LOOK: Oil spill in Davao del Norte river

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has recovered over 30 drums of oil mixture and hundreds of bags of contaminated solid waste from a river in Carmen town, Davao del Norte, as it sought to contain an oil spill traced to a packaging company.

The PCG said on Friday, March 6, that based on its investigation, the oil spill came from the Davao Packaging Corporation (DAPACOR) compound near Ising River.

PCG Spokesperson Captain Armand Balilo said that on Wednesday, March 6, the PCG received a report of an oil spill incident at the DAPOCOR compound that involved about 10,000 liters of blended fuel.

A team from the Marine Environmental Protection Unit and Coast Guard District South Eastern Mindanao was immediately deployed to the site to verify and contain the oil spill.  The PCG said a team from DAPOCOR was already on site to respond to the incident.

The team used two oil spill booms to contain the oil spill. DAPACOR sent an additional 77 employees – all residents of a nearby barangay – to help in the containment operations which are ongoing as of this posting.

Balilo said the priority was to contain the oil spill, and once this was done, the PCG will conduct a probe into the liability of the “spiller.”

“After the containment, we will conduct investigation to check on the liability of the spiller,” he said. – Rappler.com