The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) said Thursday that siphoning operations for the remaining oil from the sunken motor tanker in Mindoro could take up to two months.

It can be recalled that MT Princess Empress which was carrying around 800,000 liters of oil sunk off the waters of Naujan, Mindoro on February 28.

In a press briefing, OCD Administrator Ariel Nepomuceno said the Philippine Coast Guard and volunteers had cleaned up 36 kilometers out 47 kilometers of the oil-spill-affected shoreline.

“In the upcoming siphoning operation, again hopefully within two months... the siphoning of the remaining oil below will be finished,” Nepomuceno said.

“Two months is an ideal situation. See, we have to accept that we don’t have our own equipment. Our government does not have its own equipment like the remotely operated vehicle. We are waiting for that from the private sector. That’s what we admitted, that we don’t have the capability to address that problem,” he said.

“That’s why next time, we should have our own equipment. The siphoning machine isn’t ours. It will be contracted by the private sector. The one who caused this accident claimed from their insurance so there will be a mobilization. They will be the one to spend on it,” he added.

RDC Reield Marine Services owns the sunken motor tanker.

Nepomuceno said possible challenges that siphoning operations could face include delaying the contracting round and a possible early incoming storm that could disturb the waters.

“The possible challenges that could slow down the operations are number one, if the contracting round is delayed. We understand that they are very careful with that because the methodology of how the winning contractor will siphon the remaining oil is very technical,” he said.

“The other problem, which we hope doesn’t happen, is if an early storm would come. Because in that area, the waves are strong,” he added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS