MANILA: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday ordered the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and other concerned agencies to assess the environmental impact of an oil spill from a massive oil tanker that capsized off the coast of Bataan.
In a situation briefing on the effects of Super Typhoon Carina and the enhanced southwest monsoon, Marcos called on the DENR, along with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), to lead the assessment and allow the government to prepare for mitigation measures.
‘Can we add an instruction to the DENR to make already an assessment on the environmental impact of this?,’ President Marcos said during a briefing at the Presidential Security Command compound in Manila.
‘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.
The President
also ordered the agencies to provide all necessary data to allow authorities to address the oil spill and its impact on the environment.
Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said 16 of the 17 crew of the oil tanker have been rescued by the PCG.
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 early Thursday.
‘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 during the briefing.
‘We already coordinated with the private sector, Harbor Star, and [it] will deploy the resources as soon as it will be possible,’ he added.
Source: Philippines News agency
