MikeLigalig.com

By Kit Bagaipo

A court order sought by oppositors of the seismic oil exploration at the Bohol-Cebu Strait is still pending at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) as fishermen opposing the survey junked negotiations to compensate for their loss of income offered by the Department of Energy (DoE) and NorAsian Energy Ltd.

The petition for injunction and temporary restraining order (TRO) filed by City Mayor Dan Lim and 30 representatives of non-government organizations and fisherfolks was filed Tuesday but was raffled off to RTC Branch 4 only last Thursday after Executive Judge Fernando Fuentes was in Manila for a conference last week.

The fishermen's group has threatened to hold a fluvial blockade between Maribojoc Bay and Loon starting tomorrow to obstruct the vessel M/V Pacific Sword from gathering data in the survey area.

According to Conservation-Watch (C-Watch is an alliance of NGOs and fisherfolks) spokesman Ira Pamat, some 2,236 fishermen, fishing workers and lab-aseras (fish vendors) from the towns of Panglao, Dauis, Tagbilaran City, Cortes, Maribojoc and Loon have signed a manifesto opposing the oil seismic survey.

In fact, copies of the signature campaign were endorsed to Gov. Erico Aumentado and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) yesterday.

Copies were also mailed to the Department of Energy (DoE).

"Fishermen would not go into negotiations for compensation," Pamat stresed.

According to fishermen, who comprise majority of the alliance, "compensation is not the main point of [our] opposition, it is the negative livelihood and environmental impact over the vague economic benefits."

Last Wednesday, while the seismic survey started at the Cebu waters, a group of fishermen in Loon reported that their payaos (fish pens) disappeared from their fishing areas.

The Loon municipal waters is just a few kilometers away from the seismic exploration in the waters of Sibonga and Argao towns in Cebu.

Moreover, there have been reports from fishermen in the province that fish catch since the start of the oil seismic survey last Monday have gone down.

According to lawyer Raul Barbarona, chair of the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), the fishermen reported the loss of their payaos to him and to the Loon PNP station.

Barbarona likewise informed the RTC regarding the disappearance of fish pens since NorAsia have issued an advisory last week of a clearing operation before the start of the seismic survey.

The project, which has cordoned off an area with a 15-km radius, prevents access to fishing grounds.

The petition of Mayor Lim et al, named respondents Allan Arranguez, Department of Environment and Natural Resources acting regional director; Energy Secretary Rafael Lotilla; and Rufino Bomasang, chair of NorAsian Energy Ltd., the firm that is conducting the exploration.

The complainants said conducting seismic surveys in the strait will bring "irreparable harm" to marine life, citing previous studies.

They said documents explaining the project failed to mention its effects on fishing grounds in the area.

The process requires the use of machines that send out loud noise under the sea. The complainants said some fish species in the area could be harmed by noise of less than 100 decibels.

They said the project proponents also failed to secure first an environmental impact statement that was needed before such an exploration could begin.

NorAsian and DoE, the complainants said, also failed to hold consultations with fishermen and other groups near the project site.

Barbarona said a court order would stop the exploration even in the Cebu side.

Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado has formed a group to study the effects of the seismic survey on marine life and compute compensation for the fishermen, but Barbarona said the process would take too long.

Barbarona said 4,000 to 5,000 fishermen from the towns of Loon, Maribojoc, Cortes, Dauis, Panglao and Tagbilaran City have to be compensated for loss of income.

In Cebu, some fishermen have received compensation of P7,000 (for those from Argao) and P8,000 (for those from Sibonga town).

Fishermen from the towns of Dalaguete, Alcoy and Bolhoon have yet to receive any compensation.

The militant fishermen's group, Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya (Pamalakaya), warned that a shortage in fish could occur as a result of the seismic survey in the Bohol-Cebu Strait.(The Bohol Chronicle, June 24, 2007)

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Higalang Erico,

Salamat ning maong kasayoran. Batid ka diay sa pamalaod sa atong nasud ug nalipay mi nga ania ka maglamdag kanamo niining mga butanga.

All for the love of Bohol...

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Hi Macky,

Here's a report that would back your comment

Dolphin stranding puzzles scientists
By Alex Pal
The Philippine Daily Inquirer

Dumaguete City – For some residents of a fishing community in Barangay Mangnao in Dumaguete City, it was their first time to see a sea creature that big up close.

It was a dead dolphin that they found on Milrose Beach on May 9.

Incidents of dolphin stranding are not unusual in the city and in Negros Oriental. In fact, the latest incident has been the fifth reported in the province since April.

“This is puzzling,” said Julietta Luchavez, manager of the Silliman University Marine Laboratory.

Luchavez said the first stranding in April was reported at the Silliman Beach, just off the Marine Lab. The second was in a beach in Dauin town.

Two dolphins stranded in the town of San Jose were not documented as fishermen divided the dolphin meat among themselves, Luchavez said.

The Silliman Marine Laboratory sent a team to recover the dead dolphin on May 9 and recorded its measurements before burying it. Luchavez said a graduate student, Leslie Callante, was looking into the matter.

Oil exploration

In April, a marine biologist studying dolphins and other marine mammals in the Tañon Strait voiced concern over the ongoing oil exploration off the coast of Pinamungahan, Cebu, which is directly across Guihulngan town in Negros Oriental.

Dr. Lemnuel Aragones, associate professor of the University of the Philippines’ Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, said the seismic survey—which entails the shooting of loud blasts of air into the seabed—could be heard by cetaceans more than 300 kilometers away.

The exploration activities, done through seismic surveys conducted by Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (Japex) and Forum Exploration Inc., are part of a seven-year contract with the Department of Energy to look for oil in the Philippines.

Hearing sense

“The most delicate sense of these dolphins and whales is their hearing,” Aragones said.

So sensitive are dolphins and whales to sound that people who go on watching tours are even advised to keep quiet when they see the mammals.

“To say that the cetaceans will not be affected by the exploration of petroleum is unacceptable to me as a scientist,” Aragones said.

A government news release has said that based on seismic studies conducted in 2005, the Tañon Strait is believed to yield one billion barrels of oil, which could take care of the country’s oil requirements for at least 10 years.

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