MV Veronica I (DENR photo via Liezle Inigo)
SUAL, Pangasinan – Gov. Ramon “Mon-mon” Guico III has appealed to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to remove a ship loaded with more than a million liters of oil from Sual Bay.
Guico made the appeal during an emergency meeting he called at the Urduja House on Monday, May 22.
GUICO (FB)
He said he wanted the ship to be moved to a safer location to protect the bay area from destruction in case the crude oil leaks from the ship.
Provincial Legal Officer Baby Ruth Torre said she has written the BOC to formalize the governor’s request.
The provincial information office said that the ship, MV Veronica I, is now under the custody of the BOC office in Sual.
The BOC office seized the ship for failure to show the necessary documents for its cargo.
The ship, which has been docked at the bay since May 3, is loaded with 1.35 million liters of crude oil worth P54 million.
Sual Bay, which is a cove facing the Lingayen Gulf, hosts the town’s mariculture area where more than 800 bangus (milkfish) cages are located.
Sual and the towns of Bolinao and Anda supply about 80 percent of bangus produced in Pangasinan.
Pablo Costales of the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) extension office in Pangasinan said the ship should not have been allowed to sail as Marina has not issued any safety certificate on it.
Commander Mark Theodore Valencia, chief of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) station in Pangasinan, recommended that MV Veronica 1 be allowed to temporarily dock at Sual Fish Port as safety precaution because a typhoon, Mawar, is expected to enter the country on May 26.
Guico has allowed the ship to dock in the pier to prevent the possibility that it will be dragged. However, he wanted the contents of the ship to be guarded.
He said that the docking of the ship in question at the pier is temporary, and that it should be eventually removed from the bay.
Meanwhile, the DENR suggested the installation of additional anchors in the ship to stabilize the vessel.
Catherine Regino, legal officer of Sual, said that there is already an imminent danger or threat because of the spillage of the oil coming from the ship.
However, laboratory analyses of water samples taken by the DENR near the ship indicated that there were no traces of oil spill in the area yet.