Lawyers hit ‘slow’ gov’t

response to oil spill

By the Inquirer Staff / 05:04 AM March 23, 2023

UNCERTAIN FUTURE Fishermen in the village of Suqui in the Oriental Mindoro capital city of Calapan take a boat to shore as they
have to wait for the lifting of a fishing ban prompted by the oil spill from a fuel tanker that sank off Naujan town on Feb. 28. —
MADONNA T. VIROLA

A group of 91 lawyers condemned the supposed “lackluster response” of the government in

addressing the oil spill from a fuel tanker that sank off Oriental Mindoro province on Feb. 28.
“We urge the government to take swift and decisive action to ensure that the right to a clean, healthy,
and balanced ecology is upheld and protected for the benefit of present and future generations of
Filipinos,” the lawyers said in a joint statement on Monday.

Among the lawyers who signed the statement were Gloria Estenzo Ramos, Antonio La Viña, Grizelda
Mayo-Anda and Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno—all known for their work in environment- and human
rights-related cases. They noted that it was only after the Senate inquiry last week that “critical details
finally came to light two weeks after the tragedy struck.”
They decried the lack of permits from the shipowner, RDC Reield Marine Services Inc., and the lack
of clear coordination among the government agencies supposed to be responding to the disaster.

Accountability
MT Princess Empress, which carried 800,000 liters of industrial fuel, sank in the waters off Naujan,
Oriental Mindoro due to engine trouble. The vessel was located by a remotely operated vehicle
(ROV) off Pola town on Tuesday.
The accident led to an oil spill, where slick reached the coastlines of Oriental Mindoro, Palawan and
Antique, moving further north toward Batangas.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development reported that as of Tuesday, 31,469 families
(148,382 people) from 119 barangays in Oriental Mindoro, eight in Palawan and four in Antique were
affected by the oil spill.

“It’s time we demand accountability from PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) and Marina (Maritime
Industry Authority), which allowed the ship to sail without a proper permit,” said Joel Jabal, former
president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Oriental Mindoro chapter, in a Facebook post.
Jabal, one of the signatories, said the charterer would be “equally liable as the shipowner.”
The lawyers chided the government for providing incomplete information on the cargo owner and the
type of industrial oil carried by the vessel, and the impact of contamination in waters and coastlines
reached by the slick.

They also criticized the “inconsistent statements from government agencies and the shipowner
concerning the legality of the tanker’s operations in relation to the amendment of the latter’s
certificate of public convenience, and the state of the tanker, being new or a rebuilt scrap.”
EDITORIAL

Online safety begins with the user

EARLIER this week, the US government issued an ultimatum to Beijing-based social media company
ByteDance, demanding that it divest itself of the popular short-video app TikTok or be banned from
doing business in the United States entirely. It is widely believed by US officials, not entirely without
justification, that ByteDance's close ties to the Chinese government present a grave security risk,
allowing the popular app — which has over 100 million users in the US — to be used as a tool in
spycraft.
The latest pronouncement by the federal government follows a series of actions to constrain TikTok,
including a ban on its being used or installed on any government devices, or being used by
government employees. At least 14 US states have imposed similar measures, and in recent news
reports, a number of major universities have also announced bans on TikTok, or said that they were
considering banning it.
All of this may appear to be a bit hysterical from our perspective, particularly since there is a clear
political motive to the US government's attack on TikTok. It does, however, draw attention to
concerns about eroding security and safety online, not just with TikTok but thousands of other apps
as well, regardless of where they come from. Filipinos are voracious consumers of online media, and
are particularly at risk, a worry that was highlighted in a story in the Manila Times on Friday, which
sounded the alarm about the rapid proliferation of fraudulent social media posts and ads offering
medical advice or marketing dubious products.
For those in the Philippines who might be concerned about whether the risks of "being spied on by
the Chinese government" described by US officials pose a threat to TikTok users here, professor
Graham Webster of the Stanford University Cyber Policy Research Institute injected some common
sense into the debate, in a video interview published online on Wednesday by the Huffington Post.
According to Webster, there is not much evidence that the Chinese government is using TikTok to
harvest data on users and whomever they may be connected to, nor that China or anyone else is
using TikTok's algorithm to manipulate content, at least not outside of China itself. However, the app
certainly could be used for those purposes, so the risk, while it has not manifested into a real threat,
does exist.
For the average user, Webster said, this probably should not be a cause for alarm, provided the user
exercises normal good judgment in what he or she views or interacts with. For critics of China,
particularly people with family or other ties to the country, that may be a different story.
Webster's point about users exercising good judgment is the part of the TikTok controversy that
should be emphasized. The Stanford researcher stressed that TikTok is not particularly unique; a
great many of the risks attributed to it are also present in any of the thousands of online apps that are
available and which we have come to take for granted. The worrisome story about the epidemic of
fake medical posts and products is a good example of how online apps can be manipulated in
harmful ways.
None of this is news to our regulators here, of course, and they do exert a great deal of effort to
promote and safeguard the public's online access and activities. However, regulation has limits, just
as Stanford's Webster stressed; the environment that needs to be regulated is simply too large and
growing too quickly for any government to manage, short of through drastic, freedom-quashing
means such as blocking access to whole sections of the internet.
The only real solution that allows people the freedom of access and choice they deserve, prevents
the sort of political friction the recent US move provokes and provides a reasonable level of safety for
online media consumers is to intensify efforts to educate the public to use apps and online
information safely. For example, educational programs could be developed for schools and made
part of the curriculum, which, if designed correctly, could have a significant positive impact, as most
consumers of platforms such as TikTok are young people. Other communication programs targeting
older people in a user-friendly way should also be developed.
Cha-Cha sa panahon ng pandemya
Hindi pa humuhupa ang pananalasa ng COVID-19 sa bansa at tumataas pa ang kaso sa ilang lugar.
Kinatatakutan din ang pagdami ng kaso ng South African variant ng COVID. Kasisimula pa lang ng
rollout ng bakuna at pawang health workers pa lang natuturukan. Sa Mayo pa umano ang mass
vaccination. Problema ngayon ang kawalan ng trabaho nang maraming mamamayan. Maraming
nagugutom na pamilya.

Sumasabay pa ang iba pang mga problema gaya ng African Swine Fever (ASF) na nakaaapekto sa
mga babuyan sa bansa dahilan para magmahal ang karne. Wala rin namang tigil ang pagtaas ng
gasoline, diesel at LPG. Apat na linggo nang sunud-sunod ang pagtaas ng petroleum products at
walang naririnig na pagbatikos mula sa mga mambabatas at iba pang sector.

Sa gitna ng mga problemang ito na nakasakmal sa bansa, ang pag-amyenda sa 1987 Constitution
ang pinagtutuunan ng pansin nang mga mambabatas. Sa halip na ang unahin ay ang mga solusyon
kung paano mahaharap nang maayos ang pandemya at mabawasan ang mga nagkakasakit ang
pagpapalit ng Konstitusyon ang prayoridad.

Sa halip na gumawa ng batas para matulungan ang mga naapektuhan ng pandemya, ang
pinagkakaabalahan ay ang pag-amyenda sa kasalukuyang Charter? Dapat ba itong gawin habang
sa kasalukuyan ay nagdaranas nang matinding hirap ang mamamayang sinalanta ng pandemya.

Sinabi ni House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco na ipagpapatuloy nila ang balak na pag-amyenda sa
economic provisions sa 1987 Constitution. Hindi pa umano “patay” ang kanilang pagnanais na
maamyendahan ang 34 na taong Constitution. Hindi rin daw totoo na wala na silang kakampi sa
Senado. Ayon kay Velasco, nakausap na umano niya si Senate President Tito Sotto ukol dito.
Mayroon pa umano silang isang taon para talakayin ang Charter amendments. Hindi umano sila
nagmamadali.

Hindi napapanahon ang pag-amyenda sapagkat ang bansa ay maraming problema. Pagdududahan ang pag-
amyenda sapagkat maaring magsingit ang mambabatas ng provisions na magpapalawig sa kanilang termino
o para hindi na sila makaalis sa puwesto. Nagiging makasarili ang mga mambabatas sa nangy

ayaring ito.