A Japanese vessel will arrive in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro on Monday next week, March 20, to assist in the ongoing oil spill cleanup operations following the sinking of motor tanker (MT) Princess Empress, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported on Friday, March 17.

The PCG Crisis Management Committee headed by Vice Adm. Rolando Lizor Punzalan Jr., PCG deputy commandant for operations, met with representatives from the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Immigration (BI), and Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ) on Thursday, March 16, to "ensure the smooth and efficient within-the-arrival-day” of Japanese dynamic positioning vessel (DPV) Shin Nichi Maru “without compromising vessel safety and security guidelines.”

According to the PCG, the meeting was held “to strategize and fast-track the conduct of Customs, Immigration, Quarantine, Security (CIQS) procedures” for the arrival of DPV Shin Nichi Maru.

DPV Shin Nichi Maru will bring a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), or an underwater robot, to augment the search for the submerged MT Princess Empress in the vicinity waters of Naujan, and stop the leakage of 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil that it was carrying as cargo when it capsized on Feb. 28.

Vice Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan, vice chairman of the PCG Crisis Management Committee, said that DPV Shin Nichi Maru was hired by RDC Reield Marine Services, Inc., the owner of MT Princess Empress.

From March 1 to 15, the PCG said it has collected 6,603 liters of oily water mixture and 57 sacks of oil-contaminated materials during its offshore oil spill response operations. They also gathered 1,313 sacks and 22 drums of waste during its shoreline response on the same period. 

The Japanese government previously committed to help the Philippines in containing the oil spill by sending a separate team of disaster relief experts in Naujan.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said the number of affected residents due to the oil spill has already reached 32,056 families or 147,248 individuals as of March 17.

They came from 125 barangays in Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, and Antique.

There were also 179 reported cases of illnesses suspected to be connected to the oil spill, the NDRRMC added.

The NDRRMC said that the victims experienced abdominal pain, dizziness, difficulty of breathing, asthma, cough, skin rashes, chest pain, loose bowel movement (LBM) or diarrhea, eye irritation, headache, colds, cough, vomiting, watery stool, sore throat, fever, palpitation, and nausea among others.

RDC Reield Marine Services, Inc. had said last March 12 that they were "committed to doing everything possible" to minimize the impact of the oil spill on the environment and to the people's lives.