UNCERTAIN FUTURE Fishermen in the village of Suqui in the Oriental Mindoro capital city of Calapan take a boat to shore as they have to wait for the lifting of a fishing ban prompted by the oil spill from a fuel tanker that sank off Naujan town on Feb. 28. —MADONNA T. VIROLA
CITY OF CALAPAN — Twenty-three coastal villages in this city were placed under a state of calamity after the oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress reached the locality last week, authorities said on Friday.
Lawyer Reymund Al Ussam, the city administrator, said the declaration was contained in a city council resolution passed on Wednesday following the request of Mayor Malou Morillo.
“The declaration of a state of calamity is intended to effectively respond to the economic and ecological effects of the disaster,” Ussam said during the turnover of aid from donors at the provincial capitol.
According to the resolution, the declaration covered the coastal villages of Balite, Baruyan, Calero, Canubing I, Gutad, Ibaba East, Ibaba West, Lazareto, Mahal na Pangalan, Maidlang, Masipit, Nag-Iba I, Nag-Iba II, Navotas, Pachoca, Parang, Salong, San Antonio, Silonay, Suqui, Tawagan, Tibag and Wawa.
Calapan, which has 62 villages, is situated some 69 kilometers from the waters of Oriental Mindoro’s Naujan town, where the tanker was first reported to have sunk on Feb. 28.
On Tuesday, the Philippine Coast Guard said the vessel was found at a depth of 389.1 meters and 13.89 kilometers northeast of Balingawan Point in Oriental Mindoro’s Pola town, which is some 1.2 kilometers away from the first reported in Naujan.
The tanker was heading to Iloilo province from Limay town in Bataan province and was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel when it encountered engine trouble and capsized.
Ussam said the UP Marine Science Institute accurately predicted the period when the oil spill would reach the shores of Calapan, which was March 16.Traces of an oil slick were first spotted along the shorelines of Barangays Navotas and Maidlang, he added.