THE Department of Justice (DoJ) on Saturday said the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC) was ready to indemnify local government units (LGUs) that shelled out funds to mitigate the effects of the oil spill in Bataan.

Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said the IOPC was currently looking at the expenses incurred by LGUs to help those affected by the maritime disaster.

"The institutional claimants, the LGUs which provided aid, conducted cleanup drives, as well as government agencies that used contingency funds to contain the oil spill, all of them are being accessed by the IOPCF for indemnification," Vasquez said in Filipino at the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City.

He reported that 52,000 fishermen from Bataan and Cavite were affected by the oil spill.

The provincial governments of Bataan and Cavite are helping identify the roughly 21,000 probable claimants of the compensation.

He said they used the 2023 Mindoro oil spill as a template for coming up with the proper payment for the affected people.

"And the owner of the Terranova, the insurer, as well as the IOPC, have already signified their readiness to pay," he added.

He said that based on the template, each affected individual may be getting an initial payment ranging from P10,000 to P50,000.

Meanwhile, only 800 liters of oil per hour is being extracted from the sunken MT Terranova during the initial siphoning operation conducted by the contracted salvor.

Lt. Cdr. Michael John Encina, Coast Guard Station Bataan commander, when the siphoning operation is this slow, even if it is carried out overnight for seven days a week by Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc., it will take about 73 days to extract all the 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil that MT Terranova was carrying before it sank off Lamao Point, Limay, Bataan, on July 25.

To speed up the extraction of oil from the tanks of the vessel, an oil pumping machine is being shipped from Singapore and is expected to arrive this weekend.

So far, the salvor has collected only an estimated 2,500 liters of oil in the past two days.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard's Marine Science Investigation Force collected another batch of oil samples. Coast Guard personnel monitored ground zero and sprayed dispersant to oil that escaped the booms.

Coast Guard personnel patrolled the shoreline of Barangay Cabcaben in Mariveles, Bataan, where the MTKR Jason Bradley capsized due to bad weather on July 27 to observe possible traces of the oil spill while the Philippine Coast Guard's (PCG) BRP Malamawi assessed the waters near the sunken ship.

The PCG took under its custody MV Mirola 1 to conduct further inspection and to determine if it had committed more violations.

MV Mirola 1 was carrying two tankers filled with diesel oil when it ran aground on July 31 off Sitio Quiapo in the village of Biaan, Mariveles, Bataan.

Encina said the PCG would conduct a further inspection to find out what other violations and administrative cases could be filed.

The PCG has summoned the owner of MV Mirola 1 as only the contracted salvor, Morning Star, was communicating with the agency.

On Saturday, Justice Undersecretary Raul Vasquez said the Department of Justice (DoJ) was looking into the possibility of oil smuggling behind the Bataan oil spills.

In a news forum in Quezon City, Vasquez said they noticed several red flags involving MT Jason Bradley, MV Mirola 1 and MT Terranova.

The MT Jason Bradley has a pending case of oil smuggling at the DoJ, he said.

He said Jason Bradley was one of the ships that fled from the scene of a joint anti-oil smuggling operation of the National Bureau of Investigation's Organized and Transnational Crime Division and the Bureau of Customs in December last year.

On the other hand, MV Mirola 1 was supposed to have been seized since it is unregistered.

"No records, no nothing, it's not even subject to insurance. Same thing with Jason Bradley. We need to know if those three are connected," Vasquez said.

Limay, Bataan Vice Mayor Richie Jason David said there was still no full-blast siphoning of oil from the vessel that sank on July 25.

He said that after the simulation of siphoning was conducted on August 7, the Philippine Coast Guard and the Salvor company were still guarding against oil leaks.

He said that they were updated on the ongoing activities nightly.

He said while he was grateful that the oil spill was being contained, the dangers were still of grave concern.

"We hope the more efficient suction device arrives, but they ran the simulation on August 7, and now it's been 11 days," David said in Filipino.

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