Spill No More

For the dearest Guimaras and Taklong



I have watched this show on cable TV about how to control oil spills once it happened. They had a little simulation on one of the waters of New York on how to stop the spreading of oil spills. They used detergents (of what kind, I don’t know) and sprayed on the affected area through water vessels and aircrafts. These environment-friendly detergents work by disintegrating large amounts of oil into very tiny globules easily consumable by the marine species. By this, they have easily contained the spill in just little amount of time. I’m hoping that this country would have done the same to the oil spill that happened off the coast of Guimaras. It is so depressing that I can’t even imagine its long-term effects on tourism and marine life of the island. I am worried about the future of Taklong Island and the coral reefs, mangrove forests, and seagrass beds that surrounded it. Taklong Island was one of the areas hit by the said sinking of oil bunker of Petron. The government has already sought help from foreign countries and hopefully this thing will be solved before the damage will become so humungous that it will take decades to reconstruct again the area. It has affected many livelihoods that solely depend on fishing. And the mangrove forest, seaweed beds, and coral reefs that took years to be made were just wiped out overnight. It will take decades (approximately 30 years for mangrove forests) to replenish again the once beautiful beaches of Guimaras. What will happen now to its white beaches, to Nemos and anemones, to the colorful lives swimming haplessly underwater, to the people who finds solace on sunset by the beach, to the locals who finds sustenance to the abundance of the sea, to the people like me who prefers swimming/diving than shopping, to the memories once surrounded by joyous snapshots beside the giant clams, to tourists who fancies the solemnity of the island than the slapdash nightlife of Boracay, to ordinary people who washes themselves everyday in the sea? We have to wait till then.



The solution to prevent this from ever happening again is for the people to reduce their dependence on oil. That may be very hard, but as ingenious as we are, we can always find ways. And to further avert it, I urged the Philippine government or the world itself to authorize regulations that force if not require both the shipping industry and the oil companies to operate under the highest standards of ships and crews. I believe the captain (if he deserves to be called as such) of the said craft has little training or knowledge on how to operate the vessel that sank in Guimaras Strait. It was definitely an ecological time bomb that has long-term and possibly permanent damage to the environment and livelihoods of the people. Again, we still have to wait. But by waiting, we are only letting this happen, so we have to act now, make a choice, stand up, and prevent these things from occurring in the future. And by the way, please oh please, let Petron and its sister companies pay for the rehabilitation of the said area and not the taxpayers’ money.



I Too...

I too will weep with the wails of the whales
and the humming of the wind
while it caresses the very soul that feeds
on reminiscence of sun pricking the hairy pale arms,
the waves that send bodies come tumbling down,
the blowing air that dries and chicken-skins our wet bodies,
the cold night by the beach that shivers our feet
and crabs our arms to wrap ourselves
if there is no one around to wrap ourselves into.

I too will snivel with the bawling and thunderous waves,
with the sirens of bamboos brushing their slender bodies together,
with the blubbers of bubbles stroking the soles of my feet,
with the purring of distant creatures whom we assume watching over us,
with the droning of the night that will succumb to the rising of the sun
and will once again cry in vain to the mercilessness of mankind.

This black gooey oil will forever soil
the tiny flappers of young sea turtles
that once innocently strode over, gasping for air,
floating and paddling its arms on the surface,
and washed aback to shore lifeless.

PS: All the mangrove reforestation and carol transplantation were now in vain. So help us God!

PS: All the coral transplantation, mangrove reforestation were all now in vain. So help us God.