Here is a review of the collective offshore and shoreline response efforts this week of the joint teams from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and other partner agencies in the recent oil spill brought by MT Princess Empress, which sank off Oriental Mindoro in February 2023.

- BRP Bagacay (MRRV-4410) conducted a water spraying method to further agitate the oil sheens sighted in the oil spill ground zero as introduced by the Japan Disaster Relief Team.

- Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. continued to deploy MTug Titan-1 and MTug Cabilao to contain oil sheens spilt in Naujan waters of Oriental Mindoro.

- The joint team from the PCG- Marine Environmental Protection Command (MEPCOM) and Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. aggressively collected the oily water mixtures accumulated from the offshore recovery operations.

- Marine Environmental Protection Command-National Strike Force removed the stranded oil-contaminated debris attached to the mangroves in Sitio Buloc-Buloc, Montemayor, Naujan.

- Oil stains were sighted attached to rocks at the shoreline at Sitio Buloc Buloc. The team continued to clean the remaining oil traces in the area.

- MEPCOM National Strike Force personnel conducted manual wiping of cobbles and pebbles using sorbent pads in the affected shoreline at Sitio Buloc-Buloc.

- The PCG supervised personnel the Harbor Star and Shipping Inc. hired to conduct shoreline flushing. They used high-pressure water to wash stranded oil from boulders in Barangay Puting Cacao, Pola, Oriental Mindoro.

- The shoreline cleanup team hired by Harbor Star and Shipping Inc. washed sediments inside a concrete mixer with sand, water, or a non-toxic agent and rinsed using a mesh as a Phase 2 oil spill cleanup method.