Agusan Norte legislator files environmental bill anew Renews call for prevention of pollution from ships

BUTUAN CITY, Aug. 13 (PIA) -- Agusan del Norte first district representative Lawrence ”Law” Fortun sought to protect marine and coastal resources from pollution of ships as he files another key environmental legislation.

House bill 861 entitled, “An Act to Prevent and Control Pollution from Ships, Provide Penalties Therefor and Other Purposes” aims to remedy the shortcomings of the 1976 Presidential Decree 979 and more significantly, seeks to implement the provision of the MARPOL 73/78, otherwise known as the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973, as amended by the Protocol of 1978.

While the Presidential Decree 979, or the Marine Pollution Decree of 1976, was promulgated in 1976 to address the calls for protecting marine and coastal resources from ship’s pollution, the decree has become too general in its implementing regulation or standard and no longer responsive to the prevalent threat of pollution from ships.

Renewed calls for strengthening the marine and coastal protection from pollution of ships was made anew after the confirmed dumping of toxic wastes in Subic by a US Navy contractor and the many incidents of oil spills just this year.

Fortun, through this bill, wants to implement provisions of MARPOL 73/78, a convention entered into by the Philippines in 1973 and was subsequently ratified by the Senate in 2001.

“One of the highlights of the said measure is to establish guidelines for the identification of harmful substances,” Fortun said. It also seeks to set emission standards for ship plying Philippine seas.

The Senate ratified five of the six annexes of the said treaty, these are: Annex I prohibits discharge of oil tankers or any ship carrying oil as cargo and by all ships with respect to oily waste coming from machinery spaces; Annex II prohibits the discharge of noxious liquid substances by chemical tankers or any ships that carries noxious liquid substances in bulk; Annex III prohibits the carriage of harmful substances by ships carrying harmful substances in package form except in accordance with the requirement on packaging, marking, labeling, documentation, stowage, quantity limitations, exceptions and notification for preventing or minimizing pollution of the marine environment by harmful substances in accordance with the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code); Annex IV prohibits the discharge of sewage by all ships except those under 200 grt carrying 10 persons or fewer; and Annex V prohibits the discharge of garbage (or rubbish or trash) by all ships.

HB 861 will also make a clear and definite delineation of roles, duties and responsibilities of various government instrumentalities related to marine and coastal management such as the Department of Transportation and Communication, Maritime Industry Authority , Philippine Coast Guard , Philippine Ports Authority , Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Local Government Units. Another salient provision of the measure that the lawmaker emphasized is that, the bill likewise seeks to establish a Marine Pollution Adjudication Board under the DOTC, which has quasi-judicial powers and executive jurisdiction over all marine pollution cases.(FEA/JBSabado/PIA-Caraga)