MALACAÑANG confirmed on Tuesday that Coast Guard and Navy divers have been deployed to check for possible oil spill from a US minesweeper that ran aground in Tubbataha Reef causing damage in the supposed to be off limits marine sanctuary that has been declared as a national treasure and a World Heritage site.
Briefing Malacañang reporters on Tuesday, Palace Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte said the government has set up an operations center at the site where the USS Guardian got stuck since Thursday last week.“Mayroon na pong operation center na itinayo doon at mayroon na pong dalawang assessment teams na nandoon from the side of the US and from the side of the Philippines,” she said as she affirmed that “kailangan magkaroon ng assessment on both sides.”
Explaining the sequence, Valte said the US side will first assess if there is any damage to their ship. “Sa atin naman po, bago magsimula ang actual salvage operation, meron na pong mga Coast Guard and Navy divers na bababa to gather information for a baseline assessment,” she added.
“After the US side has determined how exactly to get the ship out of there, sisimulan po ang salvage operations at pagkatapos po noon, our divers will go back down again to gather more data para magkaroon po ng comparison doon sa before and after matanggal doon ang USS Guardian,” the Palace official said.
Valte reported that Navy divers were given specific orders to gather data for a baseline assessment and “check for any indications of an oil spill.” But she hastened to clarify that “at this point wala pong indication na mayroong oil spill ngayon.”
“Nonetheless, katulad ng binanggit ni [Transportation] Secretary Emilio Abaya kahapon, meron na po tayong mga equipment na pinadala doon katulad nang mga oil [spill] boom in case kakailanganin. And, of course, let us all keep in mind that these operations do take into consideration the weather. So weather-permitting po lahat ng timetable na ito,” Valte added.
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