Oil slick calamity needs quick response

Half a million liters of diesel oil has fouled the waters off Cavite after it leaked from a pipeline in a fuel depot in Rosario town on Thursday. Four towns are feeling the brunt of the catastrophe, with some residents forced to leave their homes because of the overwhelming fumes from the oil slick that stretched for 20 kilometers along the Cavite coast.

The health risk it posed is just the tip of a bigger tragedy. Thousands of small fishermen and their families have been deprived of their livelihood.