Coast Guard to verify MT Princess Empress permit
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard said Wednesday it is investigating the authenticity of the permit presented to its personnel to allow MT Princess Empress to sail at least four times before it sank off the waters of Oriental Mindoro, causing an oil spill that threatens ecosystems and communities.
“There was an instruction given to us yesterday to investigate,” PCG spokesperson Armand Balilo said in a media interview. “First, is the signature on here original? Then would Marina (Maritime Industry Authority) agree to this?”
“Then the owners of the ship denied yesterday at the Senate that they have an approved CPC (certificate of public convenience). Then what is this document that you are giving us when you are sailing? This has to be explained by the owners,” Balilo continued.
A CPC is a permit that the Marina issues to ships for public use.
The PCG on Tuesday night posted on its social media a document showing that MT Princess Empress had a permit to operate, contrary to Marina’s findings presented during a Senate hearing earlier in the day.
The document — a November 16, 2022 decision by the Marina to allow the amendment of the CPC issued to the owner of MT Princess Empress to include the tanker in its fleet — was posted online hours after the Senate environment panel’s inquiry into the oil spill, during which the PCG did not present or make reference to it.
Presumption of regularity
But it turned out it was the document RDC Reield Marine Services, which owns MT Princess Empress, presented to PCG personnel during inspections before the tanker was allowed to sail.
“As of the moment what our people on the ground say is that we relied on the CPC to allow the ship to sail. And on several occasions, that was what the shipowner submitted to the Philippine Coast Guard,” Balilo said.
He added: “Now, if this CPC is said to be spurious or fake, it’s up to the company to prove otherwise. But for us, this is what we are holding on to because of the presumption of regularity.”
The document supposedly presented to PCG personnel allowed MT Princess Empress to sail at least four times from the ports of Manila, Bataan, Iloilo and Misamis Oriental, Balilo said.
RDC vice president Fritzie Tee said during the Senate hearing that their motor tanker was able to sail nine times before it sank in the waters off Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro on February 28. Marina said this happened all while the ship had no permit.
Tee, however, insisted that her company has a CPC and that they applied as early as November 2022 and completed the submission of all required documents for its amendment to include the tanker that, she said, was commissioned in 2022.
She admitted that they still submitted additional requirements for the amendment of the CPC in December 2022, a month after the supposed amended CPC was issued by Marina.
The tanker is leaking oil that has affected over 108,000 people in 118 barangays in Oriental Mindoro and Palawan, according to the Office of Civil Defense.
In an update on Wednesday, the OCD said the oil spill has affected 68 areas, while 122 people have either been injured or have fallen ill because of the incident. There are 31,497 families in MIMAROPA and Western Visayas regions also affected, while the livelihood of 13,654 farmers and fishermen was also impacted by the oil leakage.
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