[Transcript of Interpellation] Senator Risa Hontiveros during the oil spill hearing

HEARING OF SENATE COMMITTEE OF ENVIRONMENT,
NATURAL RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE CHANGE
ON MINDORO OIL SPILL

SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS (SRH): Maikling manifestation bago ang MARINA at Coast Guard doon sa isang importanteng sinabi ni Mayor Cruz. Tama po yung sinasabi ni Mayor Cruz it has the force of law dahil doon sa RA 9483 yun Oil Pollution Compensation Act, liability for pollution damage lies with the shipowner kaya maitatanong sana sa RDC in terms of compensation for the environmental destruction, loss of livelihood and damaged properties of the people kung ano yung mga plano and I think ganoon din ang sense nung sinasabi ni Mayor Cruz.

SENATOR CYNTHIA VILLAR (SCV): Senator Risa it is a very small company and I don't think they can tackle this problem, they will go bankrupt -

SRH: I understand, Madam Chair, kaya naman tayo nagseset ng liabilities.

SCV: They would not do anything so the government should be prepared to do something because we can't rely on something that we can't rely on

SRH: I share the chair's objective sa hearing natin to establish liability whether it's the company or others gusto ko lang bigyang-diin yung sinabi ni Mayor Cruz na mayroon talagang solid na batayan sa batas yun lang po, salamat po.

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SRH: Imposible namang may krimen laban sa Mindoro Oriental pero walang responsable at walang compensation sa kanila. Balikan ko lang yung pinoint out nyo dito sa accident report ng MARINA doon sa section on vessel documents sa section ng factual information, sabi nyo nga po may finding ang MARINA that the ship has no authority to operate in the form of an amendment with CPC Certificate of Public Convenience issued to RDC Reield Marine Services Inc to operate the MT Princess Empress in the domestic trade pursuant to the revised IRR of republic act 9295 pwede po ba nating malaman sa MARINA o sa Coast Guard, sa mga ganitong mga sitwasyon, MARINA, batay po dito sa accident report na quote ng chair, sa ganitong mga sitwasyon na wala palang amended CPC yung shipping company para i-operate yung ship tapos pag nagka mayroon ng ganitong sitwasyon batay naman sa RA na nabanggit ko kanina, sino naman ang magbibigay ng compensation? For example sa local government or kahit sa mga mangingisda doon?

MARINA: Yung CPC is issued to the company. Sa CPC yan, ililista ang mga vessels under that CPC may dagdag ng isang vessel you have to amend. Yung RDC, may pending application which we are going to hear pa sana, may hearing pa, may kulang na mga documents, ihi-hear pa natin iyan, hindi sila na-issue-han agad.

SRH: Hindi po na-issue-han ang RDC para makalayag ang MT Princess Empress?

MARINA: Para mainclude sa CPC ng by amendment. So pag may amendment na sila diyan na include sila -

SRH: So dapat sir, kung wala pang amended CPC, hindi pa naidadgdag sa CPP ng RDC itong Princess Empress, hindi dapat nakalayag ito? Tama po ba?

MARINA: Dapat po.

SRH: We also have to find out, Madam Chair, kung paano ito nakalayag kung hindi pa amended ang CPC ng kumpanya. But Sir, MARINA, sa mga ganitong sitwasyon, nakalayag na po siya, nalubog na po siya, tumagas na po yung oil naapektuhang malubha ang Mindoro Oriental at bantang naapektuhan ang iba, sa ganito pong sitwasyon, sino ang tutupad sa obligasyon sa batas tungkol sa 9483 yung Oil Pollution Compensation Act? Sino po kasi imposibleng walang may responsibilidad sa Mindoro Oriental?

MARINA: Yung Pollution Management fund, may contribution ng each tanker at tanker hauler using persistent oil which is heavy oil yan na hindi nag evaporate yan, or black oil or persistent oil. yung each hauler na yan nagbabayad sila ng centavos per liter. As of now, ang total fund is umabot na ng 63 million. Last Thursday yata, o Friday, nareceive ako ng claim ng Coast Guard for the clean up. Ngayon, if they want to claim for damages, the Coast Guard needs to file a case in the RTC for that. Mari-release na namin yung 30, asking ang Coast Guard ng 33 million so mamayang hapon sana po we will meet the oil fund committee to give the amount.

SRH: Just one follow up at this point, balikan ko na lang mamaya yung MARINA pero po sa Coast Guard, Sir Vice Admiral Punzalan, ang Coast Guard po siguro ay nagconduct ng pre-departure inspection doon sa Port of Bataan, nagkondukta po ba ng inspeksyon dito sa MT Princess Empress ang Coast Guard?

PH COAST GUARD: Lumalabas po sa imbestigasyon po na may kulang sa kanilang pag-inspect which is the boarding...

SRH: Pero nag-conduct ng inspection diumano?

PCG: That's what our report says kaya -

SRH: Pero mayroon po bang inspection na di bino-board ang barko?

PCG: As submitted to us during the investigation there was a submitted document and signed by the boarding (inaud) and she passed here as master safety departure clearance., This is a document, and SOP of whenever the vessel seek for departure clearance and secondly there is a filled up document from the boarding or clearing team aiming to pre-departure inspection checklist. Ito po yung pini-fill up po ng mga tao natin whenever they conduct inspection and board. These are properly signed by our personnel and acknowledge also by the shipmaster.

SRH: So nakapag-accomplish po sila ng pre-departure checklist so ibig sabihin, ginamit nila ang form na ito, ibig sabihin nakapag-inspect sila?

PCG: As per our SOP it should be on board, physical inspection onboard

SRH: Pero sabi ni Vice Admiral Punzalan, kulang kasi kulang yung boarding, ibig sabihin hindi po sila naka-board?

PCG: This is really want to forward to national headquarters to conduct administrative investigations pertaining to lapses of our personnel if such is the case.

SRH: Yes please kasi ako lay person pero wala akong ma-imagine na inspeksyon ng barko na hindi binoard ang barko. And so parang dumadami ang list of agencies na possibly accountable sa nangyaring ito sa kanila ng mga heroic efforts niyo to respond, pero di ba sinasabi an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I'm sure alam na alam bago pa nitong hearing at nakoconfirm lang ng hearing namin kina Gov. Dolor yung mga agencies na dapat sana napigilan itong nangyari.

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SRH: Ako po bilang apo ng Mindoro Oriental ay buong pusong nakikiisa sa panawagan ni Gov at umaasa ako Madam Chair sa pamamagitan ng Komite natin and yung pag-uusap nyo ng Chair ng NDRRMC mangyayari po yung hinihiling nilang national government integrated response kasi po talagang ang nangyayari sa amin ay emerging humanitarian crisis.

One quick manifestation for the record bago yung mga tanong ko, hawak ko yung pre-departure checklist for tanker ship ng Philippine Coast Guard. Ito po yung para sa Princess Empress and hindi lang po sia, ito po yung boxes dito na walang check, doon sa table na complete and valid ship safety certificates and documents. So isa na po yung Certificate of Public Convenience or CPC, hindi po talaga naka-check. And nakasulat po dito sa table, isa ito sa certificate na if not valid detainable, and pito po yung ganyan na if not valid, detainable. Yung isa if no to be rectified and yet kahit kulang ng 7 check sa checklist ay nakalayag nga, nakapalaot, at nangyari nga ito sa Mimaropa at pati sa Western Visayas. For the record, Madam Chair, document mismo ng Coast Guard.

Yung una ko pong tanong, Madam Chair, actually follow up na lang sa nauna nang mahalagang inputs ni Sec Yulo-Loyzaga sa DENR, salamat doon sa sinabi nyo sa amin ng Chair na ipu-furnish nyo yung Komite ng ulat ninyo tungkol sa trahedyang ito kasi I appreciate na hindi po tayo nagpapaliguy-ligoy, we would really want to know kung gaano kasama ito, or gaano kalaki yung scope ng damage? I wonder if you want to add anything to that, Sec.

SEC YULO-LOYZAGA (DENR): We do have a presentation po that is composed of several parts including our colleagues from UP-MIS who are characterizing the hazard with the help of the Philippine Space Agency and NOAH sa US po. With your indulgence po, we have a complete presentation on what the DENR has done.

Last question baka pwede nyo na ring punan in the course of the presentation, gaano pong katagal at ano pong requirements in terms of human, technological and financial resources para maglunsad po tayo ng honest to goodness clean up at i-rehabilitate yung affected areas bukod po sa damage assessment, later on bukod sa pagbuo ng rehabilitation plan, ano pong papel ang ginagampanan ng DENR sa oil spill clean up mismo?

DENR: Just to answer your last question first, we cannot calculate the full cost of this incident until the hazard is actually finished, and so that will continue po so long as the oil continues to spill. Madam Chair, if the leak is not plugged, the flow, as estimated by the UP-MIS will continue for the next probably two weeks, if the leak is not plugged and I believe po Dr Cesar Villanoy of the UP Marine Science Institute to describe the rate of the spillage at saan po siya dadapo and it's very clear po sa kanilang models and we based our intervention both on the ground to mitigate, and a projection for the cost on the science that is provided by the UP Marine Science Institute and our colleagues in the different bureaus. Our presentation po is composed of several parts, the hazard, the exposure and vulnerability of. both air and water as well as biodiversity both the ecosystem so all the different aspects of ecosystems, the coral reefs, the seagrass will be described in the presentation.

SRH: And just before you present, make the presentation, salamat sa timeframe na binigay nyo ng two weeks kasi within the two weeks pasok na po yung sinasabing two days within which baka umabot yung oil spill sa Verde Island Passage.

DENR: Actually Senator po if we may clarify and Dr. Villanoy will be the one to explain as the winds change po the direction of the flow will also change and that's when the Verde Island Passage will be most vulnerable.