This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 28, August 21-27, 2005
Oil Find in Negros After
completing a one-year exploration activity, two firms, the Japan Petroleum
Exploration Co. Ltd (JAPEX) and a Canadian company Forum Exploration Inc. (FEI),
are reportedly finalizing a 25-year contract to extract and produce oil from
Tanon Strait. Tanon Strait is a narrow channel about 3 kms deep, 185-km long
between Cebu and Negros.
By
Karl G. Ombion ESCALANTE City, Negros
Occidental – After completing a one-year exploration activity, two firms, the
Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd (JAPEX) and a Canadian company Forum
Exploration Inc. (FEI), are reportedly finalizing a 25-year contract to extract
and produce oil from Tanon Strait. Tanon Strait is a narrow channel about 3 kms
deep, 185-km long between Cebu and Negros in central Philippines. It is the
extension of a major fishing ground with the Visayan seas in the north, and the
Cebu Strait in the south. The Department of Energy -
Region 7 (DoE 7) revealed that Tanon Strait has huge deposits of oil and
natural gas, estimated at one billion barrels, bigger than the Malampaya oil
fields in Palawan. This corroborates earlier news releases from Cebu that oil
and natural gas deposits were discovered by residents of the coastal city of
Toledo and Alegria town along Tanon Strait. But small fishers
organizations and coastal residents along the towns of the strait are alarmed
over these developments. They have forged an alliance called “Negros Fishers’
Forum.” The Forum was organized to protect sea resources from the threat of
destruction by government and corporate ventures such as the planned oil
extraction at Tanon Strait. According to sources from
the Department of Agriculture - Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
(DA-BFAR-R7), Tanon Strait is among the top ten major fishing grounds in the
country. It produces big and quality fish stocks, including blue marlin and
tuna. It is also famous for its schools of dolphins, attracting a growing number
of foreign and local tourists each year. Seismic
surveys and exploration Editho Namion, spokesperson
of the fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya in Negros Negros, told Bulatlat that they
noticed first signs of the oil exploration activity last year. Fisherfolks were
alarmed over sightings of a big and modern boat, R/V Veritas Searcher, assisted
by two tugboats Tbn-1 and Tbn-2, which was dragging long and huge cables and
pipes and planting the materials deep into the Tanon seas for weeks. The same
took place sometime early in May of this year. With the help of
PAMANA-Cebu and their allied NGOs in Cebu, Namion and his group checked with the
DoE 7 and experts in Cebu. They found that the reported incidents were seismic
surveys and preliminary explorations undertaken by FEI and JAPEX. Seismic survey
using air guns and other digging equipment appraise strait’s the geophysical
surface, including its magnetic property, electric conductivity and radioactive
emission, to determine oil and natural gas deposits. Oil
exploration contract Citing Cebu media reports,
Director Victorino Labio of DoE 7 confirmed the explorations, saying that it is
part of the government’s efforts to generate local oil and energy sources to
meet the country’s rising demand for oil. It also admitted that due to the
government’s lack of funds and technological capacity, it sought the help of
Japan and Canada, which have already been undertaking oil explorations in the
country. According to DoE records,
the Canadian company FEI spent $3 million for the project, while the Japan JAPEX
infused $6 million and provided the exploration facilities. Namion however added
that “these exclude the loan acquired by the Philippine government as its
counterpart in the project.” Namion said that they
learned that JAPEX and FEI have a seven-year contract with the Philippine
government to undertake oil exploration in the country. So far, the survey they
conducted at the Tanon Strait turned out to be the most promising, Namion added. Corporate
interests Namion said that when these
outputs are consolidated and finalized, the JAPEX and FEI will forge a 25-year
contract with the Philippine government for the actual extraction and production
of oil and natural gas deposits. When this happens, Namion
said, “it will not be the Philippine government and the Filipino people that
will benefit from the project, but foreign monopoly corporations.” “Not only will the Filipino
people pay the costs of these projects in the form of loan payments but will
also suffer the costs of the destruction of the environment. Worse, they will
not even benefit from this project,” Namion warned. Namion cited the case of
the foreign-funded and controlled Malampaya Deep water Gas-to-Power Project at
the off-shores of Palawan. The project, which started in 2001, was able to
extract about three trillion cubic feet of gas, 120 million barrels of
condensate, and around 57 million barrels of crude oil. According to Namion,
although the project is a joint venture between the Philippine National Oil
Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC), Shell Philippines Exploration (SPEX)
and the Chevron Texaco, only the latter two companies control and benefit from
it. “What is even sad,” Namion
added, “is that the government, through PNOC-EC, plans to sell its 10 percent
stake in the Malampaya project.”
Environmental destruction The Negros Fishers Forum
said that the oil exploration will not only deprive fisher folks and coastal
residents of their main source of living but it will ultimately destroy one of
the major sources of living of most people in the Visayas islands. The use of high-voltage
air-guns used to dig the sea-beds of the Strait, and huge boats with long cables
and pipes spread around the Strait, are dangerous to fishes, including the huge
schools of dolphins, fish egg sanctuaries, corals, and other marine resources,
and even small fishers plying the seas. Even commercial and cargo ships passing
the Strait face the risks of being caught by electric shocks, and their motors
by pipes and cables. In fact, Namion said that
some small fishers from the towns of Tuburan, Tabuelan, San Remigio, Medellin,
Daan Bantayan, Sta. Fe and Toledo City on the side of Cebu, and those in
Escalante, Toboso, Calatrava, Guihulngan, La Libertad , Vallerhermoso and San
Carlos City in Negros, have already experienced the effects of the exploration.
The effects include fishkills, destruction of fishing nets, and dangerous
obstructions caused by pipes and cables. Namion also reported that
prior to the start of the exploration last year, some coastal towns in Cebu have
passed ordinances like the establishment of more fish sanctuaries, color coding
for fishers, coastal zoning plans and limiting fishing in municipal waters.
These have affected hundreds of small fishers. In Negros, local government units
in towns affected by the project, have also restricted fishing in municipal
waters, and toward the middle of Tanon Strait, Namion added. As a result, fishers have
noted a marked reduction in the fish catch for the last six months, with most
getting an average of only 1-3 kilos of small fishes for 3-6 hours fishing.
Wilbert Dimol, chairman of
PAMANA-Sugbo, added that despite their protests, the Environment and Management
Bureau have given the exploration project a Certificate of Non-Coverage.
Namion hit earlier moves by
the provincial government of Negros Occidental to limit fishing in the Visayan
Sea, establish more eco-tourism and so-called fish sanctuaries in several
coastal towns in northern Negros. It also had a joint proposal with the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to impose a five-year
moratorium in commercial fishing in the entire Visayan Sea. Namion also slammed local
government units for “not informing the people” of the oil exploration in the
Tanon Strait, and “enforcing all sorts of restrictions without the benefit of
public consultations and hearings.” Projects and measures like
these, Namion opined, are just offshoots of the government’s “globalization”
policies, which now include its destructive mining code of 1995, fishery code of
1997, and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act, which favor big
business and foreign monopoly capitalists corporations. The Negros Fishers Forum,
in a press conference yesterday, vowed “to oppose the project, and will exert
all efforts to defend their rights and protect the national economy and
patrimony from imperialist plunder and exploitation.” Namion and Dimol said that
they will “inform and mobilize as many small fishers and coastal residents in
the Visayas, to effectively frustrate the implementation of the oil exploration
project. Richard Sarrosa, chairman
of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas-Negros, said that they are also demanding
that the Macapagal-Arroyo administration intervene on the issue, and take
concrete measures to stop the harmful and destructive oil exploration at Tanon
Strait. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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Fisherfolk fear displacement
Bulatlat