President Marcos has tasked government agencies to assess the oil spill impact from a sunken motor tanker off the coast of Limay, Bataan on Thursday, July 25.
During a situation briefing on Thursday morning, Marcos particularly ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to lead the assessment.
“Can we add an instruction to the DENR to make already an assessment on the environmental impact of this?” Marcos said.
“Basically, what we need to assess is where was the capsized vessel? The fuel is being released, what are the tides? What are the winds? Where is it headed? Para maunahan na natin (So we can prevent it). We need some determinations of that,” he added.
The President stressed that environmental experts need to know which coastal areas are affected by the spill so that the government can prepare the necessary relief and remedy of the situation.
They were also told to provide all necessary data allowing authorities to address the oil spill and its impact to the environment.
In the situation briefing on the effects of Typhoon Carina and southwest monsoon (Habagat), Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the PCG rescued most of the crew, and confirmed the incident caused an oil spill.
The MT Terra Nova was carrying around 1.4 metric tons of industrial fuel oil when it capsized and eventually submerged 3.6 nautical miles off Lamao Point, a coastal barangay of Limay, Bataan, at 1:10 a.m.
“Hopefully we can catch it (oil spill) before landfall … pero malaki ang alon, malaki ang dagat ngayon (but it's high tide now),” Bautista told President Marcos.
“’Yung coast guard was reporting three, four meters high na alon. It’s very hard to do anything but hopefully that will help us dilute the oil spill. But we’ll see, we have to make that determination as to where the tides are running, how the wind is running,” he added.
Bautista reported 16 of the 17 crew were rescued while one remained missing.
“It (Terra Nova) capsized at 1 o’clock early this (Thursday) morning and there’s already oil spill and right now we cannot dispatch our resources because of strong winds and high waves,” Bautista told the President.
“We already coordinated with the private sector, Harbor Star, and [it] will deploy the resources as soon as it will be possible,” he added.