Ruivivar Misses The Point

In a letter to THE GUARDIAN last Saturday, the Public Affairs Manager of oil giant Petron Corporation criticized this writer for making erroneous and malicious allegations against Petron Chair and CEO Nicasio “Nick” Alcantara. In my GUARDIAN column entitled “Opportunity in Tragedy” (which I also posted here on September 22, 2006), I revealed that Holcim, the cement company which has been tapped by Petron to process the collected oil sludge from Guimaras, was partly-owned by Alsons Cement, a company owned by the family of Mr. Alcantara. In her letter, Miss Ruivivar informed that Mr. Alcantara already divested himself of his shareholdings in Alsons Cement and that Alsons Cement is now owned by Holderfin, the parent company of Holcim. I am reprinting Miss Ruivivar's letter here in full:

MR. LEMUEL T. FERNANDEZ
Publisher-Editor
The Guardian
Lopez-Jaena St., La Paz, Iloilo City

Dear Mr. Fernandez,

This concerns the column of Mr. Oliver M. Mendoza titled “Opportunity in Tragedy” that was published in The Guardian on September 22. In his column, he wrote that Holcim-Philippines is co-owned by Alsons Cement Corporation, a company owned by the family of Petron Chairman and CEO Nicasio I. Alcantara. Additionally, he wrote “that the Alcantara-owned cement plant effectively received free fuel from the oil spill.”

It is unfortunate that his column is filled with inaccuracies and malice that may have put Petron and Mr. Alcantara in a bad light. We take this opportunity to set the record straight and inform the public of the truth.

Contrary to what he wrote, Holderfin, the parent company of Holcim actually acquired Alsons Cement Corporation in January 1999. Thus, Mr. Alcantara divested of his stake in Alsons Cement long before he joined Petron on July 30, 2001. If Mr. Mendoza did his research, public documents from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) would easily verify this fact.

We chose Holcim to process the oily debris from Guimaras because they have the waste management technology that ensures zero harmful emissions. Additionally, Holcim’s operations are supported by its compliance to all environmental requirements by the government. That they will be using the processed waste as raw material for cement production is of secondary importance to Petron. We are actually paying Holcim on a per kilo basis to process the waste in an environment-friendly manner.

We do hope that in the future Mr. Mendoza would substantiate his facts like any responsible journalist would before writing his columns.

Despite our best efforts to disseminate the facts about the oil spill in Guimaras, we have been victims of constant attacks by the media both locally and nationally. Regardless of these, we wish to assure you that Petron remains committed to its objective to do everything humanly possible to help the people of Guimaras and restore the island to its former beauty.

In line with your reputation as “Western Visayas’ Most Read and Respected” publication, we trust that you will give us the same space in The Guardian so that your readers can be informed of the facts.

Very truly yours,
(Signed)
Virginia A. Ruivivar
Public Affairs Manager

I think Miss Ruivivar totally missed the point I was trying to make. The point that I was trying to say is this: By tapping the services of a company associated and, as Miss Ruivivar pointed out, previously owned by Mr. Alcantara’s family, Petron committed a questionable and improper act. The main issue here is that Petron, which the public thinks is one of the main culprits in this catastrophe, should not even be seen at the slightest as profiting from the tragedy. By using Holcim, Mr. Alcantara opened himself up to a potentially compromising position and embarrassing situation where his motives will be questioned. Now, the question at the back of peoples’ minds is: Did Petron give the collected oil to Holcim as a personal favor to Mr. Alcantara’s business contacts? Was it proper for Petron to give the oil to Holcim (for free) given the fact that Holcim had a prior transactional relationship with the Alcantara family of Mindanao? To my mind, the fact that Mr. Alcantara had already divested is immaterial and does not assuage peoples’ suspicions. PR-wise, I believe it was a bad decision on Petron’s part to hire Holcim.

In fact, the decision to award the recovered oil sludge to Holcim raises more questions (which I hope Miss Ruivivar, in the interest of transparency, would answer) such as:

1. How was the decision to give the collected oil sludge in Guimaras reached at?
2. Was the Petron Board of Directors consulted?
3. Or if it was a unilateral decision, who made that decision?
4. Before awarding the oil to Holcim, did Petron conduct a survey of other alternative/cheaper ways of destroying/disposing the oil sludge?

What is actually more surprising is the information offered by Miss Ruivivar that they are in fact “paying Holcim on a per kilo basis to process the waste in an environment-friendly manner.” I presume (since we are but a mere provincial daily) that Miss Ruivivar does not regularly read The Guardian. But if she read my column dated September 7 entitled “Australian Firm Offers to Take Out Guimaras Oil For Free” wherein I wrote that a liquid and hazardous waste treatment plant in Cavite EPZ has offered to treat the Guimaras oil sludge free of charge. Thereafter, I wrote an email to Maila Ong who also works at the PR department of Petron Corporation and likewise tried to contact other Petron people to tell them about the generous offer of the Australian toxic waste disposal expert. But to date, I have yet to receive a reply to my email and the only reaction I got is the letter from Miss Ruivivar.

If they knew about the Australian firms' offer, I wonder what the stockholders of Petron Corporation, especially its foreign partners Saudi Aramco, would do about such offer. I wonder if they would still opt to give the oil to Holcim. I wonder if they would still choose to pay Holcim (on a “per kilo basis” as Ruivivar bared) to process the recovered oil sludge. Aside from the Australian firm, I am sure that there are many liquid waste treatment plants out there which would gladly process the oil sludge for free – my Australian contact says the oil sludge can be treated, recycled and sold again as bunker fuel, thereby making a profit for anyone who gets the oil sludge. So I really do not understand Petron’s decision choosing Holcim when there is someone offering to do the same job for free.

Miss Ruivivar closed her letter by bemoaning the fact that “despite our best efforts to disseminate the facts about the oil spill in Guimaras, we have been victims of constant attacks by the media both locally and nationally. Regardless of these, we wish to assure you that Petron remains committed to its objective to do everything humanly possible.” Well, the only thing I can say to this statement is that I believe Philippine media has in fact even been “nice” to them and have been treating Petron Corporation with kid gloves. If this tragedy happened in other countries, the media would already be calling for heads to roll and there would already be mass resignations from the top executive to middle management levels of the corporation. Moreover, the offending parties would not have the temerity to claim that they are the victims and be indignant about the supposed unfair and biased media coverage they are getting.

The Petron Oil Spill in Guimaras is a crime. Petron PR officials would like us to believe that it is a crime with no criminals. I do not think that people will swallow their PR line.

Semirara, The Other Oil Spill

Now that national media attention has been focused on the Petron Oil Spill and Malacañang has declared Guimaras as a calamity area, let me now direct attention to the other, "lesser-known" oil spill that happened only last December 18, 2005 off the coast of Semirara island in Antique province. Browsing over old news reports about that tragedy, one gets a sense that Filipinos are not so forward-looking and that we never seem to learn from the mistakes of the past.

In that incident, approximately 364,000 liters of bunker fuel seeped out of a Napocor barge (Power Barge 106) when it ran aground 200 meters off Semirara island. The oil spill affected some 230 hectares of shoreline, sandy and rocky beach, and mangroves in Antique (Read more here). Like in Guimaras, inclement weather was blamed for causing the accident. And as in Guimaras, local residents were provided with rubber gloves and paid to manually clean up the sludge. And as we have come to expect when disasters like these occur, political leaders tried to project some semblance of official action in Semirara - Congress conducted its usual investigations "in aid of legislation" (read this Senate Resolution) and there were calls to improve the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (if ever there was one). I think it is safe to assume that nothing much came out of these purported "reforms" because another disastours oil spill happened a mere 8 months after Semirara.

The Semirara Oil Spill should have been the wake-up call, our clarion call to prevent similar disasters from happening in the future, much like the 1993 car bombing of the New York Twin Tower should have portended and alerted the Americans of the impending terrorist attack in 2001. I hate to think about it but if only our media had devoted more attention to the Semirara tragedy, the Petron Oil Spill in Guimaras would have never have happened. If only our government officials have acted and implemented measures to prevent similar "accidents" from happening, Guimaras would still be the pristine paradise that it was before the oil spill. Moreover, Semirara should have given government agencies like NDCC, Coast Guard and oil companies like Petron invaluable experience and practical knowledge on oil spill mitigation and disaster management techniques. Instead, when the Petron Oil Spill broke out, our government officials were so unprepared and obviously did not know how to deal with it. Our national disaster plans are a total disaster.

As a people, Filipinos do not know how to plan for the worst. We seldom prepare for contingencies: walang Plan B, Plan C, Plan D sa atin. In fact, we always tend to look at the bright side of things - I think sociologists call it the "bahala na" attitude. Filipinos are inherently optimistic and passionately temperamental - a trait we got from our Spanish forebears - which decidedly makes us more Latino than Asian in outlook.

Well, I guess you need to have a little "bahala na" attitude to survive in this blighted, disaster-prone country called the Philippines. This is probably the reason why, despite all the corruption, bad governance and meager economic opportunities in the country, various surveys show that Filipinos are among the happiest persons in the planet.

Opportunity in Tragedy

Two days ago, the Light Cargo Tanker (LCT) contracted by Petron Corporation and the Philippine Coast Guard to take out the collected oil sludge in Guimaras finally departed Cabalagnan Wharf in Nueva Valencia for Mindanao. Carrying around 500 Metric Tons of bunker fuel sludge and assorted debris, the LCT will deliver the waste material to the Holcim Cement Plant located in Lugait, Misamis Oriental where it will be used as an alternative fuel and raw material for cement production. Another 2,000-ton capacity barge is currently at dock at Nueva Valencia, just waiting to be loaded to its full capacity. The people of Guimaras can now heave a sigh of relief seeing that the highly toxic oil sludge are finally being taken out of their island province. People should also be thankful to Petron Corporation for voluntarily shouldering the cost of transporting and disposing the collected oil sludge. Or should they?

In a blog entry here dated September 7, I wrote that an Australian liquid waste treatment firm was offering to treat FOR FREE the collected oil sludge in Guimaras. I then made inquiries and emailed several Petron officials about the offer. To my dismay, I got no response - not even an acknowledgement. Now I know why Petron Corporation officials did not accept the offer of my Australian contact.

Guess who owns Holcim-Philippines? C’mon take a guess. Sirit?

It is none other than Alsons Cement Corporation, a company owned by the family of Petron Chairman Nick Alcantara. In other words, by giving the contaminated oil to Holcim, the Alcantara-owned cement plant effectively received free fuel from the oil spill. Talk about making money out of a tragedy. As the old Chinese proverb says; "In every problem there is an opportunity." Kung sa Tagalog pa: “Nakatulong ka na, kumita ka pa." Galing galling talaga, di ba?

Alsons, which stands for Alcantara & Sons, is a family corporation which made its fortune in Mindanao engaging in agribusiness, retailing and extractive concerns like cement mining. Today, Alsons is one of the biggest Filipino-owned corporations in the country and Alsons Cement is just one of the many companies owned by the Alcantara Group of Companies. The Alcantara family also owns Alsons Corporation, Conal Corporation, Alsons Insurance Brokers Corporation, Saranggani Agricultural Corporation, Inc., Alsons Aquaculture Co., Inc., Alsons Development & Investment Corp., Alsons Land Corp., and C. Alcantara & Sons, Inc.

Holcim is a global cement brand based in Europe. In the Philippines, Holcim is co-owned by Alsons Cement Corporation and Union Cement Corporation (which also owns Hi Cement Corp., Davao Union Cement Corp. and Bacnotan Cement Corp.). In its web site, Holcim Philippines Inc. claims to be the leading cement manufacturer in the Philippines, employing 1,400 employees in four plants across the archipelago. It operates four cement plants – one in La Union, another in Bulacan, a third in Davao City and the Lugait Plant in Misamis Oriental. These plants account for a total installed clinker production capacity per year of 7.2 million metric tons and annual cement production capacity of 8.7 million metric tons. It is currently applying for tax incentives in the BOI.

The Alcantaras are widely-known for their entrepreneurial savvy, both in Manila and Mindanao business circles. And as a seeming testament to this fact, they were even able to turn the oil splll tragedy into an opportunity. Hanep! Mabuhay ang Pinoy entrepreneur!!

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The fiery Senator from Iloilo, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, has been diagnosed to be suffering from anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder. In a letter sent to Senate President Manuel Villar Jr., Santiago requested for an indefinite leave of absence so that she can recuperate in the hospital. Senator Santiago promised to report back to the Senate on Sept. 25.

SBMI Recommends Charges vs. SMDC, Petron & Capt. Aguro

The Special Board of Marine Inquiry yesterday concluded its investigation into the Petron Oil Spill and recommended the filing of appropriate charges against Sunshine Maritime Development Corp (SMDC), MT Solar I Captain Aguro and Petron Corporation. SBMI will furnish the Department of Justice a copy of their findings so it can determine the criminal and civil liabilities of Petron, SMDC and the ship captain. The Board also recommended the following measures:

• Rereouting tankers farther from the coastline;
• Establishing a real-time tracking system for ships;
• Making a risk assessment of sea routes and carriers;
• Strategic positioning of tug and salvage equipment;
• Modernizing Coast Guard equipment;
• Institutionalizing oil spill liability;
• Requiring all ships to be double hulled;
• Improving vessel construction;
• A review by Marina of all loadline certifications of tankers;
• Compelling Marina to ensure compliance to its rules and regulations;
• A review by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) to of policies for the issuance of licenses to seamen; and
• Holding ship owners primarily liable and responsible for hiring competent seafarers.

MT Solar I Was a Japanese Junk

The the DOJ and the Special Board of Marine Inquiry investigating the Petron Oil Spill found that the owner of MT Solar I, Sunshine Maritime Development Corp., only had P5 million in capital. Thus, they expressed doubt as to whether the company could afford to buy a brand new oil tanker. Most likely, they suspect that the ill-fated MT Solar I was a "Japanese junk" (a suspicion which Senator Jamby Madrigal earlier expressed), meaning that the ship has been "handed down" to the Filipino company because it can no longer meet Japanese Maritime Safety Standards. The Marine Inquiry Board claimed that this might be the reason why the ship sank quickly on August 11 in the middle of a storm. Earlier, the ship captain Norberto Agudo admitted during the hearing that his certificate to operate lapsed in 2002 yet, including those of his four subordinates. See photo of the ill-fated MT Solar I (courtesy of TNT).

Paradise Lost

More on the oil spill - During her visit, President Arroyo pleaged to make Guimaras "a paradise regained." Incidentally, she wants media to label the disaster "Solar Oil Spill" (earlier I suggested it be called the "Petron Oil Spill"). As part of her PR campaign, the President spent the night in a resort there to demonstrate to tourists that not all beach resorts in Guimaras has been hit by the oil spill. Despite media reports indicating that only 7 out of the 24 resorts in the island province was affected, many vacationers cancelled their bookings to Guimaras. DOT 6 Regional Director Edwin Trompeta estimates that around P3.5 million has been lost to cancelled bookings. In the last four years, resorts in Guimaras reported an increasing trend in revenues. In 2005, revenues reached P20.64 million; P8.2 million in 2004; and P6.1 million in 2003.

More than 3 weeks after the tragedy, a Japanese salvage ship finally arrives in Guimaras. Hired by Petron Corporation, the sonar-equipped and remote-operated vessel of the Japanese firm Fukada Salvage and Marine Works will be undertaking underwater inspection and determine the appropriate strategy for safely retrieving the oil remaining in the sunken Solar 1 tanker as well as re-floating the vessel.

The provincial government of Guimaras has threatened to file a P1billion damage suit against Petron Corp. and owners of the MT Solar I if they fail to remove the sunken tanker and compensate the affected residents. Actually, one Guimaras resort owner has already filed a suit against the owners of MT Solar I.

Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas flip flops on Petron Boycott pronouncement.

Guimaras Appeals for Help

Governor Rahman Nava is appealing to all people to help his island-province. A medical doctor before entering poltics, Nava is on his third/last term as Governor and is a Liberal Party member. Most Filipinos might remember him as the bemoustachioed guy crying on TV last week. Please visit this website for more details on how you can help.

Oil Spill Threatens Rare Shrimp Species in Guimaras

In Barangay Igang, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras, there is a beautiful island lined with palm tress, white sand and pristine coral reefs known officially in maritime charts as the Tiniguiban Islet. Located near the SEAFDEC Marine Observatory facility, locals prefer to call the island “Pulang Pasayan” on account of the rare species of scarlet-colored shrimp that can be found only there. Locals, especially the older ones, believe the shrimps are “enchanted.” In fact, superstitious Guimaras fisherfolk would usually warn the island’s visitors not to point the shrimps with their fingers or else something bad will happen to them. True or not, this island superstition has made locals scared to eat the shrimps, thereby allowing them to thrive.

It is truly an eerie sight to watch the red shrimps. Since people are generally accustomed to seeing shrimps turn red when they are cooked or steamed, one gets a strange sensation when watching the red shrimps swimming alive for the first time. The feeling is akin to seeing the dead come to life. I myself have seen the red shrimps many times already and I have to admit that I still get “weirded out” each time I see them scurrying along the island’s numerous cracks and crannies whenever I go snorkeling in Pulang Pasayan.

Together with its sweet mangoes, the mysterious red shrimps of Guimaras have since become a must-see attraction for foreign tourists and curious local excursionists in the island province. But future generations might not be able to see these strange scarlet-colored shrimps if our government officials and other concerned entities will not move fast to save them from the oil spill that is fast-approaching their habitat.

I have been going to Pulang Pasayan frequently ever since my uncle purchased the island several years ago. Jose Martinez, my uncle, bought the island from its owners more than five years ago to make it into his own private retirement get-away. When he first arrived, the island was littered with human garbage and its surrounding coral reefs were colored gray, destroyed by cyanide and rampant dynamite fishing. Now, the reefs are alive with color and teeming with marine life and the island is also rid of trash. Pulang Pasayan is now back to its pristine state, thanks in part to my uncle’s hard work, vigilance and financial investment.

A civil engineer by profession and a nature-loving sportsman by vocation, my uncle protected Pulang Pasayan’s reefs from illegal cyanide and dynamite fishers. He even fought and recently won a court case against a local fisherman he caught fishing with cyanide in the area. My uncle has invested his life’s savings on the island, constructing several nipa cottages, a rainwater system (the island has no freshwater source), and most importantly (at least to me), a toilet that flushes. When he is not so busy overseeing construction work, my uncle would spend hours scouring the island and personally pick up bits of candy wrappers, plastic bags and other human garbage. He would also strictly admonish visiting excursionists to bring their trash along with them. He even banned boats from docking on the island’s front beach area because their anchors scrape the seabed and cause damage to the coral reefs.

Now, all his years of hard work and monetary investment will most likely come to naught because of the oil spill. To prevent the oil sludge from contaminating Pulang Pasayan’s coral reefs, my uncle has put up primitive “oil booms” along the island’s seashore. I call it primitive because his “oil booms” are made only of bamboo and old clothes purchased from the local ukay ukay stores. I am not confident that his primitive contraption will prevent the oil sludge from contaminating the island. To date, he has not received any support either from local government officials or environmental groups. He is all on his own in Pulang Pasayan and he direly needs help to prevent the impending oil slick from reaching the island. What my uncle fears most is that the rare shrimps of Pulang Pasayan might be lost forever because of the oil spill.

I am therefore appealing to Guimaras Governor Rahman Nava, the Philippine Coast and other concerned entities to please include Pulang Pasayan in their oil spill mitigation efforts. I am also calling on all Ilonggos to please help save the red shrimps of Pulang Pasayan by donating their old clothes, bedsheets, curtains, etc. In the event that the oil spill reaches his shores, my uncle is also appealing for volunteers to help clean the sludge. Those who want to help save the red shrimps of Guimaras can get in touch with my uncle Jose Martinez at Hotel del Rio located along General Luna Street, Iloilo City where he stays.

Guimaras Oil Spill Photos

According to news reports, the oil spill has so far contaminated 239 kilometers of coastline and mangroves, affected 16 coastal barangays and displaced 2,000 fisherfolk in Guimaras. Guimaras Governor Rahman Nava said that the 1,100-hectare Taclong National Marine Reserve was also heavily damaged. The Special Board of Marine Inquiry will investigate reports that M/T Solar I allegedly was overloaded with oil when it sank during last week's typhoon.

(Photos Courtesy of Francis Allan Angelo, The GUARDIAN Newspaper)

Guimaras Oil Spill Tens Times Worse Than Semirara

Last Friday, an oil tanker carrying 2 million liters of oil sank 20 nautical miles off the coast of northern Guimaras (for more details, read this article). News of the oil spill did not immediately merit widespread attention because of the typhoon that caused widespread destruction in Western Visayas during the weekend. People are now just starting to realize how serious the Guimaras oil spill is to the marine ecosystem of the region. (Photo courtesy of Visayan Daily Star)

The latest oil spill in Guimaras already brings to two the number of oil spills to hit Western Visayas in just two years. Recall that only last December 2005, a NAPOCOR barge spilled 210,000 liters of bunker fuel off the coast of Semirara island in Antique. The Semirara Oil Spill destroyed more than 236 hectares of mangrove and polluted 40 kilometers of marine shoreline in Antique. It also took almost a year to clean up the mess and it seriously affected the livelihood of fisherfolk in the province. There were even fears that the oil slick would reach Boracay but thankfully, it proved to be unfounded.

The Guimaras Oil Spill (2 million liters) makes the Semirara Disaster (200,000 liters) pale by comparison. The latest oil spill is at least ten times worse than the Semirara disaster.

So how much will cleaning up 2 million liters of oil cost? If we are to judge by previous experience, NAPOCOR (which claimed full responsibility for the Semirara oil spill), allocated P90 million to rehabilite the mangroves, hire some 350 local residents for clean up operations and pay some 150 families who were directly affected by the oil spill. So if cleaning up 210,000 liters cost P90 million, it is therefore safe to assume that cleaning up the M/V Solar I oil spill would cost P900 million.

It is rather unfortunate that an environmental disaster of this magnitude would strike just when Guimaras's tourism industry seemed poised to take off. I myself have been doing my share in promoting the province's white sand beaches as a cheaper alternative to Boracay. What really infuriates me is that fact that all the nice white sand beaches in Guimaras are located near the oil spill site. Now, all the efforts in promoting the island province's tourism potential has come to naught because of this tragedy.

Aside from affecting resort owners, the oil spill will also affect the lives of poor fisherfolk in the area who rely entirely on the sea as their source of income and food. Petron definitely, should pay for this crime!