COMMUNITY EFFORT Residents of the coastal village of Navotas in Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro province work together to make improvised oil spill booms to protect their shores from the oil spill from a fuel tanker that sank off Naujan town on Feb. 28. —NERI MAGBANUA/CONTRIBUTOR
CITY OF CALAPAN — Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor, confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the oil spill from a sunken vessel had reached Baco and San Teodoro towns.
Traces of the oil spill from MT Princess Empress, which sank Feb. 28 while carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel off the coast of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, was detected in the seas of the two towns facing the Verde Island Passage, a vital resource-rich strait.
Baco, a neighboring town of Calapan City, has also detected grease and oil on its shores earlier this month.
Dolor said grease and oil were also found in the marine protected areas of Baco and San Teodoro. The governor said swimming and fishing were not safe for now in the waters of these municipalities.
He clarified that the grease and oil were not on the shore but in the sea.
Almost all coastal areas in Oriental Mindoro have traces of grease and oil now, and the declaration of state of calamity in the whole province may be possible if the oil spill continues to spread, he said.
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