Oil spill affects Moalboal town

CEBU, Philippines - An oil spill off Pescador Island in Moalboal town, about 90 kilometers south of Cebu City, prompted local officials to temporarily suspend diving tours Friday.

Diving operations, however, resumed yesterday after the oil spill was successfully cleaned up by coast guard personnel, Capitol and town disaster officers, and local fishermen.

Cebu Coast Guard Station Commander Agapito Bibat confirmed that they have received information about an oil spill affecting Barangay Basdiot, Moalboal Friday evening.

Bibat said coast guard personnel from Dumanjug along with a team from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council were immediately dispatched.

Julius Regner, PDRRMC spokesperson, said they will launch a formal investigation Monday to determine the source of the oil spill.

Authorities were still clueless as to what had caused the spill as of yesterday but they assured that there was nothing to be concerned about at this time.

Regner said they used rugs, clothes and used blankets to sift the oil from the seawater. The team was able to recover at least 80 drums of oil after the cleanup. — Rowena D. Capistrano, Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon and John M. Destacamento (FREEMAN)