Capitol officials have ordered the investigation into the reported oil spill allegedly perpetrated by a passing marine vessel to prevent marine wildlife from being affected.  The Office of Gov. Edgar Chatto last week, through Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio III, ordered the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) “to conduct an investigation and inquiry on the matter in coordination with concerned municipal officials.” The probe was prompted following receipt of a letter from B-Unido Mayor Nino Rey Boniel, who indorsed the police findings on the alleged oil spill. Boniel, in his letter address to Chatto, said that his office has requested for “any appropriate assistance” on the reported oil discharge. BEMO through its head Leonilo Lafuente has also directed his men to go to the scene of the oil spill, somewhere off Bilangbilangan Daku, an island-barangay of B-Unido. In his report to the mayor, polic chief PCInp. Felicito Injog Garcia said that the incident took place off the island on January 6, 2012 at around 7 in the evening, more or less.

The report created panic among islanders. Initial probe, police said, showed that M/V Elizabeth, whose hull is a comination of white, red and blue colors allegedly “did then and there deliberately dumped/splashes of waste used oil into the sea.” “That when the oil spill was scattered on the sea water it is most probably that it was carried and swept away by the waves and current towards the northern part of the island of Bilangbilangan Dako of this municipality,” Garcia said. When high tide, the spill reached the shoreline of the island. The spilled oil was “splashed and mixed with the waste garbage” when it was discharged by the vessel, the report said. But Garcia said that he considered the incident “quite manageable” and the oil spill was no longer a threat to the marine life and the islanders. He stressed that there still a need to investigate further the incident and gather evidence to bring the responsible people to justice. (RVO)