UNSAFE | Oil sheen and thin patches of industrial oil coming from the sunken MT Princess Empress have reached the shores of Verde Island on Monday, March 20, 2023. The island is at the heart of the Verde Island Passage, the strait connecting Batangas province and Mindoro Island, and is known to be a critical global center of marine biodiversity. (Photo by GEORGINA MONTEMAYOR / Contributor)
Traces of oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress had reached Verde Island, a six-village islet in Batangas City, which is at the heart of the Verde Island Passage (VIP) where the world’s most critical marine biodiversity center is found, authorities said on Monday.
In an advisory, Fr. Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of the environmentalist group Protect the Verde Island Passage, said they were ready to assist in containing the spill in VIP after residents reported seeing oil sheen and clumps in waters off four villages of Verde Island.
Gariguez said the thin layers of floating oil were found on the shores of the villages of Sampalucan, San Antonio, San Agapito, and San Andres.
According to Gariguez, 80 pieces of coco coir logs would be transported from Batangas to Mindoro to help contain the oil spill.
He said 20 of the coco coir logs would be sent to Verde Island and another 20 to Lobo town, also in Batangas.
Coco coir logs, made of interwoven coconut fibers that are bound together with biodegradable netting, “can absorb a fair amount of crude oil,” said Gariguez, adding that “studies also indicate that a simple squeezing was sufficient to remove most of the oil absorbed by the fibers so that the sorbents can be reused several times for oil spill cleanup.”
Capt. Victorino Acosta, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) station commander in Batangas province, confirmed on Monday the report that the oil slick has reached the island, which has a population of about 5,000 and home to a resort frequented by diving enthusiasts eager to explore its pristine waters and coral reefs.
As of 8 a.m. on Monday, oil sheen and thin patches of segmented oil were found in the villages of San Agapito and San Agustin, the PCG said.
“As such, swimming, diving, and any forms of leisure activities are prohibited along the coastal waters of Verde Island to avoid health issues,” the PCG-Batangas said in an advisory.
Other coastal areas in Batangas, including those in the towns of San Juan, Tingloy, Lobo, and Calatagan were also placed under the oil spill watch, added Acosta.
Aerial inspection
Verde Island, located off the coast of Batangas City, sits right in the middle of the VIP, a body of water between Mindoro Island and Batangas that has been recognized as the “center of global shorefish biodiversity” due to the high densities of marine resources in the area.
The strait has the highest concentration of coastal fishes, corals, crustaceans, mollusks, seagrass and mangroves. Also found in the VIP are endangered and threatened species, such as the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle, whale sharks, manta rays, dugongs, humphead wrasses, giant groupers, and giant clams.
PCG commandant Adm. Artemio Abu told reporters on Monday that they have dispatched a helicopter to conduct an aerial inspection to see how far the oil had spread.
The remotely operated vehicle from Japan that would be used in oil spill cleanup efforts in Oriental Mindoro arrived on Monday morning, Abu said.
The oil spill from MT Princess Empress, which carried 800,000 liters of industrial-grade oil into the sea when it sank off Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28, affected at least 10 towns of Oriental Mindoro before spreading to Caluya Island in Antique and the waters of Palawan.
On Thursday, it reached the shores of the provincial capital Calapan City and had been predicted to reach the VIP due to changing wind directions caused by the weakening northeast monsoon.
On March 16, Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas declared that the provincial government was ready to address the effects of the oil spill should it reach their territorial waters, noting that they had comprehensive plans in place to face possible oil spill from sea vessels transporting industrial oil and fuel that regularly sail on Batangas waters.
Gariguez, meanwhile, said the assistance and relief intervention of the private sector for the victims of the oil spill should no longer be in the form of food packs as they were already receiving these from the government.
“The needed intervention is cash assistance (if possible, cash for work or for livelihood), particularly for those [poor] families with children going to school, especially for college. And this is an intervention that is not immediate but long-term,” he said.
Environmental groups on Monday appealed to the national government for “urgent action, transparency and accountability” related to the oil spill.
Call for action
In a joint statement, Greenpeace Philippines, Oceana, and Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (Ceed) decried what they described as the “disruption” caused by the oil spill to the lives and livelihood of coastal communities and the health of critical marine biodiversity.
According to Oceana, the oil spill had already reached almost a million (984,238) hectares of municipal waters covering the 10 coastal towns of Oriental Mindoro, two in Palawan and one in Antique.
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Arnan Panaligan said in a separate interview on Sunday that lawmakers from affected provinces have filed parallel resolutions to investigate MT Princess Empress to find out its possible violations of maritime safety laws and marine environmental laws.
In an online forum on Monday, lawyer Avril de Torres, director of Ceed, said nearly 90 lawyers in the country, including those from the oil spill affected provinces, would help document and gather evidence to pursue compensation or criminal, administrative, or civil action against the tanker’s operator.
The municipal government of Pola, the hardest-hit town in Oriental Mindoro, was also preparing to take legal action against RDC Reield Marine Services, the owner of MT Princess Empress.