Oil spill clean-up drive now on its final phase
Published Jun 1, 2023 06:41 am
The government operations to clean the oil spill mess brought by the sinking of an oil tanker on Feb. 28 off the waters of Oriental Mindoro is now approaching its final phase with the clearing of around 84 percent of the affected coastlines and the start of the siphoning off the remaining industial oil from the sunken vessel.
During the meeting of top officials of government agencies engaged in the clean-up drive, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno said there are only around 16 percent coastlines that need to be cleaned up while the entire siphoning operations would cover 20-30 days.
The siphoning operations following the arrival of the Dynamic Support Vessel (DSV) "Fire Opal", have already started with the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) saying that there are around 120,000 to 240,000 liters of industrial oil remaining at the sunken MT Princess Empress.
Nepomuceno said the meeting of government agencies under the National Task Force on Oil Spill Management on Thursday, June 1, was to facilitate the conduct of a post disaster needs assessment (PDNA) to determine the effects and impacts of the oil spill incident on the affected areas, including general long-term impacts on agriculture (fisheries) , the marine environment, tourism and livelihood, among others.
“We are undertaking this multi-sector scientific conference so that the pool of expertise on this subject matter can be tapped to ensure that our way forward in rehabilitation and recovery are effective and would be truly helpful to the affected communities in terms of economy, the environment and sustainability,” said Nepomuceno.
For his part, Civil Defense Deputy Administrator for Operations Assistant Secretary Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said the conference will jumpstart the conduct of the PDNA and recovery planning by recommending valuation methods of affected environmental assest.
“We are looking forward to the conclusion of the siphoning operations for this will herald the conduct of the scientific conference. The outputs of the conference will serve as the basis for the formulation of a comprehensive rehabilitation and recovery plan for the affected areas,” said Alejandro.
To date, the oil spill has left P58,137,124.00 worth of damages and losses to fisheries, affected more than 27,500 fisherfolks, and caused 15 local government units to declare a state of calamity.
More than 42,400 families had been affected coming from the 107 areas of Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, Antique and Batangas.
More than P611M worth of assistance in the form of family food packs, nonfood items, emergency cash transfers were provided, including cash for work to the affected communities.