Compensation, accountability in Mindoro oil spill remain elusive
AFULL year has passed since the tanker Princess Empress, carrying 800,000 liters of industrial oil, sank in the waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, triggering one of the country’s worst environmental disasters.
It took weeks before the sunken ship was finally located. By then most of its oil cargo had leaked out, forming a massive slick that blackened kilometers of shoreline. Hundreds of coastal communities suddenly found themselves in the grip of a catastrophe the impact of which they have not completely recovered from.
In April, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources calculated the oil spill damage to marine resources and fisheries at P7 billion. Last February 28, during the first anniversary of the sinking of the Princess Empress, the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED) placed the damage to the environment at P40.1 billion and socioeconomic losses at P1.1 billion.
“The P41.2 billion figure is the approximation of the incalculable human and ecological costs of this tragedy, costs that will continue as we can no longer restore what has been lost,” the CEED said.
The spill has also done irreparable damage to the Verde Island Passage, the country’s most biodiverse waters, according to the group.
The closed fishing grounds tainted by oil have since been reopened, and the tedious task of removing the thick sludge from the beaches is almost complete. But the issues of compensation and accountability are taking much longer to address.
In the town of Pola, the disaster’s ground zero, a mere 627 out of around 4,000 fisherfolk have received partial payment from the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund, which settles the civil liability insurance claims of shipowners responsible for oil pollution damage.
Processing the claims is taking a long time because the government has no “comprehensive study detailing the full extent of the impact of the oil spill on the environment and livelihood. This delay not only undermines transparency and accountability but also hampers efforts to address the immediate and long-term needs of affected populations,” said CEED Executive Director Gerry Atanes.
There is little progress as far as accountability is concerned. No charges have been filed over the Mindoro oil spill and the damage it inflicted. The Department of Justice had recommended a criminal case against the owner of the Princess Empress, RDC Reield Marine Services, but only for falsification of documents.
There are moves to sue San Miguel Corp. after it was reported that its subsidiary had chartered the Princess Empress to deliver the oil from Bataan to Iloilo. That initiative now seems to be dead in the water.
In May last year, the local office of Oceana, an international organization dedicated to saving the world’s oceans, presented a position paper to the House Committee on Ecology and Natural Resources on addressing the Oriental Mindoro oil spill and ensuring accountability for the ensuing environmental losses.
In the paper, Oceana cited a fact-finding mission by a coalition of scientists and environmental groups to the oil spill-affected areas that found that “assistance provided to affected residents have been insufficient to meet their needs.”
Innocent victims
“It is distressing to witness the suffering endured by these innocent victims while the shipping company responsible continues its operations, shielded by insurance coverage,” it said.
Oceana also offered policy recommendations “to address this ecological nightmare and prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.”
It said the Oil Pollution Compensation Act of 2007, which places liability “solely on the shipowner, exempting charterers and cargo owners,” has to be reexamined.
There is a need for legislation “restricting access of ships, tankers and vessels carrying toxic or harmful substances within ecological sensitive areas.”
Oil spill response procedures must be institutionalized and comprehensive contingency plans developed.
Finally, ecocide, defined as the “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts,” must be criminalized to send “a strong message of deterrence, accountability and the need for reparations.”
We do not know if the House panel heeded Oceana’s recommendations, but they are definitely worth looking into.