By Prince Golez
The US Coast Guard and some of its air assets will arrive in the Philippines to assist with the ongoing cleanup of the massive oil spill in Mindoro, National Defense Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Sunday.
In his report, Galvez told President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that they expect the entire US Coast Guard and another C-5, the US Air Force’s largest and most strategic airlifter, to arrive in the country in the coming days.
“We are looking forward to the arrival of the entire US Coast Guard contingent for the additional technical support in our disaster response operations. Although, one US C-17 with equipment (60K loader) already arrived this morning and is now at Subic Air Base. Another C-5 is expected to arrive tomorrow,” the Defense chief said.
Galvez, also chair of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, along with the Office of Civil Defense Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno and Philippine Coast Guard chief Admiral Artemio Abu and other Armed Forces and local government officials, conducted an aerial inspection of the affected areas of the oil spill early today.
“We will immediately employ these assets and integrate in our response operations. In addition, we continue to closely monitor the ROV’s (remotely-operated vehicle) operations for significant updates and to further determine the extent of the oil spill,” he pointed out.
Galvez said the presence of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has greatly aided clean-up operations by providing rapid environmental assessments of affected areas, identifying priority areas at risk of environmental damage, and assessing the need for ecosystem restoration.
“They provide support for scientific modeling to estimate the trajectory of the oil spill and satellite imagery to boost assessment efforts,” he added.
The DND senior official also reported that the Japanese ROV discoveted that the sunken oil tanker, MT Princess Empress, “suffered extensive structural damage after sinking.”
“At this point, no visible consumption fuel leak coming from the damaged vessel. Oil leaks had been observed from all 8 compartments (tanks). Some through ballast tanks. Volume of remaining oil inside the compartments cannot be estimated at this point. Oil spillage rate from the source is likewise yet to be determined,” Galvez said, quoting the findings of the Japanese team.
He also stated that the situation in the affected areas of Mimaropa and Western Visayas is “a lot better and very encouraging than I imagined.”
“Our response efforts, particularly the actions of the various government agencies, are present and very effective with the collaboration of all stakeholders, not to mention the assistance of our allies and other partner countries,” according to him.
The Marcos administration and non-government organizations have so far extended more than P95 million worth of assistance to the residents in the areas affected by the oil spill.
Galvez said the shoreline clean-up operations collected a total of 10,206 liters of oil waste and oily water, as well as 72,643 kilos of oil contaminated debris.
