The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and the Subic Freeport community have mobilized additional equipment to control the oil spill in Bataan.
SBMA Chairman and Administrator Eduardo Jose L. Aliño said that the SBMA has allowed the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to use its 160-meter spill boom last Friday to help contain the oil spill from the MT Terra Nova that sank off the waters of Limay town on Thursday.
Aliño said that the SBMA is willing to provide any assistance to the PCG by lending equipment from the agency’s Seaport Department. The SBMA helped the PCG provide the needed equipment at the Subic Bay Yacht Club (SBYC).
“We hope that they would also use it not just for the MT Terra Nova incident, but also for the MTKR Jason Bradley that sank on the coastal waters of Mariveles,” he added.
The SBMA conducted an emergency meeting thru Senior Deputy Administrator for Operations Ronnie Yambao last week to discuss the deployment of the oil spill boom using the PCG’s BRP Suluan.
Meanwhile, two towage companies were also tapped to assist in containing the oil spill from MT Terra Nova using their expertise, equipment, and tugboats. Yambao identified the companies as Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc. and Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp.
“The two companies have requested from the Operations Branch of the Seaport Department to exit the Port of Subic to respond to the oil spill in Limay,” he added.
Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc. mobilized siphoning equipment to extract at least 300,000 liters of industrial fuel oil (IFO). At least 50,000 liters of IFO are targeted to be siphoned per day.
Recently, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) held a joint meeting with the national and regional disaster risk reduction committee to address the Bataan oil spill incident.
DILG Sec. Atty. Benjamin C. Abalos Jr. led the meeting along with the National at Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils.
Bataan Gov. Joet Garcia, Pampanga Gov. Dennis Pineda, and other government agencies were also present to discuss possible actions to avert massive oil spill in the region.
