An expert team from the Japan Disaster Relief helps the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in containing the oil spill from the sunken fuel tanker, MT Princess Empress, off the waters of Oriental Mindoro in this photo taken on March 16. (PCG PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — A total of 193,436 individuals have been affected by the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) announced on Friday.
The current affected population also translates to 40,897 families across the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) Mimaropa (Mindoro provinces, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) and Western Visayas.
The latest data is an increase from the Council’s Thursday report, which put the number of people affected at 178,306.
Among the regions affected, Mimaropa fared the worst in terms of affected persons with 153,173 people affected, said the NDRRMC.
The Council also said that Western Visayas had 27,145 people affected, and 13,118 people were affected in Calabarzon.
The number of fisherfolk impacted also increased, going from 13,636 on Thursday to 24,698 on Friday, according to the NDRRMC.
The NDRRMC pegged damage to agriculture at P3,882,090,459. 74.
Previously, the Department of Health and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had issued a statement saying that only nine out of 35 sampling stations in Puerto Galera passed the water quality test.
The oil spill was caused by the MT Princess Empress, which sank off Oriental Mindoro while carrying 800,000 liters of oil last month.