Cleaners under watch as oil spill enters SRP, Talisay City

Health authorities are closely monitoring residents and volunteers who took part cleaning up the oil spill in Cordova’s coastline.

“Those most at risk are the workers, not the community because the oil spill becomes diluted as soon as it reaches them,” said Assistant Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial of the Department of Health (DOH)-Central Visayas.

Workers with prolonged exposure to the oil spill could acquire illnesses like anemia and leukemia, she said.

Police and Navy personnel were initially fielded for the coastal cleanup while residents and civic group volunteers also took part.

Ubial said the DOH is still closely monitoring the workers who helped in the coastal cleanup of the 2007 Guimaras oil spill.

Workers should wear protective gear like gloves, boots and face masks, said the official.

DOH-7 Regional Director Asuncion Anden citing health hazard standards, said workers need face shields attached to hard hats, and full cover eye goggles to prevent injury or irritation when using high pressure water nozzles, she added.

The management of 2GO Shipping Inc., owner of the sunken MV St. Thomas Aquinas, will deliver an underwater pump to siphon the remaining bunker oil from its ship after 11 days.

Philippine Coast Guard Cebu station commander Weniel Azcuna said there are 90,000 liters of bunker fuel remaining after 30,000 liters already spilled.

He said the oil will be pumped out on Sept. 9. The operation will be completed on Sept. 20.

Azcuna discouraged students from joining the coastal cleanup in Cordova.

An aerial inspection by the Air Force at 2.p.m yesterday showed that the oil spill has entered the waterway between the South Road Properties and Talisay City.

Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Officer Hembler Mendoza said he advised the city’s hotel and resort managements not to take out the oil spill booms because the winds may redirect the oil spill flow towards their establishments.

The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources office in Cebu said it will use half of the P6 million from the Integrated Coastal Resource Management Project (ICRMP) to replant damaged mangroves in Cordova.

About 2,000 fishermen in Cordova will receive P45,000 to reforest and rehabilitate the mangroves.l spill.

They have to submit documents certifying that their barangay was affected by the oil spill.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will assist them in the documentation.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Central Visayas said P1.4 million will be given as livelihood aid.

Fifty households will be given plastic pots and 40,000 mangrove seedlings. A fisherman will be paid P6 for every seedling he plants. With Correspondents Jose Santino S. Bunachita and Norman V. Mendoza