MV St Thomas Aquinas waste oil to be brought to Manila

Some 2,500 “tanks” of waste oil from the sunken MV Saint Thomas Aquinas 1 will be shipped to Manila for recycling. Cris Guanzon of Manila-based oil-recycling company Genetron told the Philippine News Agency that Cebu had no existing facility to process the waste oil. 2GO, owner of the Aquinas, had tapped Genetron to dispose of the oil that leaked from the passenger vessel. The Aquinas was carrying 120 tons of bunker fuel and 20 tons of diesel when it sank off the coast of Cebu last August 16. Meanwhile, Philippine Coast Guard Cebu Station Commander Weniel Azcuna said Malayan Towage had plugged seven holes tagged as the cause of the oil leak from the sunken ship. But another dive over the weekend found another hole that has yet to be plugged. Divers could not reach it as it was blocked by metal. Meantime, Malayan Towage is continuously spraying oil dispersant near the site to minimize the effect of the oil spill. The nearby town of Cordova was endangered by the spill. — DVM, GMA News