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The M/T Princess Empress’s sinking nearly two months ago triggered an oil spill, and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Monday that underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) operations in Oriental Mindoro province had been successfully completed as part of the oil spill mitigation measures.

The PCG said in a statement on Monday that the ROVs discovered 24 leaks from the sunken vessel and that all but one of them had been temporarily sealed off using specialized bags from the United Kingdom and a local supplier.

16 customized bags were purchased by the Unified Incident Command Post in Calapan City from a golf bag manufacturer in Silang, Cavite.

“One remaining pressure valve producing a slow intermittent release of oil at the 2nd Pressure Valve portside was not capped due to obstructions that may compromise the ROV operations,” the PCG stated.

The PCG expressed appreciation for the assistance provided during the ROV operations to the US Pacific Valkyrie and the Japanese dynamic positioning vessels Shin Nichi Maru, the US Navy Supervisor of Salvage, the Japan Coast Guard, and other parties.

The PCG stated that until the spill’s root cause is permanently addressed, it would continue to work with agencies in offshore and shoreline cleanup and evaluation to minimize the environmental damage.

On February 28, an oil tanker carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil capsized off the coast of Naujan.

On Saturday, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. traveled to Pola town for an airborne inspection and to distribute help to the impacted citizens.

Municipalities in Oriental Mindoro such as Baco, Bansud, Bongabong, Bulalacao, Calapan City, Gloria, Naujan, Mansalay, Pinamalayan, Roxas, San Teodoro, Socorro, and Victoria also received government assistance.

Along with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Social Welfare and Development is managing the cleanup efforts through a cash-for-work program.

More than 25,000 families in 14 towns are currently participating in the initiative, which has a PHP190.1 million budget.

The cost of the damage is around PHP1 billion, according to prior estimates from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

According to a statement by Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, more than PHP20 billion pesos are available for distribution under the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management (NDRRM) law to finance long-term livelihood programs in Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan), which are the most severely affected by the oil spill, as well as some areas of Western Visayas.

She claimed that whereas other government agencies have the Quick Response Fund, local governments also have disaster funds.

The Coast Guard and other NDRRM organizations’ technology expertise and capacity growth, both of which are crucial in dealing with oil spill disasters, should also be a priority. Even neighborhood local governments must have simple access, she argued.

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