(UPDATES) THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Wednesday a private salvaging company has begun retrieving 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel from the sunken tanker MT Terranova off Manila Bay that for weeks has threatened to cause an environmental disaster.
The private company Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc. is transferring the cargo, an operation the government earlier said could take one week to complete.
“The siphoning operation for the first tank is ongoing,” a Coast Guard media officer told reporters.
The Filipino-flagged tanker capsized and sank off Manila on July 25, killing one crew member as the ship tried to return to port amid bad weather fueled by Typhoon Carina. It was carrying eight tanks of industrial fuel oil when it sank.
Map showing the path of an oil tanker which sank off Manila, in the Philippines, on Thursday, July 25. AFP / AFP / NALINI LEPETIT-CHELLA
It took authorities three weeks to control the spillage of the cargo and install the equipment to remove the fuel oil from the vessel that now rests at the bottom of the bay about 34 meters below the waves.
The Coast Guard had warned that releasing the cargo onto the bay would be an “environmental catastrophe” and the country’s worst oil spill.
It later said the spillage has been minimal, but local governments nonetheless imposed “no-catch” zones affecting tens of thousands of fishermen in the bay.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has urged the public to “exercise caution when consuming fish from the affected areas due to the risk of petrochemical contamination.”
One of the worst oil spills in Philippine history occurred in February 2023, when a tanker carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil sank off the central island of Mindoro.
Diesel fuel and thick oil from that vessel contaminated the waters and beaches along the coast of Oriental Mindoro province, devastating the fishing and tourism industries.
The oil dispersed over hundreds of kilometers of water, famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world.
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the government would go after a criminal syndicate based in Batangas province, which has cornered the black market for pilfered petroleum products, causing billions of pesos in revenue loss for the government.
Remulla said the scheme employed by the syndicate involves the transfer of oil between ships at sea, escaping scrutiny by customs inspectors, and one that involves bulk suppliers of oil.
In these schemes, he said the syndicate siphons off a certain percentage of the oil and then passes it to the public to recover their systems loss.
Remulla said the Bataan Oil Spill Inter-Agency Investigation was looking into the possibility that the three vessels behind the oil spill last month in Bataan may be involved in the scheme.
At the Senate, the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change began its investigation into the oil spill.
In addition to examining the oil spill’s impact, the committee is also looking into the capsizing of the MT Jason Bradley on July 26 in Mariveles, Bataan, due to bad weather and the stranding of the MV Mirola 1 off the coast of Mariveles, Bataan.
At the hearing, Vicente Cordero, president of Porta Vaga Ship Management Inc., which operates the MT Terranova, was present. However, Romnick Ponestas, the owner and operator of the MT Jason Bradley, and Mary Jane Ubaldo, the owner and operator of the MV Mirola 1, did not attend.
Committee chairman Sen. Cynthia Villar immediately ordered Ponestas and Ubaldo subpoenaed.
Villar said that the sea mishaps were a big setback to the government’s efforts to rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay and efforts to strengthen the ecosystem and stimulate biodiversity.
Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino said these incidents at sea could also be considered negligence by the government because these ships were allowed to sail when it was discovered that the ships involved in the incident did not have permits.
During the hearing, Villar questioned Adm. Ronnie Gil Gavan, PCG commandant, about reports that before the MT Terra Nova sank early on July 25, two ships were observed near a motor tanker suspected of transferring petroleum to another vessel.
Gavan replied that they were not ruling out this possibility, which was one reason the investigation is ongoing.
Marina Administrator Sonia Malaluan reported that they were still determining whether the MT Jason Bradley sank while anchored at the port in Mariveles, Bataan, and the status of the canceled license of the MT Dorothy Uno.
She acknowledged that they might have been tricked by ships that were no longer permitted to sail.
Tolentino questioned the report that the capsized ship MT Jason Bradley, which sank on July 26 in Mariveles, Bataan, had previously been named Dorothy 1 (Uno), a ship with a seizure warrant.
Tolentino also inquired why the investigation has not yet produced results. He then revealed that the name “MT Dorothy Uno” is written on the hull of the MT Jason Bradley, suggesting that the ship’s name change should be investigated, especially since its registry was canceled.
Tolentino suspects that the name change to MT Jason Bradley was an attempt by Dorothy 1 to evade responsibility.
The Marina chief explained that they were unaware of the seizure order for Dorothy 1 because they lacked the equipment to monitor ship information, such as name or ownership changes.
According to Marina records, the owners of MT Jason Bradley and MT Dorothy 1 are different. However, when their safety investigation team was deployed to the area, they found that the ship involved in the incident was named Dorothy 1.
The agency is currently confirming this information. Marina admitted that monitoring ships is challenging because their registration process is manual, and they lack tools to track issued documents and ship operations.
The hearing will continue next week.
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