CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – Gov. Humerlito A. Dolor has ordered the insurance firm of the sunken oil tanker MT Princess Empress to start the distribution of payment to damage claimants on or before September 30 this year.
ORIENTAL Mindoro Gov. Bonz Dolor (left) signs an agreement demobilizing the oil spill response operations in the province. Also in photo are Coast Guard Commodore Geronimo Tuvilla, PCG District Southern Tagalog commander, and Eugene Cabrera of the Office of Civil Defense. (Photo via Jerry Alcayde)
The request was made after local government units led by the provincial government, Philippine Coast Guard, Office of Civil Defense, and other concerned national government agencies came out with a resolution terminating the oil spill response operations in Pola and the whole province on August 2.
MT Princess Empress sank off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro on February 28, causing an oil spill in the coastal areas of 12 municipalities and this city.
Maritime records showed that the ill-fated oil tanker was carrying 900,000 liters of industrial oil known in the energy sector as “black oil,” a deadly and highly toxic kind of fuel oil to the environment.
The fisheries and agriculture sector in Oriental Mindoro, Antique, Palawan, and neighboring provinces sustained a total loss of more than P5 billion or P19 million daily due to the oil spill.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council reported that 27,850 fishermen from Batangas, Region 4-B, excluding Occidental Mindoro, and Western Visayas have been affected.
Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez revealed that the Philippines can only get roughly P15.7 billion as compensation from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund and not $1 billion or P55.4 billion as earlier reported.
Dolor told May Valles, in-charge of the claims office handling the indemnity issues of RDC Reield Marine Services, the owner of MT Princess Empress, that they will not wait for September 30 for the payment of renumeration.
"As we demobilized, the countdown for the insurance payment starts today. We will not wait for the end of September. And on that day, you, me, and the IOPC will go to the municipalities to hand down the payment to the fisherfolk and affected Mindorenos," Dolor told Valles during the demobilization ceremony on Wednesday with an audience composed of officials and representatives that took part in the oil spill containment and clean-up activities for 155 days.
Commodore Geronimo "Toto" B. Tuvilla, commander of the Coast Guard District-Southern Tagalog who headed the oil spill crisis management team, said the demobilization refers only to the scaling down of the number of personnel and equipment involved in the operation but not totally terminating the oil response activities.
The Coast Guard official said they will not stop monitoring the waters and coastal zones in Mindoro, particularly in Pola, the most severely-hit town in central Mindoro, where the bulk of the oil-clogged major waterways and marine protected areas are located.
“From oil spill response, we will move to recovery phase,” Dolor said.
He thanked President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte for their commitment to the response and recovery efforts.
Dolor also cited the close coordination of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and all other government agencies that answered his call for help after the maritime tragedy.