DENR helps LGUs have own oil spill rapid response teams

By Wilnard Bacelonia, Philippine News Agency

FILE: The oil spill off Limay, Bataan has reached Barangay Amaya 5. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is starting to engage local government units (LGUs), especially those which host ports, to help them establish their own oil spill rapid response force.

DENR Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga, during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change into the oil spill from M/T Terra Nova on Wednesday, said that they are currently in talks with the Bataan provincial government but can also entertain other LGUs.

“We’re talking with Governor Joet [Garcia] to have a training, research, and development facility to create a rapid response force for the LGU itself in order to assist with expertise, and we will be using possibly Bataan Peninsula State University as the training ground for this rapid response force,” Loyzaga told senators.

She said DENR is also encouraging oil spill-prone LGUs to learn producing their own spill booms to contain oil spills and limit the circulation of released polluted substance to the water.

“What we had done was we tapped resource persons from the Mindoro oil spill and they were brought into the area by the Philippine Airforce. They began training at the LGU level for the production of these organic spill booms which are also sourced for the cash-for-work program that the TUPAD (Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers) [by the Department of Labor and Employment] is actually paying out,” Loyzaga said.

“So, these spill booms can be used not just for this oil spill but also to stabilize our mangrove and fisheries areas.

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The DENR is also conducting water and air quality sampling and laboratory analysis; facilitating debris management and identify specimen laboratories and treatment facilities; ground validation of total coastal resources and habitat potentially affected areas; and coordinating with different agencies to monitor and address the oil spill impacts.

The massive oil spill caused by the sinking of MT Terranova affected around 46,000 fisherfolk, marine biodiversity, and food security in Bataan, Cavite, Metro Manila, and nearby areas.