CBCP: Justice for Mindoro oil spill victims

Photo taken during an aerial inspection conducted by President Marcos and the Philippine Coast Guard on April 15, 2023, shows the coastal waters of Oriental Mindoro province still bearing traces of the Feb. 28, 2023 oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress. —(Malacañang photo)

The oil spill due to the sin king of the MT Princess Empress on February 28 last year, also reached the shores of Verde Island Passage (VIP) in Batangas, popularly known as the “Center of the Center of Marine Biodiversity in the World.”

“As we near one year since the oil spill happened in the VIP, we decry the continued elusiveness of accountability on the part of companies behind the oil spill, and erring authorities that contributed to the incident,” the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice, and Peace and Caritas Philippines said in a statement.

“We also lend our voice to the call for justice for victims of the oil spill, and for sufficient and timely compensation that genuinely takes into account the damages that fisherfolk communities incur and continue to incur,” it added.

The groups also noted that for over half a year since the incident happened, “thousands of fisherfolk and other sectors were robbed of their means of living.”

“Families had little to eat, and many also suffered illnesses from exposure to pollution. Thousands of hectares of mangroves and seagrasses were placed in peril, and so was the very fabric of life in our seas. The gravity of impacts has yet to be fully measured and continues to ripple today and in years to come,” the statement read.

The CBCP and Caritas also recognized how the oil spill served as “a backdrop for action and compassion” for people in Mindoro, as well as groups and individuals who joined forces to help assist the victims.

With that, they expressed hope that the same kind of solidarity can be demonstrated today “for justice for our brothers and sisters that were affected, and to call for action so that the Verde Island Passage would never again be subjected to a tragedy like the said oil spill in the future.”