamil, who represents Negros Occidental Gov.
Joseph Marañon to the MMT, said this would ensure that
Japez would be held liable if there is damage to the
marine ecosystem in Tañon or to the livelihood of
thousands of fishermen in the area.
Director
Ramon Allan Oca of the Department of Energy’s Energy
Resources Development Bureau said Japex has a
$100-million liability insurance which takes effect one
year after the actual drilling explorations.
He said
Japex’s service contract with the Philippine government
to explore oil in some areas covers seven years, so
“Japex would be around for quite a long time.”
Chamberlain Fabiera, the superintendent of the Tañon
Strait Protective Seascape, proposed to the team that
each member receive P1,500 a day in honorarium for their
work for the monitoring team, over the actual expenses
they incur.
“This is
not the usual work that we do,” he said.
Moriya,
however, said financial compensations should be in
accordance with government audit rules.
Japex is
set to shoulder all expenses of the MMT. |
