The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) emphasized the need for better response during oil spill incidents as the national government commemorated the first-year anniversary of the MT Princess Empress tragedy.

OCD Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno said that the sinking of the MT Princess Empress in Naujan, Oriental Mindoro must serve as a reminder of the importance of strengthening oil spill preparedness and response to minimize the negative impacts of such incidents.

“We are pleased that it is done now, however, we cannot set aside the huge cost of damage, the environmental and health impacts that the incident caused. By acknowledging these, better preparedness and response are needed both from the government side and the companies,” he said during the commemoration activity in Oriental Mindoro last Friday, March 1.

The event was organized by the provincial government of Oriental Mindoro to recognize the efforts and contributions of various government agencies, organizations, communities, and individuals to response operations.

Nepomuceno said that the OCD “learned a lot” from the oil spill incident, which is why he is pushing to enhance the national government’s response capabilities to potential similar incidents in the future.

“It has been a year since the oil spill incident happened in Mindoro. Though it took us time, still we were able to surmount all the challenges that we encountered because of inter-agency and multisector action,” the OCD chief noted.

It can be recalled that MT Princess Empress went half-submerged off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro on February 28, 2023 after encountering rough sea conditions. It eventually sank on March 1, 2023, triggering seaborne and aerial search.

The sinking caused a massive oil spill which spread to different areas in Oriental Mindoro, Batangas, Palawan, and Antique.

More than 200,000 individuals were affected by the oil spill while the damage to agriculture reached nearly P5 billion.