Yamsuan lauds DOJ move to file criminal raps vs ship owners over Mindoro oil spill
BICOL Saro Party-list Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan has lauded the Department of Justice (DOJ) for approving the filing of criminal charges against the owners of the M/T Princess Empress, which caused one of the country’s worst environmental catastrophes when the ship capsized and leaked oil off Oriental Mindoro last year.
Yamsuan said the DOJ recommendation to indict the owners of the M/T Princess Empress sends a “clear and strong message that abuses committed by companies that put profit over compliance of the law and the safety of the environment will not go unpunished.”
“We commend the DOJ under Secretary Boying (Jesus Crispin) Remulla for holding accountable those responsible for this massive environmental disaster that affected over 75 kilometers of our coastlines and robbed tens of thousands of families of their means of livelihood,” said Yamsuan, a member of the House committee on natural resources which investigated the Mindoro oil spill last year.
Remulla has approved the recommendation of a DOJ panel of prosecutors to indict the corporate officers of RDC Reield Marines Services Inc., the shipping company that owns M/T Princess Empress; an employee of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA); and a private individual.
The DOJ announced its decision two weeks before the anniversary of the Mindoro oil spill, which occurred on Feb. 28, 2023.
The criminal charges include multiple counts of falsification of private documents, use of falsified documents, and multiple counts of falsification of public documents.
Almost a year after the incident, the people of the town of Pola in Oriental Mindoro, the area most adversely affected by the oil spill, continue to struggle from the impact of the disaster.
Yamsuan said authorities should also look into the possibility of compelling RDC Reield Marine Services to pay compensatory damages to fisherfolk and other workers who were rendered jobless for several months because of the oil spill.
The Feb. 28 oil sinking of the M/T Princess Empress has affected the livelihood of more than 40,000 families and exposed about P7 billion worth of marine resources to the ill effects of the oil spill, according to estimates by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
M/T Princess Empress was carrying about 900,000 liters of industrial fuel oil when it sank.
Aside from Oriental Mindoro, the provinces of Palawan, Antique and Batangas were also affected by the oil spill.
Traces of oil spill from the sunken vessel had reached Verde Island in Batangas City, which is at the heart of the Verde Island Passage (VIP), the site of the world’s most critical marine biodiversity center.
During the joint inquiry on the oil spill conducted by the the House committees on ecology and on natural resources last year, Yamsuan pushed for the establishment of interagency protocols that would bring government agencies in close coordination with each other to swiftly mobilize and address the impact of environmental disasters on affected communities and ecosystems.
