Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) [1]

by Siesta-friendly

Woh-oh, mercy, mercy me,
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be, no, no.
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east.

Woe indeed to the people of Guimaras who have not found justice from the day the Petron-chartered MT Solar I of the Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. sank with 2.1 million litres of oil on August 11, 2006 in the pristine waters off the Guimaras coast, causing the destruction of the livelihood of thousands of Guimaras residents and the long-term damage to the surrounding marine and coastal ecosystems.

Woh-oh, Mercy, mercy me,
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be, no, no.
Oil wasted on the oceans and upon our seas fish full of mercury,

A big No! No! indeed to the absence (still) of any court complaint filed even under the basic Civil Code provisions on Nuisance namely:

“Art. 694. A nuisance is any act, omission, establishment, business, condition of property, or anything else which: (1) Injures or endangers the health or safety of others; or (2) Annoys or offends the senses;

xxx”

Art. 699. The remedies against a public nuisance are:

(1) A prosecution under the Penal Code or any local ordinance: or

(2) A civil action; …”;

nor under the plain provisions of the “Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004″:[2]


“Section 27. Prohibited Acts. - The following acts are hereby prohibited:

    (a) Discharging, depositing or causing to be deposited material of any kind directly or indirectly into the water bodies … which could cause water pollution …”;

“The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998″:[3]

Sec. 4. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Code, the following terms and phrases shall mean as follows: … 4. Aquatic Pollution - the introduction by human or machine, directly Sec. 4. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Code, the following terms and phrases shall mean as follows: or indirectly, of substances or energy to the aquatic environment which result or is likely to result in such deleterious effects as to harm living and non-living aquatic resources, pose potential and/or real hazard to human health, hindrance to aquatic activities such as fishing and navigation, including dumping/disposal of waste and other marine litters, discharge of petroleum or residual products of petroleum, of carbonaceous materials/substances, and other, radioactive, noxious or harmful liquid, gaseous or solid substances, from any water, land or air transport or other human-made structure …

xxx

Sec. 102. Aquatic Pollution. - Aquatic pollution, as defined in this Code shall be unlawful”;

or the “Marine Pollution Decree of 1976″::[4]

Section 4. Prohibited Acts … it shall be unlawful for any person to:

    (a) discharge, dump, or suffer, permit the discharge of oil, noxious gaseous and liquid substances and other harmful substances from or out of any ship, … by any method, means or manner, into or upon the … waters of the Philippines;

xxx

    c) deposit or cause, suffer or procure to be deposited material of any kind in any place on the bank of any navigable water, … where the same shall be liable to be washed into such navigable water, … or increase the level of pollution of such water.”

Oh-oh, mercy, mercy me.
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be, no, no, no.
Radiation underground and in the sky; animals and birds who live near by are dying.

Mercy, Mercy on us who have a Department of Justice that could only file a complaint for violation of the Anti-Dummy Law[5] despite the environmental catastrophe that has been caused. And, for having a Provincial Prosecutor who dismissed for lack of evidence the complaint against the officials of Petron Corp. and Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. - for violating the Clean Water Act of 2004, RA 8749 (Clean Air Act of 1999) and RA 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000).[6]

In dismissing the complaint, the prosecutor said in his resolution that the sinking of the tanker and the oil spill were unintentional acts.[7] The relevant laws themselves do not distinguish between deliberate and negligent acts so we now have a prosecutor who also legislates and includes terms in legal provisions which the laws themselves do not contain. Mercy, mercy indeed.

Oh, mercy, mercy me.
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be.
What about this overcrowded land?
How much more abuse from man can she stand?

At the end of oil retrieval operations early this year, only 9 cubic meters (roughly 9,000 liters) of bunker fuel were recovered from all 10 tanks of MT Solar 1.[8] That’s 9,000 out of 2.1 million litres that the ship was carrying. The rest leaked out into the sea. To date, cases of asthma, diarrhea, high blood pressure and other ailments continue to hound residents of affected coastal villages.[9]Fisherfolk associations which had been affected by the oil spill a year ago have already informed the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) of low fish catch.[10]

Things definitely ain’t what they used to be.



[1] Gaye, Marvin. “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)”. What’s Going On. Motown Records, 1971.

[2] Republic Act No. 9275, “An Act Providing For A Comprehensive Water Quality Management And For Other Purposes” (March 22, 2004).

[3] Republic Act No. 8550, “An Act Providing For The Development, Management And Conservation Of The Fisheries And Aquatic Resources, Integrating All Laws Pertinent Thereto, And For Other Purposes” (February 25, 1998).

[4] Presidential Decree No. 979, “Providing For The Revision Of Presidential Decree No. 600 Governing Marine Pollution”. (August 18, 1976).

[5] Commonwealth Act No. 108, as amended, “An Act To Punish Acts Of Evasion Of The Laws On The Nationalization Of Certain Rights, Franchises Or Privileges”. (October 30, 1936).

[6] Burgos, Nestor P. Jr. “Guimaras town appeals junked case vs Petron”. Philippine Daily Inquirer. 30 March 2007.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Angelo, Francis Allan L.. “Only 9,000 liters recovered from Solar I“. http://sludge.wordpress.com/. 2 April 2007.

[9] Villa, Hazel P. and Sinay, David Israel. “Sickness hounds Guimaras residents“. http://sludge.wordpress.com/. 13 August 2007.

[10] Sinay, David Israel. “BFAR to assess Guimaras fishery resources”. http://sludge.wordpress.com/. 14 August 2007.


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