Press Release
June 2, 2007

SENATOR PIA: BILL ON OIL SPILL LIABILITY
AND COMPENSATION TO BECOME LAW ON JUNE 4

The usual finger-pointing on who should shoulder the cost of emergency containment and cleanup operations and for compensating damages to health and livelihood during oil spill incidents is about to end.

Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Chairperson Senator Pia S. Cayetano today announced that Senate Bill 2600, or the "Oil Pollution Compensation Act of 2007," is set to lapse into law on Monday, June 4.

The bill institutes the local mechanism for the prevention, abatement, mitigation and control of oil pollution within the territorial boundaries of the country.

"This measure is the product of the series of hearings and on-site inquiries we conducted during two of the worst spill incidents that struck the country in the last two years," pointed out Cayetano, referring to the "Napocor Power Barge 106 Oil Spill" off the coast Semirara Island in December 2005 and the "Solar I Oil Spill" off the coast of Guimaras Island in August 2006.

The bill creates an Oil Pollution Management Fund (OPMF), which will be used to cover containment and cleanup operations by the Philippine Coast Guard in the case of an oil spill.

It will also require any person who has received more than 150,000 tons of contributing oil in a calendar through carriage by sea to report and pay contributions to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPC), in accordance with the provisions of the 1992 IOPC Fund Convention.

Senate Bill 2600 was approved by the Senate and adopted by the House of Representatives last February. It was transmitted last month to Malacañang for the President's approval.

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