Waters off Mindoro Island fail water-quality test again

waters off mindoro island fail water-quality test again

Waters off Mindoro Island fail water-quality test again

LUCENA CITY—One year after the catastrophic oil spill off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, water quality in some areas still shows toxicity that could pose risks to human and marine species.

Fr. Edwin Gariguez, lead convener of the group Protect Verde Island Passage (VIP), said the oil spill, “is not just an awful memory.”

“The water quality results speak volumes about how this environmental disaster still clings to the waters of VIP a year later and the call for justice shall remain,” Gariguez said in a statement by the Protect VIP on Thursday.

Protect VIP is a network of civil society and faith-based groups, youth and community stakeholders united in the fight to preserve the fragile marine corridor in the Verde Island Passage between mainland Luzon and Mindoro Island.

On Feb. 28 last year, MT Princess Empress sank off Naujan town in Oriental Mindoro, within the VIP corridor, while carrying some 800,000 liters of industrial fuel.

The incident, the first marine environmental crisis of the Marcos administration, resulted in a significant oil spill that impacted coastal areas in the provinces of Oriental Mindoro, Batangas, and as far as Antique and Palawan.

Protect VIP reported that the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED) conducted three water quality tests, “with results indicating that the water quality in the VIP fails to meet the standards for protected waters.”

The group noted the result showed that all three Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) failed the water quality guidelines set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for oil and grease in Calapan, Naujan, and Mansalay, all in Oriental Mindoro province.

Four of the six MPAs in Pinamalayan and Pola towns also failed the DENR standards, the Protect VIP added.

VIP traverses through the provinces of Batangas, Marinduque, Romblon, Occidental Mindoro and Oriental

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