Firm hired to clean up Iloilo oil spill under fire

By: Nestor P. Burgos Jr. - 11 years ago

PART of the shoreline of Estancia, Iloilo, that was contaminated by oil spilling from a power barge that was detached from its moorings in the town, lifted off the water by Supertyphoon Yolanda’s 300 kph winds and slammed into communities. NESTOR P. BURGOS JR./INQUIRER VISAYAS

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — A private company hired for P87 million to clean up the oil spill in Estancia town in Iloilo is under fire for its perceived slow operations and questions about its capability to carry out the job.

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor said he was angry over the slow pace and lack of significant progress of the cleanup operations.

“It is very much delayed. I have told them to speed it up because the affected residents are planning to sue them,” Defensor told the Inquirer.

Commodore Athelo Ybanez, Coast Guard commander in Western Visayas, said the Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc. has not started siphoning the remaining bunker fuel from a power barge, 13 days after the Power Sector Assets & Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) awarded the contract to the company on November 20.

The company has also not deployed its petroleum hoses designed to siphon 80,000 liters per hour, and only the skimmers of the Coast Guard are being used to siphon oiled water, according to Ybanez.

Kuan Yu president Karl Ignatius Young said they brought in equipment, including a tanker and two cargo vessels, within a week of being contracted. But Yhe admitted that they have not started full operations to siphon the remaining fuel from the National Power Corp.-operated Power Barge 103 and were still connecting special hoses for collecting oil from the water and storing them in the cargo vessels.

He said one of their cargo boats was not designed to store and transport fuel and had to acquire emergency clearance from the Maritime Industry Authority.

“We appeal for understanding. We are doing our best,” Young told the Inquirer.

At least 500,000 liters of bunker fuel is believed to have leaked into the coast of Estancia, contaminating the coastline and forcing the evacuation of more than 2,000 typhoon victims due to toxic fumes.

Strong winds and huge waves churned up by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” last November 8 slammed the barge onto the rocky coastline, triggering the oil spill.

The evacuees have been staying in classrooms and tents at the Northern Iloilo Polytechnic College-West Campus since November 23.

Records from the Securities and Exchange Commission database showed that the Kuan Yu was formerly registered as Maxx Ionized Alkaline Water Inc. engaged in “collection, purification and distribution of water.”

In its amended articles of incorporation approved on April 16, 2012, the company included among its secondary purposes oil spill management, marine pollution management and oil spill cleanup.

It declared that its primary purpose was wholesale trading, electronics, heavy and industrial equipment and other businesses.

But Young claimed his company had the capability, experience and resources to undertake the cleanup.

He said he was with the First Response Marine Services Inc. that was contracted to clean up the oil spill off Semirara Island in Antique in early 2006.

“The company folded up after my partners pulled out so I incorporated it with the my company (Kuan Yu Global Technologies Inc.),” he said.