Japan Disaster Relief team commits to help in oil spill response operations
(Eagle News ) — The effect of the oil spill from the sinking of MT Princess Empress on February 28 is already being seen in Taytay, Palawan, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
It said its personnel have begun cleaning operations in Barangay Casian, which is 159 nautical miles away from Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, where the tanker carrying 800,000 liters of oil sank.
The PCG said its personnel first visited the barangay after the oil spill on March 10 after receiving information from Barangay Captain Norbert Lim and from Taytay’s Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO).
Also on March 10, the PCG welcomed the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) Expert Team at the PCG headquarters in Port Area, Manila.
During their visit, the eight-person team — five from the Japan Coast Guard (JCG), two from the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines, and one from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) — vowed to help the PCG in the ongoing oil spill response operations, the PCG said in a separate statement.
The PCG said the team will “support the investigation of the extent of damage and guide the ongoing oil removal and control activities.”
“The Japanese Government will also provide equipment, such as oil blotters, oil snares, and oil-proof working gloves, to aid the massive clean-up efforts in the affected coastal barangays,” the PCG said.
Ambassador of Japan in the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa said in the PCG statement that the assistance was in recognition of “amicable relations between Japan and the Philippines on humanitarian grounds and for marine environment protection.”
“We hope that the support from the Japanese Government will contribute to preventing further oil contamination and restoring the marine environment in the affected areas,” the ambassador said.