Researchers of the UPLB Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Integrated Natural Resource and Environment Management (UPLB-INREM) conducted fieldwork in Oriental Mindoro on Aug. 13-22 to assess the damage caused by the oil spill off the province’s coast early this year. 

The team, headed by Dr. Asa Jose U. Sajise, co-project leader of “Natural Capital Accounting of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea,” met with stakeholders of impacted areas in Calapan City and the municipalities of Pola and Gloria. 

Dr. Sajise explained that Oriental Mindoro was identified as a case study site for the project after the 800,000 liter oil spill from MV Princess Empress, which sank while traversing Naujan on Feb. 28. 

The damage valuation of ecosystem services at the oil spill-impacted areas in Oriental Mindoro will contribute to developing a framework for natural capital accounting of coastal and marine ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea. 

Consequently, the framework will serve as the basis for environmental damage claims in the West Philippine Sea, which will be significant in policymaking and decision analysis implications.

The researchers, Dr. Sajise, Dannica Rose Aquino, Grace Anne Malolos, Karen Pajadan, and Pauline Cielo Palma, conducted focus group discussions with LGU representatives and fisherfolk and key informant interviews with coastal barangay residents, and trained enumerators for the household survey. 

During the focus group discussion, the fisherfolk told the group that their livelihood was severely affected by the fishing ban imposed at the onset of the oil spill. 

However, they observed an increase in fish stocks after the ban was lifted, which subsequently increased their fish catch and income. 

They also said that the quick response of the local and national government units also contributed to reducing the oil spill’s impact. 

At present, household surveys are being undertaken at 11 coastal barangays of Pola, namely: Bacawan, Batuhan, Bayanan, Buhay na Tubig, Calima, Misong, Puting Cacao, Tagumpay, Tiguihan, Zone I, and Zone II, through the assistance of enumerators from Mindoro State University. The value of damage to ecosystem services can be estimated from the household surveys. 

The “Natural Capital Accounting of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea” is a project under the  3-year program “Resource Inventory, Valuation and Policy in Ecosystem Services under Threat (RE-INVEST)-The Case of the West Philippine Sea.”

The program is supported by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology. (Pauline Cielo P. Palma, Farah Y. Sevilla)