PRESS STATEMENT
05 August 2024
Scientists demand urgent and immediate action from the Marcos administration in ‘compounding disasters’ following oil spill, floods
AGHAM – Advocates of Science and Technology for the People demands that the Marcos Jr. administration take urgent and immediate action and stop blatantly downplaying and neglecting the recent oil spill in Limay and Mariveles, Bataan, which has now spread across three regions in Manila Bay. The oil spill began during the same week that Typhoon Carina and the enhanced Habagat (Southwest Monsoon) brought massive floods in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. This convergence has led to what can be considered as ‘compounding disasters,’ aggravating the environmental and economic distress experienced in the affected areas.
As the enhanced Habagat ravaged Luzon last July 25, MT Terra Nova, a fuel tanker carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel, capsized off the coast of Limay, Bataan and has since begun leaking oil. Days later, news emerged of two other marine vessels, the Jason Bradley and Motor Vessel (MV) Mirola 1, capsizing in Manila Bay. Despite these consecutive incidents, there is a troubling lack of urgency in the government’s response to the ongoing crisis, especially given the scale of the oil spill and its potential impacts on the environment, biodiversity, and livelihood of affected fishing communities around the bay.
The possible impacts of the oil spill can have a cascading effect given the importance of Manila Bay with its various roles as a source of food, livelihood, and recreation for many Filipinos, and as a home to many species of marine organisms, mangroves, and migratory birds. The presence of oil on mangroves can affect their growth and survival, which in turn affects the services provided by mangroves to the ecosystem, such as being a hatching ground for many fish species. Prolonged exposure of fish to water contaminated by oil can cause mortality, and the human consumption of contaminated fish and shellfish may pose significant health hazards.
The oil spill not only poses damage to the ecology and the environment, but also to communities that primarily rely on fishing for their food and livelihood. Based on a rapid survey to a fishing community in Cavite, the compounding effects of recent disasters, i.e., Typhoon Carina, the enhanced habagat, and the oil spill, combined with long-standing development aggression projects such as reclamation-related dredging activities in their area has cost them great financial losses as well as reduced access to potable water, food supply, livelihood, and housing. There are also inconsistent advisories regarding the imposition of a fishing ban. Some residents who are 4Ps beneficiaries also reported being forced to take part in the cleanup to receive their benefits. This is akin to blackmail, given the fact that immediate and sufficient aid is essential especially when a fishing ban is implemented; this is a hard lesson we had to learn from the Mindoro Oil Spill.
In spite of all this, the government response to the oil spill as it stands does not seem to consider the severity of these possible impacts. Either the government is unaware of the current extent of the oil spill, or there is inadequate advisory to the public on the issue.
Science and its tools are available to mitigate the possible scale of the impacts, but the government is refusing to use them. Oil spill trajectory models could be used to detect priority areas to focus on. There is also the question of why and who allowed the vessels to sail despite the rough sea conditions brought about by Typhoon Carina and the enhanced Habagat. The Philippine Coast Guard, armed with the power to authorize or prohibit travel at sea, defended by claiming there was no Storm Signal raised in Bataan at the time. This shows the government’s lack of sincerity in implementing preventive disaster precautions.
It has been 11 days since the oil spill first started, but there are still no concrete measures from Marcos Jr. to hold the owners of the three vessels accountable for the incident. Both MT Terra Nova and MT Princess Empress, which caused the Mindoro Oil Spill incident last year, are commissioned by a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation, who is once again involved in environmental destruction, be it oil spill or reclamation.
This recent oil spill is just another manifestation of the deceitful rhetoric used by the current administration in its climate policies. Marcos projects himself as a climate champion, when in reality his policies reflect his bias for big private companies like San Miguel Corporation which make a profit from projects environmentally-destructive such as the New Manila International Airport (Aerotropolis) and the Pasig River Expressway (PAREX).
We reiterate our demand for urgent and immediate action from the Marcos administration on the oil spill incident and the provision of adequate and sufficient food and financial aids to affected communities.###
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