Ang lumubog na MT Princess Empress.
A TOTAL of 35,576 individuals and entities have filed an aggregate of P3 billion in compensation claims in connection with the sunken M/T Princess Empress’s massive oil spill a year ago, Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, a member of the House committee on ecology, said on Wednesday.
“Of the P3 billion in compensation claims, nearly P1.6 billion (worth of claims) have been paid so far,” Pimentel said in a statement on the anniversary of the tanker ship’s sinking off the coast of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
The claims were paid by the London-based International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds), in cooperation with The Shipowners Club – a mutual insurance association based in Luxembourg, according to Pimentel.
Citing an IOPC Funds report, Pimentel said the bulk of the payments, or P1.15 billion, went to 42 entities that made compensable claims incurred in connection with “cleanup and preventive measures.”
“Almost P43 million of the payments were made to 3,103 individuals, mostly subsistence fisherfolk, for their economic losses, translating to an average of around P25,600 per claimant,” Pimentel said.
“Based on the IOPC Funds report, they’ve had difficulties paying many small claimants who did not have bank accounts,” Pimentel said.
“This problem betrays the need for the government to push hard for the financial inclusion of marginal Filipinos,” Pimentel said.
Financial inclusion refers to the availability and equality of opportunities to access basic financial services, such as bank accounts.
The IOPC Funds are two intergovernmental organizations that provide financial compensation for oil pollution damage that occurs in member states, such as the Philippines, resulting from spills of persistent oil from tankers.
The IOPC Funds are financed by contributions paid by entities that receive certain types of oil by sea transport.
The funds provide additional money in the event the civil liability insurance of the shipowner is not enough to pay for the oil pollution damage.
Claimants may be individuals, partnerships, companies, private organizations, or public bodies, including states or local authorities.
Compensable claims include property damage, costs of cleanup activities at sea and on shore, economic losses by fisherfolk and seafood vendors, or those engaged in mariculture, economic losses in the tourism sector, and costs for reinstatement of the environment.
The Department of Justice earlier this month ordered the filing of criminal charges against RDC Reield Marine Services Inc., the owner of the Princess Empress, and its corporate officers and certain employees, found liable for the sinking of the tanker and the oil pollution damage.
The 508-gross ton Princess Empress sank on Feb. 28, 2023 to a depth of 400 meters, and an oil spill was subsequently detected around the ship’s location.
The discharge and pollution damage affected communities around Tayabas Bay, Verde Island Passage, and Tablas Strait.
The IOPC Funds report listed “engine failure” as the cause of the incident and as “unknown” the quantity of oil spilled, though the ship was said to be transporting 800,000 liters of fuel oil cargo from Bataan to Iloilo.
