Philippine Oilspills: The Need for a Clean-Up Act

This work, entitled "Philippine Oil Spills : The Need for a Clean-up Act", juxtaposes Philippine laws with international conventions on oil spills to determine how the domestic regime may be improved and harmonized with the international regime in order to better protect the country's marine resources. Within a limitation of 10,000 words, it discusses the post spill concerns of physical clean-up, financial clean-up and industry clean-up. Although this study ends with a chapter on Conclusions and Recommendations, her true recommendation is a draft bill which addresses a gaping hole in the physical clean-up legislation. More than a year after she submitted her work, subsequent maritime incidents such as the oil spill caused by MV Lake Paoay during typhoon "Frank", highlight the same problems as in previous oil spill incidents notwithstanding the passage of the Oil Pollution Compensation Act (Republic Act No. 9483). In fact, the capsizing of MV Princess of the Stars showed how the same problems as immediate response, response capability, data handling, damage compensation and other concerns which are discussed in this study are present in other maritime incidents.