ILOILO City – The oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress in Tablas Island, Romblon reached the shores of Sitio Sabang, Barangay Tinogboc, Caluya, Antique.
Lieutenant Commander Jansen Benjamin, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Western Visayas, confirmed the oil spill reached Caluya around 3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 3.
The PCG-Western Visayas, however, has yet to determine the extent of the spill. They left for Caluya to check and implement measures on Friday night.
“We would be prepositioning our oil spill combating equipment from here going to Libertad, and if weather permits, we will load the floating assets then we will depart from Libertad going to Caluya for the deployment of personnel and oil spill combating equipment,” said Benjamin.
The PCG-Western Visayas spokesperson assured residents the oil spill has no detrimental effects on humans unless overexposure to the fuel’s fumes causes respiratory illness.
Benjamin also warned residents: “Please take extra-precaution. Indi gid kamo magtandog or mag-contact sang oil kay there are hazards nga makuha naton.”
However, Benjamin expects the oil spill to have significant impacts on the marine ecosystem, although it is too early to determine the extent.
MT Princess Empress, carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel, capsized near Tablas Island on Feb. 28 after encountering engine trouble due to overheating.
It departed from Bataan en route to Iloilo with its 20 crew members.
WHY THE FAST SPREAD OF OIL?
Benjamin said the wind and wave directions hastened the spread of the oil leak.
“The incident happened on Feb. 28 and subong March 3 na, it only traveled for three to four days. One factor sa pag-leak sang oil is the wind and current condition nga medyo baskug and ang volume sang oil nga naggwa sa barko. Amo na factors nga nagpadasig nga nakalab-ot ang oil sa Caluya,” he explained yesterday.
PCG-Caluya and barangay officials began manual scoping and cordoned off the area to prevent residents from contacting the oil.
On Thursday, March 2, PCG-Western Visayas cleared the possibility of an oil spill reaching the region.
Benjamin said the oil spill was very distant, more or less 68 to 70 nautical miles, from the region’s immediate vicinity which is Semirara Island, Caluya.
When the oil tanker MT Solar I capsized in the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait on Aug. 11, 2006, the oil spill reached Ajuy, Iloilo, or more or less 30 nautical miles, he pointed out.
“Very remote nga makalab-ot based sa previous incident diri sa Guimaras,” he said.
MT Solar I reportedly had a spill of approximately 500,000 liters out of 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel./PN
