MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Magandang hapon muli, Malacañang Press Corps, at welcome ulit sa ating press briefing ngayon.
Kabilang ang Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) sa nakipagpulong kay Pangulong Ferdinand Marcos Jr. sa sectoral meeting kaninang umaga. Tinalakay sa pulong ang epekto ng nangyaring oil spill sa Oriental Mindoro mula sa MT Princess Empress.
And to give us more details about this, we are joined by DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga. Good afternoon, Sec. Loyzaga
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: Good afternoon, Daphne. Good afternoon po sa inyong lahat. Actually po ang meeting this morning was on El Niño and its impacts but I know po there is some interest on the oil spill, so if I may just give an update.
As you know po, on Saturday, there was a meeting in Mindoro kasama po si Presidente and the different entities that are involved in the oil spill response were there po to update the president. And the instruction po sa DENR is to continue to monitor the situation. We are not po, of course, the lead here – ang lead po dito sa response in oil spill is the Philippine Coast Guard, so we are taking our guidance from them.
Ang gawain po ng DENR is to test the water in the nearshore and to, of course, test for air quality as well kung may different elements in the air. So far po, medyo positive po ang air quality testing po natin; water samples are, of course, still a challenge in the nearshore area. And as I briefed the president po during the meeting there, this is very much a whole-of-government approach – DSWD, DENR, of course the Philippine Coast Guard, DTI po was there as well – and we are all trying to see how we can have a multidimensional approach to not just the response, but of course the future recovery for the province of Mindoro.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. We’ll open the floor now. We start with Eden Santos, Net 25. The Secretary is also on a tight schedule so we’ll keep it brief.
EDEN SANTOS/NET25: Secretary, good afternoon po. Last time po nabanggit na iyong tubig sa Puerto Galera ay medyo not good for swimming nga po pero sabi po ng DOH, so far hindi pa kasama iyong Puerto Galera doon sa tini-test talaga. So iyong ginawa po ng provincial government doon, sila iyong nagsagawa ng mga test sa pangunguna po ni Gov. Bonz. Do you share the same opinion or stand po with the DOH na hindi pa dapat i-ban ang water activities sa Puerto Galera?
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: Thank you po, ma’am. I know that there is a statement from the DOH and the DENR that will be released or just has been released ‘no. Just to make a point of clarification, sa Puerto Galera po, we have a total of 35 water sampling stations ‘no – of these, six were preexisting kasi po Puerto Galera has a Water Quality Management Board. And so, we have results from those 35 stations – there is a protocol siyempre po dito sa pag-test po natin and of the 35 stations, 9 stations lang po ang pumasa.
On the declaration of whether there is safety for different types of activities po, that is really DOH’s purview. Ang gawain po ng DENR is really to test the water and our test are for oil and grease in the water at iyon po ‘yung nagawa namin ‘no. So, that has already been shared with the different agencies.
EDEN SANTOS/NET25: Follow up na lang po muna. So ibig sabihin po, ma’am, ngayon po tuluy-tuloy pa rin ang swimming activity doon, iyong ibang mga water activities sa Puerto Galera? Alam po natin, ito’y isa sa mga tourist destinations sa ating bansa and how it will affect po iyong tourist activities po doon if in case na we’re planning to ban it in the next few days or months?
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: Ma’am, thank you. Difficult for me to speculate about the banning po ‘no, but what I will say is we have reported na sa 35 na total, 26 po iyong bumagsak, 9 ang pumasa ‘no. So on the decision on the governance of this risk, ano po, this is really a decision really and pronouncement that the DOH will have to make. And of course, the local governments will hopefully also take notice of this po.
EDEN SANTOS/NET25: Doon po sa mga bumagsak, ano po ang mga bawal na activities doon?
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: So, oil and grease po, of course there is a concern in terms of ingestion, and so I will leave that po to the DOH kasi public health and public safety po, sila po ang magpu-pronounce kung anong bawal at anong hindi. Ang sa amin po sa DENR is testing for the presence and the threshold at kung may nag-exceed, iyon po ang iri-report po namin.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Thank you. Job Manahan, ABS-CBN Online.
JOB MANAHAN/ABS-CBN ONLINE: Hi, ma’am. You mentioned kanina na only nine areas passed the water quality tests. So, ano po iyong measures na ginagawa to help clean iyong other areas and ilan po kaya iyong months na tinitingnan to help clean up?
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: Let me just speak to the issue of the oil spill in general and the cleanup ‘no – at this point kasi po we know that there is oil and grease in that water, at this point what we know is there is an oil spill that is ongoing and so what we anticipate po is for as long as the oil continues to leak and that is being brought under control already effectively now – there will be transport of that oil ‘no. And that oil in particular will need some remediation for the ecosystems that are within the DENR’s mandate to protect.
There are some ecosystems that could be badly affected, we need to go into the water to actually see whether or not corals have been coated for example and at [unclear] we’re not able to do that yet ‘no but the DENR has the capacity to go down there- we have the divers, we have an ROV and we need to actually have physical confirmation of the range of the actual impact in order for us to say makaka-recover ba, gaano ba katagal, etc.
What we are very pleased about and I have to say this to share with you all is the different municipalities have really come together under the leadership of the governor. They have been able to prevent some of the flows that really coming in the general direction by building their own natural spill booms ‘no and these are very effective in terms of absorbing and diverging any oil and so we’re very glad that we’re able to assist also in this activity due to the actual technical expertise and mechanical intervention that was given by some of the donors who actually helped us to decorticate coconut fiber and use that material actually to be part of the absorbent material for the oil spill ‘no.
So, in terms of months po, it’s very difficult for us to say at this point how long we would like to be able to say for certain when the final leaks will be cut and that still is being processed now. And so what we would like to say is at this point let’s take a look hopefully within the month or so the leakage will probably be contained definitely and we will actually be able to say what kind of damage has been incurred in the ecosystems that are submerged in the water.
When it comes to the waters on the shoreline, we will continuously test for the presence of any kind of contaminants and we will be there I think much longer than other agencies because the ecosystem impacts are actually long-term.
JOB MANAHAN/ABS-CBN ONLINE: Ma’am, follow up lang po that sabi ng PCG on March 20 na may oil spill traces na daw po sa Isla Verde, and then ma’am, with this po kaya, ma’am, may confirmation about the impact ng oil spill doon sa Isla Verde?
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: May visual presence that’s why they were able to confirm. The impact analysis is something that we continue to undertake and I just wanted to share that we’re able to do this with the help of our partners on the ground, there are NGOs working with us as well; we are using also a valuation method that we’re taking of and referencing from the original to [unclear] damage. If you remember there was an economic valuation for the ecosystem loss that happened because of that incident – so, we are tapping those experts. We also have the help of NOAH – the US NOAH and US AID, as well as various NGOs that are helping us on the valuation. So, sa Isla Verde po, may visual and of course may physical confirmation na nandoon na.
I just also wanted to add that you know on the daily basis when we were at the height of the incident we were getting very, very good support from the UP Marine Science Institute – without them the local scientists were able to help us with anticipating the possible trajectory of the oil and that’s how we were able to somehow alert some of the municipalities na baka po given the wind and given the current baka maabutan po kayo.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Thank you, Job. Vince Lopez, Manila Standard.
VINCE LOPEZ/MANILA STANDARD: Ma’am, good afternoon po. May figures na po ba tayo on how much po iyong total damage na ano ng oil spill in terms po sa ating natural and environment resources po?
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: We have a reference figure for the valuation of the possible areas for contamination. I made this very clear po also on Saturday unless we have the physical confirmation and ang kailangan po we have to go down there and take a look. And then the valuation can be refined but certainly po as you can imagine the hectarage of the coral and the seagrass areas is quite large. Now confirmation to us to what extent na naabutan po sila at na-impact po sila – we need to go down there into the water to actually do it. So, we’re hoping to be able to do that fairly soon kasi po ngayon ay hindi pa allowed po iyong pagbaba sa tubig ngayon. Thank you po.
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: Okay. Thank you very much. I think that’s all we have.
Q: No El Niño question?
MS. OSEÑA-PAEZ: We just had our briefing this morning on El Niño.
Thank you very much, Malacañang Press Corps, at magbabalik tayo in a few minutes for another briefing. Please standby. Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Loyzaga.
DENR SEC. YULO LOYZAGA: Thank you. Thank you, Daphne.
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News and Information Bureau – Transcription Section
