The Philippine government is doing everything right in its efforts to address the oil spill in the waters of Oriental Mindoro, a team of experts from the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) said.
The assessment of the Japanese experts was done during their meeting with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Incident Management Team in Oriental Mindoro.
Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla, commander of the PCG Incident Management Team in Oriental Mindoro, said the Japanese experts also shared their observations on the shoreline clean-up operations at Barangay Buhay na Tubig in Pola town.
“The JDR Expert Team said the joint clean-up operations have effectively minimized the oil spill's impact at the coastal barangay,” said Tuvilla.
He said he had already requested the Japanese experts to provide the PCG with an official report on their offshore and shoreline assessment and observations on the ongoing response efforts for monitoring and documentation.
For his part, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr lauded the JDR Expert Team for offering their time, expertise, and resources to augment the ongoing oil spill response operations in Oriental Mindoro.
The President said the Japanese experts continue to provide valuable support, specifically in investigating the extent of damage and guiding the ongoing oil removal and control activities.
He also thanked the Japanese Government for donating equipment, such as oil blotters, oil snares, and oil-proof working gloves, used by the National Strike Force (NSF) team during shoreline and offshore operations.
Ambassador of Japan in the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa said the assistance was in recognition of "amicable relations between Japan and the Philippines on humanitarian grounds and for marine environment protection."
"We hope that the support from the Japanese Government will contribute to preventing further oil contamination and restoring the marine environment in the affected areas," said Koshikawa.
The oil spill started when MT Princess Empress sank off the waters of Oriental Mindor last month. It was then carrying over 800,000 liters of industrial oil.