| By MONTESA GRIÑO-CAOYONAN |

Five sacks of oil slick were manually gathered by residents along the shoreline of Brgy. Sinogbuhan in San Joaquin, Iloilo yesterday.

The slick reached 500 meters of the village’s shorelines.

Using containment boom and other alternative materials, students of Sinogbuhan National High School and other responders scooped the oil slick.

Elvin Secreto, staff of Mayor Ninfa Garin said some residents suspect that the slick may have come from M/V Seaford 2 that sank in the waters of Antique two weeks ago.

Secreto also said Brgy. Sinogbuhan is a neighboring village of Brgy. San Francisco in Anini y, a municipality of Antique which is reported to have oil slick, too.

The mayor’s staff, however, said that based on the initial inspection of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) that visited the area, it’s impossible for the oil slick to come from the said vessel because no such cases were reported in the other areas of Antique.

Aside from Sinogbuhan, oil slick was also spotted in the neighboring village of Igcaglum but it’s minimal.

MONITOR

PCG Region 6 Commander Athelo Ybanez has already instructed his men to monitor the extent of the oil slick and trace its origin.

He said it might have come from passing vessels or fishing boats who throw their oily-water waste directly to the sea.

Ybanez added that the found oil slick has solidified, thus it’s impossible to have come from M/V Seaford which carried diesel fuel.

With this development, Ybanez reminded marine vessels to unload their oily-waste water at the slut tank in the port area. Discharging them unto the sea will cause marine pollution.

“This is a violation of our marine law. Any vessel caught doing such will be fined,” he ended.*