The Guimaras Oil Spill

It’s been more than 2 weeks now since the Guimaras oil spill incident and it seems help is very slow down there.

My mom called me up the other day and gave me updates about the incident. A lot of people have been affected. A lot of our relatives (from my mom’s side) are living along the coastline of Nueva Valencia either fishing, trawling or managing beach resorts.

Guimaras Oil Spill

The picture above was taken last February when I visited Alubihod beach, the northern part of Nueva Valencia.

I was told the because the wind was blowing eastward, some of the beaches weren’t affected yet. Still, there’s a huge posibility that the oil slick could spread even wider with the tide until that tanker is removed from 600 meters down.

We live in the Poblacion so my parents were’nt affected much though my mom told me they were collecting empty water bottles to fill them up with potable drinking water and deliver them to affected areas. Most of the people living along the coastline rely on deepwells so there’s a danger that they could also be contaminated.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

16 Comments

deuts says:

18 years ago

The wind’s blowing eastward, does that mean the tide moving towards the Negros island? Our family’s in Tigbauan, Iloilo. Tigbauan is also along the coastline. I’m not sure if the oil spill can affect our town. Nevertheless, this oil spill has got to end.
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andre says:

18 years ago

Petron is responsible for this! Sadly I do see neither remorse nor urgency from them.
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jong says:

18 years ago

i watched the news last night and yeah negros might get affected…
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retz says:

18 years ago

petron says no to 100m bond to guimaras, that’s bull
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jhay says:

18 years ago

Such a tragedy. Prevented if only the laws and common sense were followed. Petron and Sunrise maritime should really pay for the cleaning up this mess they’ve created.
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vance says:

18 years ago

theres no funds, tsk tsk.
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elmer says:

18 years ago

oil company’s profit is at all time high then they just close their pocket and eyes when this tragedy happens. im not sure if petron knows that they’re into petroleum business which this kind accident (??kapabayaan) might happen anytime. im not worry about the beach being affected by this tragedy but instead im more worried about the long-term effects to the livelihood of the people in nearby islands (or maybe the whole philippines).
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Jaypee says:

18 years ago

it’s sad to see nature and wildlife get damaged, destroyed or killed and to see these big oil companies turning their backs and not claiming responsibility for what happened. even if the spill was not their fault they should still do something in cleaning up the mess and pay for the damages caused by the oil spill. the oil spill will have short and long term effects on the environment and to the animals. animals and other sea life will die or have higher death rates by ingesting the oil. i just hope that the government will see to it that Petron does something about this incident and that it would be cleaned ASAP.
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webmaster says:

18 years ago

pls visit http://www.projectsunrise.org

thanks
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eric says:

18 years ago

abe i really cant believe this happened to guimaras.

Naluoy gd ako sa mga kasimanwa ta

naka ilang balik din ako sa guimaras. i love guimaras so much. naka ilang balik na ako dyan. i love alubihod, the trappist monastery, the balaang bukid, pulang pasayan, isla naburot, turtle island, and others.

despite all these tragedy, ill still go back to alubihod this coming october.

im actually planning to do volunteer work there, even just for a day.
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Maria Jose says:

18 years ago

The government should really put pressure on Petron not just to pay up, but to be more actively involved in creating solutions so the effects of the oil spill are kept at a minimum. More importantly, the government should make sure that strict regulations are in place to make sure nothing like this happens again.
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Brian says:

18 years ago

Hi Abe, just came back from Guimaras last week. So far ok pa naman Alubihod. Ganda pala dun, kasing ganda nun pic. Mas maputi pa yung sand kesa dun sa pic. Sana Petron will get the tanker out of there soon.
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Project Sunrise says:

18 years ago

For more updates on the Guimaras oil spill, please visit http://www.projectsunrise.org. Thanks!
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Clarissa says:

18 years ago

Petron needs immediate action for this……… remember this is all your fault
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kiko says:

16 years ago

sori late reply….it’s nice to see that some people really care about what is happening in our society..even a single thought, idea and opinion that we’ve shared might help to solve the case in guimaras..so petron company agency? would you please do some actions to cleaned up your mess as part of you duties and responsibilities in the community….
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