Five years ago, Philippines has witnessed the biggest oil spill in history. That time, I had just started getting involved with Greenpeace in the country. It was August 11th, 2006 when a single hull oil tanker chartered by Petron Corporation, the largest oil refiner in the Philippines, sank in rough seas. About 320 km of coastline was covered in thick sludge. Humongous size of coral reefs and mangrove forests have been decimated and more than 1,100 hectares of marine reserve was badly damaged.
A year after the spill, I got a chance to visit Guimaras Island and immediately check out the mangroves on the side heavily affected by the oil spill and saw that it's still wrapped in thick sludge. I asked some residents there and found out that the oil company never came back to clean up the dangerous mess they left.
And once again, our beautiful, diverse marine resources and wealth are under attack. Foreign firms are illegally harvesting and peddling our precious reefs. Coral reefs five times larger than the size of Manila was destroyed. This is a sad day for us to celebrate oceans day.
But it doesn't end there. It shouldn't just end there.
True enough, the alternative to collective action today is catastrophe tomorrow.
Today, I am one with all the people taking action calling on everyone especially the Philippine government to save our coral reefs and seas. Together we raise awareness and inspire action to compel the action needed from the government.
Here are some more sites where you can take action:
Send a letter to Shell Horizons
Act.ly Petition Tweet President Noynoy
Save the Philippine Seas
World Oceans Day Action on Facebook
this is just the start, we will amplify this until the government heeds our call ;-)
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