PCG probes sunken oil tanker’s permit

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has found some irregularities in the franchise granted by the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) to the sunken M/T Princess Empress.

PCG spokesman Rear Admiral Armand Balilo said the PCG has been instructed to investigate the Certificate of Public Convenience (CPC) granted by MARINA to Princess Empress, which caused a massive oil spill when it sank in the waters off Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28.

“Initially, there seemed to be a denial from the MARINA, and yesterday the owner of the vessel told the Senate panel that its CPC has yet to be approved,” Balilo said.

He said there was no valid CPC granted to the Empress. He stood firm that the motor tanker was allowed to sail as the PCG was given a CPC from the MARINA.

Balilo’s statement came after the Senate committee on environment on Tuesday discovered that the Empress was allowed to operate even without an updated CPC.

The PCG and the MARINA are attached agencies of the Department of Transportation (DOTr) for the maritime sector.

Balilo said the Empress was allowed to sail based on a copy of the CPC available at the PCG-Central Luzon station, which has jurisdiction over Bataan and the National Capital Region.

He said the PCG relied on the “presumption of regularity” when it allowed the Empress to sail.

“Now, if this CPC is not valid, it’s up to the company to prove otherwise. When this was given to us, we trusted that it was approved by the MARINA, authentic and valid,” Balilo said. ”We used it as basis to allow the vessel to sail.”

He said the PCG could only implement the CPC granted to vessels, which means that these were properly checked by the MARINA and were approved to operate at sea, noting the PCG does not allow vessels to operate without proper documents.

As part of the investigation, Balilo said the PCG was instructed to conduct its own probe and coordinate with the DOTr and the maritime cluster, including the MARINA, to determine the reasons why the Empress was granted a CPC.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto suggested that the government could utilize a portion of the P380-billion annual tax collected from crude oil and petroleum products to clean the Mindoro oil spill and indemnify affected coastal residents.

Recto said that P1 billion alone, which is only “one day’s worth of oil tax collections,” would be enough to jumpstart “abatement and alleviation measures in areas hit by the ecological disaster.”

“Nature, when it is under threat, as in the case of the oil spill, is entitled to tax dividends,” Recto said.

He said an excise tax is imposed on oil products because it is viewed as a harmful product, causing pollution and sickness and contributing to global warming.

“The argument was that it is paid to compensate for damages to health and the environment. That was how previous administrations framed their justification for higher oil taxes,” he said.

Based on a study of the House, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) collected P372 billion in duties and taxes on crude oil (P138.9 billion) and petroleum products (P233.5 billion) in 2021.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue added P7.4 billion in excise tax from petroleum products in the same year.

The BOC gets the bulk in collections based on the “pay as you enter” principle when taxes on crude oil and refined products are collected upon landing in ports.

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda urged President Marcos to delegate an overall in charge to address the oil spill.

During the inquiry, Legarda stressed the need for a concerted action to mitigate the damage caused by the oil spill.

“Who among the government agencies present here is in charge of all this? There should be one commander, there should be someone in charge. There should be an overall in charge,” Legarda said during the hearing of the Senate committee on environment, natural resources and climate change.

Sen. Cynthia Villar, chair of the Senate committee on environment and natural resources, said she will ask Marcos to officially appoint a focal person in charge of the incident.

Legarda also asked about the extent of the oil spill, the number of affected families and what assistance the government has provided to date.

Data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development said the government has distributed at least P20 million in cash assistance to residents affected by the spill.

Sen. Francis Escudero said the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) should simplify and expedite the process of releasing calamity funds to local government units needing immediate relief from natural and man-made disasters like the Mindoro oil spill.

Reports from the PCG showed a total of 23,005 families or 108,162 people residing in 118 barangays in Oriental Mindoro and Palawan have been affected by the oil spill.

Meanwhile, up to 8,387 families or 30,226 residents in four barangays in Caluya, Antique were affected by the spill.

The PCG said more than 55 kilometers of coastline have been affected in the provinces of Mindoro, Antique and Palawan.

OCD deputy administrator Bernardo Alejandro IV said the NDRRMC is reviewing a memorandum containing the guidelines for the request and release of calamity funds. – Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Paolo Romero