The dumping of 50,000 metric tons of nickel ore by Indonesian cargo ship Pax Phoenix on a vacant lot near Subic Bay should be of major concern to the immediate communities. The ship has been docked at the Subic port since August 2013. Almost entirely the whole community is already covered with reddish dust.
The ship was forced to dock at the Subic port and asked the permission of the chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Robert Garcia, to unload the nickel ore for drying. The dumping of the nickel ore has the go-signal of SBMA Chair Garcia, who explained that the cargo ship has complete documents issued by the Bureau of Customs.
It seems that the chair is in need of basic environmental education to understand the potential threat of nickel when released as fugitive dust to the environment.
In October of last year, the tanker Glenn Guardian disposed of 189,500 liters of domestic waste and about 760 liters of bilge water composed of water, oil and grease. These wastes were derived from Emory Land, a US Navy ship. The SBMA is expected to release the result of its own investigation, but until now no one has been held liable for this environmental crime. These cases are clear violations of Presidential Decree No. 979 (the Marine Pollution Decree of 1976) which prohibits the discharge of harmful substances from ships, vessels or barges into territorial and inland navigable waters of the Philippines.
The dumped nickel ore is detrimental to human health and ecological ecosystems. Constant exposure to large quantities of nickel would result in various illnesses such as asthma and chronic bronchitis, lung embolism, allergic reactions, respiratory failure, cancer of the lungs, larynx and prostate. Nickel present in the air will take a long time to dissipate and can easily transfer to surface water. It can also be adsorbed in sediments or soil particles. In an acidic soil condition, nickel tends to become more mobile and may end up contaminating the groundwater.
Garcia made the wrong decision in allowing the unloading of nickel ore even if the cargo ship had proper documents. He should be protecting the environment and the interest of the people, not the polluters’.
—MARIA FINESA COSICO,
secretary general,
Agham-Advocates of Science and
Technology for the People,
agham.national@gmail.com