CLEANUP | Wearing protective gear, fisherfolk in Pola, Oriental Mindoro who lost their livelihood to the oil spill now do cash-for-work clearing oil slicks along the shores in this photo taken in March 2023. (File photo from Protect VIP)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is still constantly in touch with Oriental Mindoro almost after six months after the province was hit by a massive oil spill, Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Tuesday in a press briefing in Malacañang.
Gatchalian made the assurance after Mayor Jennifer Cruz of Pola, one of the affected towns, said the municipal government had run out of calamity funds and aid had ceased from the DSWD.
“We are talking to the governor about other interventions that they need. For now, he said, we will communicate again in the coming days because they still need to observe which towns still need assistance,” Gatchalian said in Filipino.
He also explained that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s policy was to work with the local government unit.
The fishing ban due to the oil spill, which happened in February, was lifted in Oriental Mindoro in July.
According to the Pola mayor, the community has started to recover but the fishing haul has not been bountiful.