CEBU CITY, Philippines - A marine biologist’s study of dolphin behavior in the Tañon Strait will be used in the filing of a lawsuit to stop ongoing oil exploration in the seas off west Cebu.
Dr. Lemuel Aragones of the University of the Philippines in Diliman on Tuesday presented findings of his 2004-2005 study, which he said showed the negative environmental impact of a seismic survey done by oil company explorers in the area.
The number of dolphins has declined, and the sea creatures, who used to leap out of the water to the delight of tourists, showed disturbed patterns of behavior, he said.
“We should be very careful in continuing this (oil) exploration,” Aragones said.
While stressing that he is not against economic development, he said, “Show me an example in the Philippines where there’s a good example of mining where the ecological integrity of the ecosystem is still intact.”
Almost half of the 25 species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) found in the Philippines can be sighted in Tañon Strait, which was declared a protected seascape by then President Fidel Ramos in 1998.
Bais City in Negros, and Bohol province, has developed its eco-tourism industry on whale and dolphin watching tours in the Tañon Strait.
Aragones spoke Tuesday at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Building inside the Capitol compound in Cebu City.
Lawsuits Environment lawyer Benjamin Cabredo Jr. said he and a group of Cebu lawyers would file two petitions for injunction next week in the Supreme Court to stop the ongoing oil exploration by the Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex).
One team will cite the violation of constitutional and environmental laws, while the other team will prepare an injunction case based on the doctrine of stewardship on behalf of the dolphins.
“Other lawyers are laughing about this because usually under the rules of court, only natural persons can file a suit. But there’s already a precedent set in the case of Mendoza vs. Factoran,” said Cabredo, citing a landmark case that invokes the State’s responsibility to preserve natural wealth for future generations.
Allan Arranguez, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said in a separate interview that the ECC was aboveboard and that his office was closely monitoring the project to ensure the adverse effect to the marine ecology would be minimal.
“In every activity there is always an impact. It’s important to have mitigating measures to address the potential dangers to the marine environment,” he said, which Japex is doing.
For example, he said, Japex is putting up a land base disposal area for drilling mud so that the waste, including mud, won’t be dumped in the sea. He declined to comment further, saying the DENR central office issued a memo to provincial officials not to answer press questions without prior clearance.
Aragones said his preliminary data showed that there was a negative impact on cetaceans in the Tañon Strait, which is located in the middle of Cebu and Negros islands. A preliminary seismic survey, using underwater sound waves, was conducted in April 2005.
Test drilling started on November 15 in the strait by Japex, which was issued an environmental compliance certificate by the DENR.
Tañon Strait has one of the highest concentrations of dolphins and whales in the Philippines. Of the 21 dolphin and whale species found in the Philippines, 10 species have been spotted here. Many of these species are prone to extinction.
Though protected under Philippine laws, dolphins and whales are being hunted for their meat, or in some places, simply because they feed on fish and are considered by fishers as competitors.
In his 2004 observations, Aragones said his research group estimated that there were 1,300 spinner dolphins in the Tañon Strait especially in the south waters off Cebu towns of Badian to Santander.
They observed that dolphins would sleep early, and wake up at 7 a.m., leaping on the surface of the sea, then rest at midday and surface again in the afternoon.
Based on accounts of fishermen interviewed by the scientists, the southern section of the Tañon Strait is the resting and hatching area of the dolphins.
In 2005, particularly April to May when the seismic survey began, Aragones said, “the surface behaviours (of the dolphins) were not normal during this period."
“One cannot eliminate my scientific opinion that there is an immediate impact of the seismic survey."
Aragones’ study said: “The area showed immediate negative effects on the surface behaviors and delayed (1 year after) negative response on the relative abundance of spinner dolphins implicating short and intermediate changes in their behavior possibly brought about by the seismic survey.”
Aragones said oil exploration activity is a potential for pollution because of the use of chemicals for drilling and the transporting of oil supplies, which could accidentally spill as what happened in Guimaras. Tañon Strait should be conserved and protected, he said. The marine biologist said that in 2001 when he conducted a study of marine mammals and traveled through the 58 provinces in the country from Batanes to Sulu, he found out that Tañon Strait was a hotspot for dolphins.
The protected seascape is covered by Region 7 and 6, with 45 municipalities and two cities surrounding it.
He estimated that there were about half a million dolphins in the areas.
The IBP Cebu City Chapter recently passed a resolution urging the government to stop the oil exploration in the Visayan Sea saying it does not only destroy marine biodiversity but also dislocate countless of fisherfolks.
The IBP, headed by lawyer Briccio Boholst in their resolution expressed alarm of the result of a study recently conducted by Luis Maria Garcia that the fisheries in the Visayan Sea were in a state of crises.
They cited part of the study which stated, "the Visayan Sea, once considered as the Alaska of the Philippines because of its bountiful harvests of marine fishes, is now a poor replica of its old self."
The IBP resolution authored by lawyer Democrito Barcenas acknowledged the diversity of Philippine marine life especially in the Visayan sea.
City lawyers acted after receiving reports that the Department of Energy has approved the revised exploration work program of an Australia-based firm until March and August 2009 to drill the first well in its three contracts and the next step in the exploration program is to conduct an extensive environmental survey in the Cebu-Bohol Straits to prepare for drilling in Argao in 2008.
"Aside from destroying the marine biodiversity in the area, said oil exploration will also dislocate countless of fisherfolks who depend on fishing as their only means of livelihood," the resolution stated.
They said that the project would cause the desecration of a national heritage site and the dislocation of fisherfolks in southern Cebu. /With a report by Jolene Bulambot
