MANILA, Philippines – Sinabi ng Office of Civil Defense (OCD) na kailangan ng mas maayos na response measures para sa mga marine environmental disaster.
“It has been a year since the oil spill incident happened in Mindoro. Though it took us time, still we were able to surmount all the challenges that we encountered because of inter-agency and multisector action,” saad sa pahayag ni OCD Administrator Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno.
“[A]nd though we hope that it will not happen again, the incident calls on us to strengthen our preparedness and response so that we can minimize the negative impacts of such incident,” dagdag pa niya.
Ang pahayag na ito ni Nepomuceno ay kasabay ng anibersaryo ng oil spill incident sa Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
Matatandaan na noong Pebrero 28, 2023 ay lumubog ang oil tanker MT Princess Empress sa Naujan, na nagdulot ng oil spill na umabot pa sa mga probinsya ng Antique, Batangas, Oriental Mindoro, at Palawan.
“We are pleased that it is done now, however, we cannot set aside the huge cost of damage, the environmental and health impacts that the incident caused. By acknowledging these, better preparedness and response are needed both from the government side and the companies,” sinabi ng OCD chief.
Ayon sa report ng think tank na Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, umabot sa P40.1 bilyon ang environmental damage at P1.1 billion ang socioeconomic aspect sa oil spill.
Sinabi rin ni Nepomuceno na maraming natutunan ang OCD lalo na sa kahandaan, mula sa oil spill.
“Ginawa lang po namin ang aming katungkulan at obligasyon. Marami kaming natutunan sa [insidente ng] oil spill at isa d’yan at pinakamahalaga ay ang pagtugon at paghahanda sa anumang kalamidad,” aniya. RNT/JGC
