The Manila Times

Palace sees oil spill cleanup done by June

BY CATHERINE S. VALENTE

THE government is aiming to complete the mop-up of the oil spill from the sunken MT Princess Empress in Oriental Mindoro within a month, Malacañang said on Saturday.

“The DSV (dynamic support vessel) Fire Opal, which arrived at the Riviera Pier in Subic Bay Freeport Zone last Friday, will extract and transfer oily waste to a tanker, then dispose of the collected oil. Officials said the siphoning operations may last up to 30 days,” Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said in a statement.

DSV Fire Opal was chartered by the Malayan Towage & Salvage Corp. and contracted by the Protection & Indemnity Insurance Club.

The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) offered the same time estimate.

“The operations will last for 20 to 30 days, if weather conditions are favorable, meaning the remaining oil from the sunken vessel will be retrieved,” OCD Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno said.

In an update to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier this month, Defense Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. reported that of the 74.71 kilometers of coastline affected by the oil spill, 62.95 kilometers, or 84.26 percent, had already been cleaned up as of May 10, 2023.

Galvez added the OCD recorded a total of 6,801 liters of oil waste and 300,603.60 liters of oil-contaminated waste collected in the area through the help of various agencies and organizations.

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2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://manilatimes.pressreader.com/article/281767043598824

The Manila Times