PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday created an interagency task force to clean up the oil spill from the sunken MT Terra Nova off the coast of Limay, Bataan.
The incident happened 3.6 nautical miles east of Lamao Point in Limay town at around 1:10 a.m. on Thursday, a day after floods triggered by a typhoon-enhanced southwest monsoon submerged most of Luzon.
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said the oil spill could affect the waters of Bulacan, Cavite, and Pampanga.
A handout photo made available by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shows coastguard personnel unloading drums of oil dispersants at a seaport in the Bataan province, Philippines, 26 July 2024. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported on 25 July that the oil tanker ‘MT Terra Nova’ carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil sank off the Manila Bay. According to PCG spokesperson, Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, 16 of the 17 crew members have been rescued. EPA-EFE/PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD
“We are on the lookout now for the possible contamination that could happen in the wetlands and the coastline areas not just of Bataan, but we are also looking at Bulacan, and we are also looking at Pampanga, possibly Cavite because of Corregidor,” Yulo-Loyzaga added.
Marcos, during a briefing in Malolos, said the task force would be led by the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) and will be supported by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Health, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
“I will direct the Civil Defense to take the lead here; you put things together from the DENR and, of course, the Coast Guard,” the President said.
Marcos ordered the assessment of water and air quality in the affected areas, as well as the health of the residents.
He added that livelihood programs should be created for affected fisherfolks on top of the emergency aid they were given.
Marcos said DoLE could use its Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers program to recruit workers for oil spill clean-up operations.
“You’ll have to coordinate with the local executives to make sure that our actions are coordinated. We already anticipated the effects on the coastal areas and what they will need in terms of assistance,” the President said.
Divers of Harbor Star Shipping Services, the company commissioned to salvage the tanker, said the vessel remains intact underwater and only a minimum amount of oil was seeping out of its valves.
“It is not yet alarming since only a little [oil] is coming out, and the tanker is still intact underwater,” PCG spokesman Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said.
“Based on the study of our Marine Environmental Protection personnel, considering that the ship sank 34 meters deep, the siphoning can be completed within seven days,” Balilo said.
“There is nothing to worry about, but we’re not complacent. We are still preparing for the worst-case scenario to address the potential negative impact [of the oil spill] on the marine environment,” he added.
Tedious task
Some of the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil inside a sunken Philippine tanker has started to leak into Manila Bay, the PCG said Saturday, as they raced to avoid an environmental catastrophe.
The MT Terra Nova sank in bad weather off Manila early Thursday, killing one crew member and leaving the country potentially facing its worst oil spill disaster.
The oil slick has more than tripled in size and is now estimated to stretch 12-14 kilometers (7.5-8.7 miles) across the bay, which thousands of fishermen and tourism operators rely on for their livelihoods.
Divers inspected the hull of the vessel on Saturday and saw a “minimal leak” from the valves.
The ship that will carry the recovered oil is on its way to the area.
The PCG has warned that if the entire cargo leaked, it would be an “environmental catastrophe.”
It has previously said the oil leaking from the tanker appeared to be the diesel fuel used to power the vessel, which is resting on the sea floor under 34 meters (116 feet) of water.
The PCG now thinks the slick is a mixture of diesel and industrial fuel oil.
Oil containment booms have been deployed for what Balilo earlier described as “the worst case scenario” of the cargo leaking out.
Three Coast Guard vessels were also spreading dispersants on the oil.
Balilo called for a suspension of fishing in Manila Bay to prevent people from “eating contaminated fish.”
Seven days to offload oil
The vessel sank nearly 7 kilometers from its origin in the Port of Limay, west of Manila. It was attempting to return to port after running into bad weather.
Sixteen of the 17 crew members were rescued from the tanker, which vessel tracking website vesselfinder.com said was 65 meters long and built in 2002.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said the monsoon had weakened by late Friday, giving the authorities a window of relative calm at sea to recover the cargo.
The Philippines has struggled to contain serious oil spills in the past.
It took months to clean up after a tanker carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro last year, contaminating the waters and beaches of the island and devastating the fishing and tourism industries.
Another tanker sank off the central island of Guimaras in 2006, spilling tens of thousands of gallons of oil that destroyed a marine reserve, ruined local fishing grounds and covered stretches of coastline in black sludge.
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