THE Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) yesterday said it has issued a cease and desist order against the company that owns the MR Princess Empress tanker which sank last February 28 and caused an oil spill in the waters off Oriental Mindoro.
Maritime Administrator Hernani Fabia said the cease and desist order against RDC Reield Marine Services covers the certificate of public convenience issued to it and its remaining three vessels, which include two tankers and a passenger vessel.
“We issued two cease and desist orders, one is for purposes of cancellation of franchise or the certificate of public convenience, and the other one is to cease and desist in the operations, pending investigation and inspections,” Fabia told reporters in an ambush interview at the Department of Justice (DOJ) after he attended the meeting of the Oil Spill Inter-Agency Committee.
Fabia said the cease and desist order will remain in effect pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation into the February 28 sinking of the MT Princess Empress off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
The ill-fated tanker was carrying 900,000 liters of industrial fuels when it sank.
The incident has threatened the ecosystem and coastal communities in southern Luzon as well as the livelihood of fishermen in the affected areas.
Environment Undersecretary Ignatius Rodriguez said the ship owner will be fined P471,000 per day from March 1 until the oil spill is cleaned up.
Rodriguez, who attended the inter-agency meeting to represent the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said this may go higher as it covers only eight of the 10 samples taken by the department and examined for contamination.
In the same interview, Fabia insisted the MT Princess Empress was not a “rebuilt scrap” as earlier claimed by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla. “It is newly constructed. Not new (but) newly constructed,” he said.
Asked to explain, the MARINA chief said new means it’s already existing. “But this one is newly constructed, new from scratch,” he said, adding that “based on our records, this is new construction. We will submit that to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI),” which the DOJ has tapped to determine the liability of the ship owner and other personalities involved in the mishap.
Lawyer Valeriano Del Rosario on Thursday said authorities will begin accepting on Monday applications for compensation from those affected by the oil spill.
Del Rosario is the managing partner of VeraLaw, a correspondence company of P&I Club which is the insurer of the owner of the ill-fated vessel.
In a joint press conference with Oriental Mindoro Gov. Humerlito Dolor, Del Rosario said the first claims office or claims caravan will be put up in Calapan City, the province’s capital.
“It will act as the collecting point for the claimants to submit their completed claim forms,” said Del Rosario, adding similar claims offices will also be established in other areas affected by the oil spill.
He said individuals, corporations and local governments affected by the oil spill may file their claims under four categories: “The first category is coastal cleanup and preventive measures; category two, economic loss of those in fisheries and mariculture; category three, economic loss for those in the tourism sector and related businesses; and category four, property damage.”
“Claimants will be guided by the claim form as to the specific supporting documents required in support of each category of claim and claimants will have to prove their loss by providing appropriate evidence. Once the claimants have completed the claim forms, they are to submit the completed forms to the local claims offices,” he said.
He added the applications will be reviewed and assessed to determine the veracity of the claims.
Del Rosario said “experts” who will review the claims may visit the claimants for verification of their application.
He said the claimants will be later informed as to the outcome of their application.
If claimants do not get an update within 30 days upon submission of their claims, Del Rosario said they should go to the claims offices and inquire.
“Claimants can also be assured that their claims will be given the best attention to ensure that the assessment of claims are being done as fairly and as accurately as possible,” he said.
Del Rosario said there is no fixed amount in terms of compensation to be given to those affected as these would depend on the assessment that will be conducted by experts.
On the case of fishermen, if a fisherman earns P450 a day, this will be multiplied to the number of days that he was not able to fish due to the oil spill.
“As of today, it’s been 23 days (since the incident occurred), multiply that (to P450),that will be around P10,000, that’s the computation,” said Del Rosario.
“There is a (fishing) ban. BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) said it’s not yet safe to fish, so while they are unable to fish, they’ll have a claim. Today is day 23,” he also said.
De Rosario assured the people of Oriental Mindoro that the government, international oil spill experts and contracted responders “have been working together to minimize the impact of the oil spill.”
Dolor said there are around 20,932 fisherfolks, 67 tourism establishments, 750 community-based organizations for tourism, and thousands of tourism employees affected by the oil spill.
Dolor said families living in far municipalities such as Calapan City need not go to the city to file their claims as claims booths will be put up in their areas.
“To expedite this process, claims offices will also be established in the different municipalities and different barangays,” he said.
Dolor appealed to his constituents not to submit fake documents or make multiple claims to avoid encountering problem in their application for compensation.
Dolor, in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, said it appeared that all the operational oil of the sunken ship has already spilt.
Citing an assessment of the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operation that located the sunken ship last Tuesday, Dolor said the oil that were spilling are coming from the eight container tanks of the vessel, where the 900,000 liters of industrial fuel oil were stored.
The Philippine Coast Guard earlier said the vessel had 100,000 operational fuel when it figured in the mishap.
“What’s leaking now are the eight (container) tanks,” added Dolor.
Dolor said the ROV operation was not able to determine how much oil are still inside the container tanks.
“They (experts) said they cannot determine the content. What we can say here is the operational fuel is already gone, because its (operational fuel) tank is no longer leaking…There’s evidence it leaked before, but now only stains were found, it’s no longer leaking,” he added.
Dolor echoed the statement of the Philippine Coast Guard that the sunken vessel sustained extensive damage. He said pressure caused the damage as the ship was resting about 390 to 395 meters below sea level.
Dolor said he asked the experts if the vessel can be re-floated. “Their answer is no because if you refloat the vessel, because of the pressure, it might break,” he said.
“If it breaks and there is still oil inside the (container) tanks, it will be a disaster to all. So that (re-floating) option is out of the picture,” said Dolor.
GOV’T ASSISTANCE
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said it still has over P2.044 billion worth of funds and stockpiles on standby that can be tapped to assist those affected by the oil spill in Regions IV-B (Mimaropa) and VI (Western Visayas), assuring that it is capable of helping those affected following reports that it may take longer to contain the spills and slicks.
DSWD assistant secretary and spokesman Rommel Lopez, in an interview with radio DzBB, said that DSWD is coordinating with other agencies to ensure the continued delivery of assistance to the affected areas as they expect more people would be affected as the months goes on.
Lopez said DSWD may ask the Department of Budget and Management to augment its quick reaction fund if the need arises.
The DSWD said 34,555 families or 163,508 persons from 151 barangays in Oriental Mindoro, Palawan and Antique have been affected by the oil spill.
Lopez said more than P45.67 million worth of assistance, composed of family food packs and non-food relief items, have already been provided to the affected families.
These are on top of the P90.4 million worth of financial aid under the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS) that have also been distributed to affected families.
Lopez said the cash for work program has also benefited 18,762 individuals who are paid the minimum wage of P266 to P365 per day, depending on the prevailing daily wage in the region.
He said they expect the number to continue to go up as the incident has affected not just the fishermen who are unable to fish, but also the tourism industry workers as the sill and slick has affected some tourist areas. — With Victor Reyes and Jocelyn Montemayor
