Foul influence, bound hands

Who has shackled government's hands from providing legal protection to victims of the Mindoro oil spill which several groups said should have provided the precedent for the response to a string of incidents that endanger nature.

On the morning of 28 February 2023, MT Princess Empress sank off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro causing an oil spill that eventually crept in the waters of the provinces of Antique, Batangas, Oriental Mindoro and Palawan.

The tanker was chartered by conglomerate San Miguel Corp., which went unscathed from the incident including in the processing of claims of communities whose members had their livelihood devastated.

During the public hearings in Congress on the incident, efforts to divert the issue away from SMC was evident.

Last 3 September, MV Joegie 5 had 15,000 liters of diesel on its fuel tank when it ran aground in Paluan, Occidental Mindoro while on 27 August, the fishing vessel FV ANITA DJ II, was carrying 70,000 liters of marine diesel when it capsized in the waters off Calatagan, Batangas.

Occidental Mindoro and Batangas are both part of the five provinces surrounding the Verde Island Passage, or VIP.
Protect VIP, a coalition of communities, sectors, and advocates of the VIP, reiterated its call to bestow legal protection on the VIP following the two oil spill threats in the marine corridor in a span of one week.
"Having two marine accidents in a span of one week is alarming for a place as ecologically important as the Verde Island Passage. Given how busy of a shipping lane the VIP is, such accidents illustrate how vulnerable the rich marine life is without legal protection," Father Edwin Gariguez, lead convenor of Protect VIP, said.

Gov't failure palpable

He added: "The government failed to act on the biggest lesson of the Oriental Mindoro oil spill and has let more than six months go without affording any protection at all to the Amazon of the oceans."

Brent Ivan Andres, environmental scientist and head of the Oceans, Coastal Communities, and Climate Program of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, also warned against the impending traffic of other fuel tankers plying the VIP as Batangas is poised to be the host of several energy projects.

"As VIP is the hub of marine biodiversity in the world, we should treat every potential ecological harm in this marine corridor with extra precaution. This highlights the need for its inclusion in the ENIPAS (Expanded National Integrated Protected Area Systems) Act and ban of shipping toxic cargos along the area to safeguard the VIP from numerous threats," Andres added.

Gariguez also questioned why shipping vessels are allowed to set sail despite bad weather, which was the case with the three recent marine accidents in the VIP.

"The impacts of climate crisis such as the increased intensity and frequency of typhoons and strong wave actions contribute to the capsizing of major vessels causing massive oil spills.

Without legislated protection and regulated shipping lanes, oil spills in the VIP will continue to occur and will continue to jeopardize the livelihoods of thousands of people relying on its waters. We ask the government and concerned agencies including the Philippine Coast Guard to urgently address this crisis and apply the learnings from the past oil spills," Gariguez added.

The inaction of agencies responsible for protecting the country's environment, despite the urgent need for action, suggests the possibility of  an underlying malevolent force at work.