Insights on Guimaras

By Joy Angelica Subido
Publication Date: [Tuesday, September 12, 2006]

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/show_content.asp?article=274829

It seemed an inopportune time to visit, but two weeks after the country’s worst oil spill, we were on our way to Guimaras. While tourists previously knew the area for its pristine, deserted beaches and as the source of the sweetest mangoes, the area was now in the media limelight with scenes of sludge-damaged beaches and mangroves – certainly a sorry and disheartening sight for even the most intrepid traveler. However, the much-photographed oil-damaged scenery was nowhere in sight as our ferryboat reached the island. Clearly, not all areas in Guimaras were damaged by the oil spill. However, we were determined to view the worst-hit areas and we made our way to Nueva Valencia where, together with Sibunag and San Lorenzo, 25 out of 40 barangays were affected.

On the way to the ecologically compromised sites, it is so easy to forget that the place has been declared a calamity zone. Lush vegetation covers what we are told is mostly a limestone base. The verdant stands of mango and cashew trees make it almost effortless to imagine the sumptuousness of the orchards during fruit-bearing season when the branches are profuse with fruit; and each turn of the road revealed picturesque rural scenes similar to those painted by the Filipino masters. Likewise, locals told us about limestone caves and waterfalls in Buenavista but unfortunately, there was no time for these during this visit.

We slowly drove through the asphalted roads as little children smiled and waved at us. Two young girls carrying bouquets of orange and yellow santan flowers leisurely meandered on the roadside, while a vendor hawking fish carried her wares in a pail.

"Business has not been good," she rued in the vernacular. "People are afraid to eat fish." It was late in the morning and the sun was hot, yet the hawker remained cheerful and good-natured enough to agree to pose for a photo before slowly continuing to walk down the street.

In this safe and quiet island with a relaxed feel, even the occasional dog or chicken on the road is so laid-back that it takes its time to get away from the danger of being crushed by oncoming vehicles. Indeed, it is a pity that an environmental accident of this dimension has disrupted the serene lives of such a gentle, peace-loving people.

The provincial government estimates that shorelines affected by the oil spill total 220 kilometers. As of August 31, more than 100 kilometers of shoreline had been cleared and three barangays (Igarapdap, Canhauan, and Dolores) were declared clean, with volunteers from the company that owns the oil cargo taking it upon themselves to physically help in cleaning up the mess. To prevent the oil spill from creating more havoc on the shoreline, booms have been placed in the water to create a barrier to protect the shore.

"We keep track of our accomplishments on a daily basis. A lot of shoreline areas are almost clean," says Malou Erni, executive director of the Petron Foundation, who has been tasked by the company to be at the forefront of their relief effort. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Petron are partners in the cash-for-work clean- up for fishermen whose livelihood has been affected.

"This is not employment in the real sense of employment. This is just our way of helping the people in these first few days," Erni clarifies. The company is also distributing relief packs to families in affected barangays, and has made a commitment to seeing the area through the crisis. Long-term rehabilitation plans would involve alternative livelihood programs for fishermen and their wives, and based on initial assessments, poultry, piggery and cottage industries seem to be viable alternatives.

Although remediation of affected areas – particularly the mangroves, seaweed farms, and fisheries – will start once the clean-up is completed, marine and environmental experts have predicted that the affected mangrove systems are expected to deteriorate. Thus, Petron is tying up with UP Visayas, Silliman University, and the provincial government to develop a long-term rehabilitation plan for the area. "Our plan is that we will be here until such time that we have helped restore Guimaras. That means going beyond relief. Rehabilitation is part of our program," says Malou Erni. The roughly 1000-hectare Taclong national marine reserve was direly affected by the oil spill and is one of the areas that would require environmental rehabilitation.

As we went around the island and talked to people, we met Helen Stummer. The affable owner of Nagarao Island Resort is the face of optimism and resiliency among the property owners in the face of the ecological tragedy that has befallen Guimaras. She relates that she was relaxing in a beachside cabana at her resort, when she first smelled what smelled like grease. "Our boat needs an oil change," she remembers telling her sister who was in town for vacation from Germany. Glancing at the water, however, the women saw black globs of oil floating on the surface. Wasting no time, they rallied their staff and cut plants and tree branches to prevent the oil from reaching the shoreline of the resort. Locals tell us that Nagarao Island used to be where one could pick numerous fat crabs at low tide, and definitely there will be big changes after the environmental accident. However, Helen Stummer is unfazed. The accident is a temporary setback and although expected guests have cancelled their bookings this year, she believes that the current problems will be overcome.

Are the people of Guimaras angry with the oil company?

Petron volunteers say that they have felt no enmity against them. Instead, they talk about how they have been "adopted" by the communities where they have been assigned in the oil clean-up. The general consensus among locals, too, is that what had happened was a mishap.

Valeriano Gao, a 71-year-old fisherman from Nueva Valencia whose livelihood has been directly affected says that the sinking of the tanker was a reality that all seafarers may face. He has plied the seas since he was 12 years old and knows that the sea is a powerful entity. The resulting environmental degradation from the sunken ship’s cargo is a tragedy that no seafarer wanted to happen. However, he has no forbearance for unscrupulous illegal fishermen whose destruction of the environment is deliberate. "Despite Bantay Dagat, they still exist," he relates in the vernacular. "They know it is against the law and yet they consciously inflict damage." Cel Ganancial, 19 years old, and Mariano Llamas, 78, corroborate that they have heard the distant boom of dynamite-fishing blasts a few times in the past.

Perhaps, it is Corazon E. Baylen, school district supervisor of Nueva Valencia South, who conveys what most people in Guimaras feel. "There is fear and apprehension about the long-term effects of the environmental catastrophe," she says. "But maybe the message of this (tragedy) is that it is time to share. Maybe it is time for people to be more involved."

Indeed, as the attention of the nation is focused on Guimaras, many will involve themselves in working to rehabilitate the island. Malou Erni of Petron articulates the oil company’s commitment to the place, "We would like to see the day when we could see Guimaras get back to where it was before, or perhaps (to be) even better. We will be here until that time happens. We will be here until we are able to do what we set out to do."

However, in the face of this misfortune it will be the people of Guimaras who would have to maintain the strongest faith and to make their island even better than it was before.