President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday ordered various government agencies to jointly assess the environmental impact of the oil spill after an oil tanker capsized early on the day off the coast of Bataan.
The President 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?,” President Marcos said during a situation briefing held at the Presidential Security Command compound.
“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. We need some determinations of that,” he added.
Environmental experts need to know which coastal areas are affected by the spill so that the government can prepare the necessary relief and remedy the situation, according to President Marcos.
They were also told to provide all necessary data allowing authorities to address the oil spill and its impact on 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. He confirmed the incident caused an oil spill.
The MT Terra Nova was carrying around 1,494 metric tons of industrial fuel oil when it capsized some 3.5 nautical miles off Lamao, a coastal barangay of Limay, Bataan.
“Hopefully we can catch it (oil spill) before landfall … pero malaki ang alon, malaki ang dagat ngayon,” Secretary 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. The rescued crew members are being accommodated at a PCG vessel.
“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.
