MANILA: Speaker Martin Romualdez on Tuesday mobilized his colleagues to help thousands of fisherfolk in four provinces affected by the recent oil spill in line with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to bring immediate aid to the people affected by calamities.
‘Hindi na natin hihintayin na humingi sila ng tulong sa atin. Tayo na ang lalapit sa kanila para alamin kung ano ang tulong na kailangan nila sa atin at sa gobyerno (We will not wait for them to ask us for help. We will be the one to go to them to find out what they need from us and from the government),’ he said in a statement.
“The livelihood of our fisherfolk is at stake. We must act quickly to mitigate the damage. We will tap all available resources to provide immediate relief and necessary support to our fisherfolk,” he said.
Romualdez urged his colleagues from Bataan, Pampanga, Bulacan, and Cavite to coordinate with the concerned agencies to determine the number of affected fishermen and the assistance they need.
Industrial fuel and
diesel are reportedly leaking from two vessels that sank off Bataan and in the Manila Bay area last week. One ship, MT Terra Nova, was carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial oil.
Fisherfolk affected include 11,000 in Bulacan, with an estimated combined monthly income of PHP83 million; 8,000 in Bataan, earning PHP63 million a month, and thousands more in Pampanga and Cavite.
In Cavite, local officials have issued an oil spill alert in the coastal barangays of Ternate, Maragondon, Naic, and parts of Tanza, following a forecast from the Marine Science Institute of the University of the Philippines that the oil spill would travel northward to Bulacan and affect coastal areas in the province.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Space Agency has estimated an area of 93.74 square kilometers covered by oil in Manila Bay.
Source: Philippines News Agency
