On funds for PCB testing

The Issue: Funds to begin training of local medical staff how to conduct PCB examination among 3,000 villagers.

Our View: The $.5 million and all other subsequent expenses should be born by appropriate federal agencies.

It wasn’t the simple villagers in Tanapag who dumped PCBs and contaminated their soil. It was the US Naval Administration who disposed of this lethal contaminants during its stint here right after the war up until 1961.

Therefore, it stands to reason that the US Navy be required to defray this and all other subsequent expenses pertaining to PCB contamination and the resultant illnesses born by it.

It is in our view, grossly unfair and morally unconscionable that local taxpayers now defray such expenses when the commission in the improper disposal of PCB containers was solely that of the US Naval Administration.

If it wasn’t for the urgency of the situation, we would have pushed that such expense(s) be sought of the Navy from the outset. But time is of the essence and our villagers need to know immediately if their health have been adversely affected by PCB contaminants and to what extent.

While fighting this issue in a competent court of law would be arduous and protracted, villagers must not give up hope in their quest to right a wrong. How sad that democracy sometime entails taking a long road uphill to secure justice for victims who were wronged. Such is the case with Tanapag Villagers and we sympathize with the condition with which they must now seek redress.

Definitely, the number of people who have died of various internal cancer has raised eyebrows here upon discovery of PCBs in Tanapag. One recently died of stomach cancer while the other of leukemia. It is justly appropriate to explore if these deaths are attributable to PCB contamination. If so, the Navy must take full responsibility for it forthwith.

Former Vice Speaker Benigno Sablan has taken the lead in the planned lawsuit for his people in the village. It’s a cause that should eventually set the record straight once and for all. However a long journey, it’s a worthy effort to secure factual answers to concerns of the extent of damage inflicted upon villagers from the presence of PCBs since the sixties. Villagers children have played in areas contaminated by PCBs, including burial of loved-ones in final resting place also laden with such lethal contaminants.

Be that as it may, all must converge to resolve this major health issue with all expenses turned over to the Navy for reimbursement. After all, the issue was never internally self-inflicted. Si Yuus Maase`!