President Marcos: No deadline for controlling oil spill

MANILA, Philippines — There is no deadline for the cleanup of the oil spill caused by the sinking of a fuel tanker in Oriental Mindoro, President Marcos said, weeks after expressing hope that the efforts to contain the oil slick will not last up to four months.

Speaking to reporters in Pola, Oriental Mindoro last Saturday, Marcos said the timeline for the cleanup operations may be altered if there are changes in the wind conditions.

“There’s no deadline for the cleanup. I cannot make a deadline for the cleanup. If the wind changes, the timing would again be changed. So, it’s useless for anybody to say the deadline is this, this day or that day... There’s really not much more that we can do in terms of controlling the oil spill,” the President said.

“We are at the mercy of the weather,” he added.

In March, Marcos said the cleanup of the oil spill, which was caused by the sinking of fuel tanker MT Princess Empress in the waters off Naujan town last Feb. 28, may be completed in less than four months.

According to him, the oil slick in Oriental Mindoro is less than a previous one that affected Guimaras, whose cleanup took four months.

Marcos said the government is now most concerned with the cleanup in terms of the actual beaches and the actual oil that reached the shoreline.

The government has launched a cash-for-work program wherein individuals affected by the oil spill are given cash if they join the cleanup activities.

Marcos noted that less oil is coming out of the ship and that it is necessary to plug the leaks of the vessel to complete the operations.

“What is critical now is people have no livelihood. That is what we are prioritizing, that they should have a livelihood,” the Chief Executive said.

“It had an impact and there are many affected barangays. And that’s what we are trying to do. We are trying to find alternative livelihood for them until they can go back to their old fishing grounds,” he added.

The sunken MT Princess Empress was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial oil.

The amount of damage to the fishery industry and income loss from the incident is now close to P1 billion, according to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Losses in terms of inputs and produce, fishing gear and paraphernalia, facilities and equipment, have amounted to P445 million, while income losses suffered by affected fisherfolk have risen to P441 million.

Some 26,000 fisherfolk were directly affected by the oil spill, which has also reached the provinces of Antique, Palawan and Batangas.

Marcos has instructed the interior and local government department to meet with local chief executives so that the affected fishermen could fish in alternative fishing sites.

The four alternative fishing sites in Calabarzon and Mimaropa regions are Mindoro Strait in Mindoro Oriental; Cuyo Pass in Batangas; Tablas Strait in Romblon, and Tayabas Bay in Quezon.

The social welfare department has distributed over 140,000 family food packs to oil spill-hit communities.