Oil spill committee wants gov't to claim IOPC by January 2024

Justice Undersecretary and Oil Spill Inter-Agency Committee head Raul Vasquez on Friday said he wanted the government to claim its International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) over the damage caused by the Oriental Mindoro oil spill by January 2024.

“Personally, ako gusto ko mag claim ng January, ng government man lang, whoever they are… kahit partial lang,” Vasquez said in an ambush interview following a meeting of the committee.

According to Vasquez, the country may claim $280 million from the International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC), an international body that provides financial compensation for oil pollution damage.

Vasquez, however, said the government must document the long-term effects of the oil spill as the IOPC has certain protocols and requirements in the making of claims and eventual payments.

“Today’s hearing is actually meant… to enable the affected LGUs and the concerned national government agencies to formalize and to make assessments, computations, and documentations of their respective claims of reimbursement,” he said.

“Everything that the government spent, potentially, could be used to make a claim for reimbursement or refund,” he later added.

Vasquez said they will first study if the country can get the partial reimbursement claims of national government agencies, followed by local government units.

Representatives from the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources were present during the Friday committee hearing.

Local government units attended the hearing through Zoom.

The Justice Undersecretary said the country must get its claims within three years after the February 28, 2023 sinking of the MT Princess Empress.

“Kapag tinulugan mo kasi ang claims mo, mawe-waive ‘yan,” said Vasquez.

He added that LGUs asked for their help on how to compute their claims.

“We undertook to go around the affected provinces — Oriental Mindoro, Palawan, and Antique, and Batangas — in order to have a meeting… with all of them in order to inform them what to look for and what to document,” he said.

“The guidance that we gave was they should not temper the claims,” he added.

This is why he believes it is unlikely for the country to get its claims this year.

“I think malabo. Kasi mag co-compute pa lahat-lahat eh. Pero, I would like to believe na maybe a month from now? Kasi tatadtarin ko ‘yan ng meeetings, just to remind them,” Vasquez said.

“So, we will be setting another meeting perhaps a month from now and sa month na ‘yan siguro meron nang ballpark figure assessments ‘yung lahat ng agencies or some of the agencies, and we can move forward,” he added.

According to Vasquez, the IOPC is going around Mindoro to get the individual claims of affected residents.

“Ang number one lang dapat masabihan sa mga pobreng kababayan natin ay wag silang tatanggap ng P5,000, P10,000... tapos may waiver ka na… so kailangan din talagang iikutan namin yan,” he said.

Cases

Meanwhile, a graft case stemming from the oil spill is pending before the Office of the Ombudsman while a falsification case is pending before the National Prosecution Service.

According to Vasquez, the DOJ is seeking to file another“major” case.

“We have to be very careful with that dahil non-bailable nga,” he said.

“May potential na susunod pa. Kasi kung makikita naman namin na medyo tagilid, wag na. Wag mo na pilitin,” he later added.

According to Vasquez, there was also a P370 million administrative penalty that may be imposed against the owner of the MT Princess Empress.

Vasquez also said the DOJ has created a Maritime Disaster Task Force that aims to investigate all maritime incidents in the past 10 years.

“Right now we have opened the stage for the revival of these cases, at least man lang on the fact-finding side. At kung may makita kaming basehan para mag file ng kaso, mag fa-file kami ng kaso,” he said.

MT Princess Empress sank off Najuan, Oriental Mindoro on February 28 while carrying 900,000 liters of industrial fuel. — DVM, GMA Integrated News