CHASING THE SETTING SUN.
A man walks leisurely along the shore as he watches a fiery sunset in Subic Bay. Manny Marcelo
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IN MET R MANILAO
VOL. XXXVII • NO. 29 • 2 SECTIONS 8 PAGES MARCH 12, 2023
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HEADHEADH.
A belen depicting the Nativity scene is on display at the Kartilya ng Katipunan in Manila on Christmas Eve. Norman Cruz
Int’l experts to aid in cleanup As oil spill hits 4 provinces, affects 19,000 families, causes nausea n By MARICEL V. CRUZ
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XPERTS and coast guards from other countries will meet with officials of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Monday (March 13) to discuss how to assist the country in addressing the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro, said to be the biggest in recent years and threatening to affect 20,000 hectares of coral reefs and 9,900 hectares of mangroves.
PCG Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu said a team from Japan arrived Friday, while Manila has already sent a formal request for help to the
United States as it struggles to contain and clean up the oil spill almost two weeks after M/T Princess Empress, which was carrying 800,000 liters of
industrial fuel oil, sank off the coast of Naujan on Feb. 28. The vessel is believed to be about 400 metres below the waves, but the Philippines does not have the capability to reach the wreckage and remove the oil, Abu said. The number of families affected by the oil spill has also almost doubled at 19,000 from an initial estimate of 10,000, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian said on Saturday. “The new tally of Governor Humerlito Dolor is 19,000 affected families on the provincial level,” Gatchalian said as the DSWD started giving food packs to affected families. Affected fishermen will also be given aid through a cash-for-work program
for the cleanup of the oil spill. They will be paid minimum wage for 15 days, with payout every five days, but the program may be extended even beyond 15 days, Gatchalian said. Dozens of people have fallen ill in Oriental Mindoro after oil washed up on their shores, the provincial government said earlier this week. The Department of Health said vulnerable groups – those who live within 100 meters (of the shore), the elderly and those with respiratory problems – have to be relocated to safer areas. Those within 100 meters should also use industrial masks. Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte asked the Environment department to come up with a risk
management strategy to contain the environmental, economic and health impacts of the oil spill – which he said was “believed to be the biggest in recent years” – in five or six provinces. Traces of oil have already been found in Taytay, Palawan, some 295 kilometers away from Naujan. Depending on its trajectory, the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) said in an earlier forecast that the smudge leaked by the sunken tanker might affect about 20,000 hectares of coral reefs; 9,900 hectares of mangroves; and 6,000 hectares of seagrass in Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Antique and Palawan.
President forms high-level Special Task Force Degamo PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the creation of a highlevel special task force to be led by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. and Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla to ensure a holistic government response following the assasination of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo. This as Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Saturday said the government can cancel the passport of Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. and work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his extradition if it is proven that he is one of the masterminds in the attack against Degamo that also left eight other people dead. “If he is one of the masterminds and the evidence against him is quite strong, the government has a remedy for that. His passport can be canceled if there is a warrant of arrest, and we can coordinate with the FBI so that apprehending and bringing Congressman Teves back to the Philippines can be peaceful,” Zubiri said in an interview with dwIZ. House Speaker Martin Romualdez previously urged Teves, who was supposed to return to the country
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Friday from a trip to the US, to come back home. On Thursday, suspects in the killing of Degamo tagged “Cong Teves” as the mastermind behind the assassination. Rep. Teves is also facing three murder charges for his alleged involvement in the killing of Negros Oriental Board Member Miguel Dungog and two others in 2019. PNP spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said the Special Task Force Degamo headed by Abalos and Remulla will have Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Andres Centino and National Bureau of Investigation Dir. Menardo de Lemos as task force commanders. Defense Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., in a press briefing from Dumaguete after visiting Degamo’s wake, said a separate Joint Task Force Negros composed of police and military will focus on two goals: “to get all 10 suspects in the assassination, and to dismantle all tentacles of violence” in both Negros Oriental and Occidental. “There is always time for reckoning. And this day is that time,” Galvez said.
ON THE READY.
A Philippine Coast Guard personnel keeps a copy of the PCG's ready response to radio challenges from Chinese Coast Guard vessels during a recent maritime domain awareness flight in the West Philippine Sea. Twitter page of Jacque Manabat/ ABS-CBN
PCG to China ships: You are inside PH territory AMID radio challenges from Chinese coast guard vessels in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine Coast Guard already has a ready response asserting the country’s territorial sea and exclusive economic zone. “Calling China Coast Guard. You are transiting inside PH Territorial Sea of Pag-asa Island. Identify yourself & state your intention to prevent misunderstanding. Over.” This was the ready response that PCG personnel brought with them during a
maritime domain awareness flight over the West Philippine Sea on Thursday. The PCG aircraft received at least seven radio challenges from Chinese Coast Guard vessels at Pag-asa Island and Ayungin Shoal, telling them they have entered “China air space” and that they should “leave immediately... to avoid any misunderstanding.” PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela earlier said exposing China’s “gray zone operations” will allow international bodies to criticize Beijing’s incursions in
the Indo-Pacific. Gray zone operations are intended to assert territorial claims through nonmilitary means such as the deployment of Coast Guard vessels, maritime militias, and the fortification of islands and elevations. For his part, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said Manila’s actions in the WPS should not be seen against the backdrop of a strategic competition between two major powers – China and the US – in the region.
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Business ................................................................. A4 Sports.......................................................................... B2 Entertainment ......................................... B3 Pets................................................................................... B4
Gov’t earmarks P100 million aid to unpaid OFWs in Saudi
‘Some reparations already given to comfort women’
NEWS | A2
NEWS | A2
World’s first 3D printed rocket set for space flight WORLD | A3