THE Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change has approved the issuance of subpoenas on the owners of MTKR Jason Bradley and MV Mirola 1 for being absent in the inquiry yesterday.
Sen. Cynthia Villar said Romnick Ponesta, owner of MTKR Jason Bradley, and Mary Jane Obaldo, owner of MV Mirola 1, were notified about the hearing but failed to show up.
The MTKR Jason Bradley sank off the waters of Mariveles, Bataan on July 26, while MV Mirola 1 ran aground on the coast of Mariveles on July 31, spilling oil.
“In view of the absence of Mr. Romnick Pinesta, ship owner of MTKR Jason Bradley, and Mrs. Mary Jane Obaldo, ship owner of MV Mirola 1, despite being notified of today’s hearing, I move that (a) subpoena be issued to the aforementioned persons,” Villar said.
Sen. Francis Tolentino seconded the motion.
“It has been moved and seconded that we will issue a subpoena to owners of Jason Bradley and Mirola 1,” Villar added.
Villar, who chairs the committee, led the hearing based on Senate Resolution No. 1084 filed by Tolentino which tapped the panel to investigate the oil spill caused by the sinking of M/T Terra Nova in the waters of Limay, Bataan last July 25.
MTKR Jason Bradley and MV Mirola 1 capsized days after Terra Nova sank.
Villar said the sinking of the three vessels “raises additional concerns about maritime safety and environmental protection across the affected areas.”
The areas affected by the oil spill included the municipalities of Abucay, Limay, Mariveles, Orani, Orion, Samal, and the city of Balanga in Bataan; Hagonoy in Bulacan and seven towns and cities of Cavite.
States of calamities have been declared in the affected areas.
“This incident is a significant setback to the ongoing efforts to clean up Manila Bay to comply with the Supreme Court’s long-standing continuing mandamus to clean up, rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay, and to restore and maintain its waters so they are fit for swimming, skin diving, and other forms of contact recreation,” Villar said.
She added the oil spill added an impediment to the government’s efforts to strengthen the ecosystem and restore fragile biodiversity at a time when the country is undergoing the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, from 2021 to 2030.
“The repercussions are severe: the environmental damage is extensive, posing a serious threat to marine life and coastal ecosystem. Moreover, the livelihoods of thousands of fisherfolk and coastal communities have been severely disrupted with estimated economic losses of about P1 billion and counting,” she said.
Tolentino said the concerned government agencies’ apparent laxity and negligence in implementing policies and regulations led to the massive oil spill which affected the livelihoods of more than 42,000 fisherfolk.
“The government is the one who created the problem and the government is also the one looking for the solution. This is a circuitous calamity-induced incident and the blame should always be attributable to the government itself,” Tolentino said.
OIL SIPHONING
A salvor company is now preparing to siphon off the industrial fuel oil from seven other storage tanks of the tanker Terranova that sank off Limay, Bataan a few weeks ago.
Coast Guard Station Bataan commander Lt. Cmdr. Michael John Encina said the siphoning of oil from another tank was continuing as of yesterday afternoon.
Last Tuesday, salvor Harbor Star conducted “initial siphoning” on one of the storage tanks to test the flow rate of oil. The initial siphoning was done after a hot tapping, a procedure to create a new pipeline connection.
In a statement, the PCG said the salvor conducted a series of dives “that led to the successful opening of valves for the oil removal test.”
The PCG said divers marked areas for future hot tap operations, bored stud links to secure equipment, and cleared debris from the hull.
“The safe working pressure during siphoning was maintained at a maximum of 0.15 bar,” said Encina.
“Approximately 300 liters of oil were transferred to a tank to test the equipment, with no leaks observed and minimal oiling effectively contained using one length of boom,” added Encina.
Ecina said the procedure conducted yesterday was no longer meant to test the flow rate of the oil.
“This is now the formal siphoning procedure, no other experiment…The siphoning procedure has already started for the one tank,” said Encina.
Encina said more equipment is due to arrive at ground zero to conduct a hot tapping operation, prior to the eventual siphoning, of the seven other tanks.
“What is certain is that the siphoning is already ongoing on one tank and there will be seven other tanks that will be hot tapped, preparatory to siphoning,” he said.
Encina could not immediately say when the entire siphoning procedure would be completed.
He said the PCG is closely monitoring the operations to prevent “unfortunate eventualities or worst-case scenarios.”
Authorities earlier said only 300,000 liters of the 1.4 million liters of the fuel cargo would be siphoned off. Part of the plan was to refloat the vessel, which would then be brought to the shore where the rest of the oil would be siphoned off.
“Our new plan is to extract all of the contaminants. After that, the salvage operation will follow,” said Encina, referring to the oil cargo.
“If all the contaminants are removed, there will be fewer worries for the salvage company and for all of us,” said Encina. — With Victor Reyes
