OIL SPILL IN CORON BAY? PCG, DENR to verify
Aforeign photographer and lawyer, Sergei Tokmakov, captured on drone camera what he believes is another “oil spill” in the town of Coron, Palawan near Kayagan Lake. It can be remembered that Atty. Tokmakov also captured an “oil spill” near Maquinit hot spring last September 14, which went viral on social media.
The oil spill near Kayagan Lake was supposedly seen last October 7, 2018 at around 5:40PM when he flew a drone with a video camera. Atty. Tokmakov stated in his post on Facebook, “Went flying in Coron Bay again today and stumbled upon more spills of shiny substance in various parts of the Bay.”
Tokmakov said that it is guaranteed that his post is authentic and there is no falsehood in his uploaded clips for dates are GPS location are stamped on the video clips. The lawyer said that he came to Palawan to make a book about Coron. However he is saddened by the “oil spill” shot he captured on the bay of Coron.
“I came here to produce a photo book about Coron (I already published one about Cebu). I did not expect this project to turn out so sad,” said Atty. Tokmakov.
He stated that there is a possibility that the oil dissipated in the bay overnight. He also said that authorities remain in denial to take care of Coron’s image for it is one of the top tourist destinations in the province.
“The oil probably dissipated into the bay overnight again. Local authorities are denying the problem because they are worried that it would ruin Coron’s image. That’s why the oil spills in Coron Bay are so rampant and it’s so hard to catch violators.
Offenders know that the authorities will de facto cover up for them even in the cases of massive spills like the one on Sept. 14. So, the polluters know they have nothing to worry about. If even a huge spill that was on national news got officially dismissed, then the odds of catching the smaller violators are very slim,” In a phone interview, however, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) PENRO Felizardo Cayatoc told Palawan Daily News that they still have to communicate with the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) for the verification of the report and said that they still don’t have any information about Atty. Tokmakov’s report.
“Ipa-verify po natin sa CENRO kasi ako wala pa kong info,” he said. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) also said that they also have to verify the said report as they have yet to receive any oil spill report from their men in the area.