MANILA, Philippines - The cleanup of the oil spill from the cement manufacturing plant in Antipolo City has been completed.
In a letter dated September 14, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said that the oil spill from the Solid Cement Corp. plant that flowed into the Tagbak River and affected areas has been completed.
Aside from the PCG personnel, volunteer groups, local government units and Solid Cement Corp. employees have been tapped for the cleanup and recovery of bunker fuel oil (BFO) that leaked from a storage inside the plant.
In the final round of inspection of the PCG, the clean up teams collected the sludge from Kaynaog Creek, Barangays May-Iba, Dalig, San Gabriel, San Roque, and Bagumbayan— located in Teresa, Rizal; and Barangay Prinza, Morong, Rizal.
Aside from the sludge, the teams also cleaned the affected area of wastes and plastics such as pet bottles, food wrappers and sachets.
Last September 7, a BFO storage inside the Solid Cement plant in Antipolo City leaked as one of the valves to the storage was not closed.
"It is estimated that about 2,000 liters of BFO flowed out of our plant premises. The strong rain on the night of the incident swept the BFO from the plant drainage to the nearby creek which leads to the Tagbak River," the company statement said.