Greenpeace ship to assist Philippine Coast Guard to tackle oil spill

Under an agreement with the PCG and other groups, the Esperanza and its crew will conduct a joint visual survey with the PCG at the southeastern tip of Guimaras Island, the worst-hit area where a protected marine sanctuary has been badly devastated. The MY Esperanza will also transport clean up and containment equipment to PCG units on the ground, as well as relief goods donated by ABS-CBN Foundation to affected communities.

The Greenpeace ship and crew will also work with scientists and other marine/ecology experts to undertake impact assessment and determine the damage caused by the oil spill to important marine sanctuaries and coastal ecosystems in the area.

"The Philippine Coast Guard is enlisting Greenpeace in this short but vital impacts assessment work," said Commander Joseph M. Coyme of the Philippine Coast Guard."The information that Greenpeace and their partner scientists provide will give us solid basis in continuing our oil spill containment and mitigation work."

"Our main concern is how the government can effectively mitigate the impacts of this disaster to the marine environment and livelihoods of people. It will take years to clean up and rehabilitate affected areas and communities," said Von Hernandez, Campaign Director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia. "In this regard, we reiterate our call on the government to make Petron and its partners accountable for all the costs associated with this disaster."

The Esperanza is in the Philippines on the latest leg of her global Defending Our Oceans expedition to highlight the wonders and the environmental threats to the world's oceans and to campaign for the establishment of marine reserves. Scientists recognize the Philippine archipelago as the world's centre of marine biodiversity, but is also the most highly threatened, citing the danger of mass extinction in a scale similar to that of the destruction of the Brazilian rainforests.

On Friday, August 11, a Petron-chartered single hull vessel carrying 2.1 million litres of oil sank in Guimaras Strait, which Greenpeace characterized as an ecological time bomb that can cause long-term and possible irreversible damage to the environment and livelihoods of people.

Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation, which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force solutions essential to a green and peaceful future.

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