CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. has ordered Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating mga Disadvantaged/displaced workers (TUPAD) to make organic booms to help in containing the Bataan oil spill.
Marcos directed Governors Dennis Pineda of Pampanga, Jose Enrique Garcia III of Bataan and Daniel Fernando of Bulacan to mobilize the Tupad beneficiaries of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to start gathering materials from large coconut plantations in Aurora and Quezon to create organic booms.
The President's directive came after he conducted an aerial inspection on July 27 of Manila Bay areas in Pampanga, Bulacan and Bataan.
An oil spill from the sunken MT Terra Nova carrying 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel threatens Pampanga, Bulacan, Bataan, Manila and Cavite.
The Philippine Space Agency said the oil spill is nearing the coast of Bulacan.
Organic booms are made of coconut husks, rice stalks and cogon.
Marcos said that Tupad beneficiaries, with their skills can make these booms with the assistance of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
This initiative will prevent the government from spending millions for the purchase of organic booms.
The DOLE said that some P176 million has been allotted for Tupad beneficiaries in Central Luzon.
The figure will benefit up to 50,000 individuals under the agency's emergency employment program.
Marcos has also ordered for the early-harvest of fish and aquatic produce in fishpens and other fishery areas along the coastal area of Pampanga and Bulacan as a preventive measure.
