Oil spill contractor refuses to give address, payroll

Provincial Capitol, Iloilo City 

May 19, 2014


ILOILO Gov. Arthur D. Defensor lashed at the contractor for the oil spill clean up in northern Iloilo for criminal negligence and vowed to haul it off with its co-conspirators before the Ombudsman.

Task Force Buliganay Estancia, an NGO organizing victims of the oil spill, announced it will also sue Kuan Yu Global Technologies, Inc. (KYGTI) before the labor court for the ailments afflicting people that it hired for the cleann up.

Defensor said that while Kuan Yu must be sued for negligence, heads must also roll from government offices for rigging the public bidding that awarded Kuan Yu the P87-million contract. 

“Kuan Yu has a paid-up capital of  only P62,000, it has no equipment and its personnel have no experience in responding to oil spills,” fumed Defensor as he convened the task force meeting this morning. “The company’s sole experience is in water purification and bottling.”

The task force meets every Monday morning.

Grace Lobaton, spokesperson of Task Force Buliganay Estancia, also a member of task force oil spill, said her group has an inventory of residents who worked for Kuan Yu, “one of them have died while the rest complained of dizziness and respiratory problems.” 

“Kuan Yu did not provide them PPE (personnel protective equipment) and basic information on how to handle leaked oil and contaminated debris.

But wait: 

If Defensor and Lobaton made good their threats, how would they locate Kuan Yu where its officers sit? Since day one, Kuan Yu’s Valentine Menpin called the company address “trade secret” and required task force members to “write a formal request”.

To this date, Menpin maintains Kuan Yu’s address only at “c/o Philippine Coast Guard, PPA compound, Botongon, Estancia, Iloilo.” It’s personnel occupy a quarter of the PCG.

The Rules of Court requires the addresses of defendants indicated in the initiatory pleading for the court to reach them with summons and other processes.

The task force since day one has been asking Menpin to submit its payroll so to identify its personnel. It gets the same consistent reply: write an official request.

”How can I send my mail when you don’t give me the address,” retorts Lobaton.

That same verbal tussle recurred for the nth time this morning as Defensor’s threat of legal action grew louder.

Regional epidemiologist Dr. Glen Alonsabe of the Department of Health is also interested on Kuan Yu’s list of employees to monitor the impact of their exposure to the fumes of bunker fuel especially the deadly benzene. “We are helping your company, in fact by ensuring that your workers are protected from the risks of poisoning,” he told Menpin.

The Department of Health has a standing team up with the Department of Labor in monitoring work conditions, whether employers comply with health standards. It sent its Usec. Paulyn Jean Ubial but her presence failed to soften Menpin's stand.

Power Barge 103

The spill came from Power Barge 103 owned by the National Power Corporation – Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Napocor – PSALM) when super-typhoon Yolanda lashed the Visayas November 8, 2013. The barge, moored off Botongon, Estancia was battered by storm surges to the rocky shore. 

The task force this morning discussed the assessment from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environment Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), Dr. Rex Sadaba the consultant hired by the provincial government, and Kuan Yu’s Valentin Menpin.

Sadaba and EMB’s Arjunn Calvo noted improvement in the clean up showing comparative photographs from January to April this year. The former though grumbled at Kuan Yu’s inefficiency and breach of protocols. Menpin on the other hand claimed “80.55 percent” completion to which Sadaba and Coast Guard Commodore Athelo Ybanez disagreed. 

The task force follows the standard of 80 percent clean up “let natural recovery take care of the remaining 20 percent.” 

“Your accomplishment is only 90 percent of the 80 percent,” Ybanez, co-chair of the task force, reminded Menpin.

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