By
Jonathan L. Mayuga - May 29, 2018
ENVIRONMENTAL
groups are up in arms against a proposed oil and gas exploration project that
threatens the livelihood of tens of thousands of municipal fishers in 30
coastal towns near the Visayas and Camotes seas.
The oil and gas
exploration project covers over 500,000 hectares of municipal waters and stands
to impact the Visayan Sea and adjacent protected area.
In a letter addressed
to Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Pinol,
Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu, Interior Secretary Eduardo M. Año, Cebu
Gov. Hilario F. Davide III, Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo G. Maranon Jr. and
Iloilo Gov. Arthur D. Defensor Sr., Oceana Philippines Vice President Gloria
Estenzo-Ramos said the municipal waters to be impacted by the project are for
the preferential access of subsistence fishers.
In particular, leaders
of the groups are questioning the issuance of Petroleum Service Contract 69,
which they alleged was issued without compliance of the rigid requirements of
various national laws and landmark Supreme Court rulings designed to protect
the country’s fragile marine environment and the threatened species of fish,
the marine environment and the people dependent on them for their survival.
In 2008 the Department
of Energy awarded a petroleum service contract to Phinma Petroleum and
Geothermal Inc. covering 528,000 hectares in the Visayan and Camotes
seas. It covers the municipal waters of 30 coastal towns in the
provinces of Masbate, Cebu, Bohol and Leyte.
The Visayan Sea is a
rich fishing ground and is being eyed as a fisheries management area. It is
also adjacent to the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS), the country’s
largest marine-protected area and is a known migratory pathway of 14 identified
species of whales and dolphins, making the contract area an environmentally
critical area.
Aside from the TSPS,
the contract area also straddles other protected areas, such as the Olango
Island Wildlife, a Ramsar site or wetland of international importance, and the
Cuatro Islas Protected Landscape and Seascape.
“It is patently a gross
violation of the state-guaranteed duty to protect the rights of the people to a
balanced and healthful ecology,” Ramos, an environmental lawyer, said in her
letter.
Ramos said as heads of
the various government agencies with the mandates of protecting “life-giving
support systems” Cusi, Pinol, Cimatu, and Ano are expected “to take action and
consider food security, ecological integrity and sustainable livelihoods over
and above purely economic considerations”
Ramos, an environmental
lawyer who won a landmark case in the Supreme Court to stop a similar project
within the Tanon Strait several years ago, is supported by leaders of various
environmental groups and people’s organizations who signed a position paper.
The signatories are
Liza Elema-Osorio of Philippine Earth Justice Center, Delfa T. Talaid of
Tambuyog Development Center, Celso Ilustrisimo of Maricaban Fisherfolk
Association, Venerando Carbon, Brenette Abrenica, Socorro Atega, and Mariano
Sarcol.
In their position
paper, they said offshore drilling for oil and gas is a highly pollutive
business. “It discharges toxic wastes and carcinogens, leaks and spills
oil, and disrupts hearing capacity of marine mammals during seismic surveys.”
They said exploration
for offshore oil and gas in the Visayan and Camotes Seas must not be allowed
because of the pollution from exploration and offshore drilling, the potential
adverse impact that will cause the economic dislocation of tens of thousands of
subsistence fishers.
They argued that with
the project, subsistence fishers will be forced to spend extra for gasoline as
they will be eventually banned from fishing in their traditional fishing
grounds.
The protesters said the
DOE awarded the Service Contract to Phinnma without prior consultation with the
stakeholders.
“The Local Government
Code requires a national agency authorizing any project that may cause
pollution, climate change, depletion of non-renewable resources, and extinction
of animal or plant species, to consult with the local government units,
nongovernment organizations, and other stakeholdes,” the petition stated.
They said the concerned
national government agencies must explain the goals and objectives of the
project, its impact on the people and the environment and the measures to be
undertaken to minimize its adverse effects.
“Without this
consultations and prior approval of the Sanggunian, the service contract for
petroleum cannot be implemented,” they said.
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