DEPARTMENT of National Defense officer-in-charge Carlito Galvez said the United States has provided over $20 million (about P1.1 billion) in assistance to address the oil spill disaster caused by the sinking of the oil tanker MT Princess Empress off Oriental Mindoro last February.
Galvez issued the statement during a press briefing in the US following a US-Philippines 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue involving him, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo, US Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last Tuesday afternoon (US time).
“First of all, we would like to take this moment to express our profoundest thanks to the US. We are grateful to the US government and the American people for their kind assistance in our current environmental sea disaster in containing the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro,” said Galvez.
On the request of the Philippine government, Galvez said Austin, the US embassy and the US Navy “manifested their unwavering support to its deployment of the remotely operated vehicle.”
Galvez said the US Coast Guard and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also agreed to provide “technical support” to contain the oil spill problem.
“The timely and efficient response of our allies in providing the technical and material support, amounting to more than $20 million, was very instrumental in mitigating the impact of this environmental disaster on our coastal communities that may affect millions of Filipino people,” said Galvez.
“The aid and cooperation demonstrate the strength of the Philippine-US defense alliance, and we are very proud to be partners of the United States,” said Galvez.
Galvez said the US assistance during a time of need has reinforced the “friendship and mutual trust between our nations.”
The MT Princess Empress sank off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro last February 28 while transporting more than 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil from Bataan to Iloilo.
Galvez, a former vaccine czar, also thanked US officials for the 3.6 million in COVID-19 vaccines donated to the Philippines.
Galvez said the vaccines donated by the Americans saved “millions of Filipino lives and helped our economy to recover.”
More than P137.3 million worth of aid has been provided to communities affected by the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro, which includes family food packs (FFPs), non-food-relief items and financial assistance through Cash-for-Work (CFW) and Assistance to Individuals in Crisis (AICS) programs, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said.
Data from the DSWD’s Disaster Response Operations Monitoring and Information Center said that as of April 12, 37,871 families (178,306 persons) from 187 barangays in Batangas, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, and Antique have been affected by the oil spill.
The DSWD said the P137.3 million include 74,300 family food packs; temporary livelihood under CFW that benefitted 14,000 affected individuals; and 11,365 individuals who received P3,000 to P5,000 financial assistance under AICS in Oriental Mindoro.
It also included the more than P53.7 million worth of assistance provided to Caluya in Antique, more than P3.07 million to Batangas City, and more than P1.47 million to Taytay in Palawan.
DSWD said it still has P1.42 billion worth of funds (P120.1 million), and stockpiles (P1.3 billion) on standby.
It assured that it will continue to provide various interventions to families and individuals affected by the Mindoro oil spill incident to complement the disaster response operations and efforts of their respective local government units (LGUs). — With Jocelyn Montemayor
