Oil Spill

The striken oil tanker Solar-I which sank Friday off Guimaras with 2 million liters of bunker fuel on board is leaking and threatens nearby coastal areas. The ship is on the sea bed some 3,000 feet (900 meters) deep. Philippine salvage teams only have the capability to dive to around 120 feet making any retrieval difficult. The black sludge had already reached Negros, the country's fourth largest island, and contaminated the beaches of Bago City and two adjacent towns.

Without sophisticated equipment, local residents are using indigenous materials like bamboo, straw, coconut husks, wood and other materials like oil drums, rubber tires, fishing nets and wire mesh for the booms. Macario Macariola, safety officer of Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. and team leader of the operations, said the company will hire a member of each affected household to help in the cleanup while it is still unknown how much this will affect the local wild-life.

It's apparent that these oil companies lacks the proper competency to address such disasters; I after this incident a more strict compliance should be required before oil companies are permitted to operate on the country. However, in the way i see it, since supplying the country with enough oil while maintaining the prices to barely affordable level is vital to the economy; the government has no choice but to turn blind-eye in imposing such regulations.