By PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA — Kuan Yu Global Technologies, Inc. is not afraid of the damage suit that may be filed against it for its alleged ineffective cleanup of the oil spill in Estancia, Iloilo.
The company’s lawyers are ready, said Valentino Mempin, Kuan Yu operations officer and spokesperson.
“Let them hit us black and blue. We are tested for this,” he told Panay News yesterday.
Bunker fuel spilled when Power Barge 103 ran aground in Brgy. Botongon, Estancia, amid the onslaught of super typhoon “Yolanda” in November last year.
Kuan Yu was contracted to conduct the cleanup.
But months since the company started its cleanup in December last year, Iloilo Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. observed, oil slicks on rocks, seawalls and other man-made structures remain in Brgy. Botongon.
From the said village, the oil spill spread to other parts of Estancia, as well as Batad and Ajuy, affecting 14 barangays.
Power Barge 103 is owned by Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).
The Iloilo provincial government considers filing a multibillion-peso damage suit against the contractor.
Defensor said he plans to involve other municipalities with similar claims so they can file a class action lawsuit.
But Kuan Yu remains unflustered.
Mempin said he “[sees] no ground” for which anyone, including the provincial government, could file charges against them.
“What we have is the truth. No one could refute this,” he told Panay News.
He said Kuan Yu “did everything” to follow the provincial government’s instructions with regards to safe ways to clean up the affected barangays.
According to Mempin, the provincial government treats them this way because “we do not adopt bribery [to avoid criticism].”
The company spokesperson said they have been waiting for supposed “charges” since the start of the cleanup.
“But until now, no case has been filed,” he stressed.
Defensor on Thursday instructed Provincial Legal Officer Dennis Ventilacion to prepare the necessary documents for the case.
The capitol got a copy of Kuan Yu’s contract with PSALM and the contractor’s Articles of Incorporation from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“They are now in the process of quantifying the damage that the oil spill brought to the environment and to the lives of the affected people (in northern Iloilo),” the governor said.
The cleanup contract is worth P87 million. Defensor recalled that PSALM awarded it to Kuan Yu without post-qualification./PN
