Oil Spill in Anilao, Batangas by Doy Tan
At around 10:00 AM today (October 14, 2006), scuba divers from Scuba World's Outrigger Resort namely Edward and Migo Hernandez, Colleen Lee, dive guide Biboy Labagala and dive master candidates Darren Abcede and your writer were at at the vicinity of Bahay Kambingan on Caban island for surface interval time after their first dive at Mainit point. Bahay Kambingan is right beside Kirby's Rock one of the many dive sites of Anilao, Batangas. The group just came from a dive at Mainit Point and while doing the surface interval at Bahay Kambingan, Darren Abcede notice that there was oil on the pebble covered beach. We immediately investigated and found out that the whole area had an oil slick. Knowing that Guimaras is too far away, we all agreed that the oil spill came from the area. Darren Abcede checked how much oil was on the beach and turned some pebbles around. Some areas were covered by over one inch of oil.
Thinking that it's an isolated incident, the dive group boarded their boat to their next dive at Kirby's Rock. On the way to Kirby's Rock, the smell of crude oil was in the air. The side of our boat was now a brown/tar color from the oil that was floating on the water. Even the marker buoy at Kirby's rock was also brown in color. We also noticed that the oil at Kirby's rock was thicker than the one we saw at Bahay Kambingan. We decided to abort our dive and proceed to another dive site, Sepok Wall.
During the boat ride to Sepok wall, we saw large patches of oil spill on the surface of the water. Upon reaching Sepok wall, the oil spill was just enough to allow the group to do a short dive. Upon surfacing, we headed back to Outrigger Resort to report the incident to the resort management. Fernando de Achaval immediately contacted proper authorities. As of this writing, the Philippine coast guard, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, WWF is now investigating the incident.
Forgive the wet lens, we just came from a dive...
