The Philippine Coast Guard deploy an oil spill boom and skimmer with manual scooping around the suspected area of the sunken MT Princess Empress approximately 7.1 nautical miles northeast of the shorelines of Balingawan Port, Lucta Port, and Buloc Bay in Oriental Mindoro on March 14, 2023. Photo courtesy of Malayan Towage and Salvage Corporation/Philippine Coast Guard
MANILA - The owners of MT Princess Empress have presented themselves to the National Bureau of Investigation.
The officers of RDC Reield Marine Services, which owns the ship, were issued a subpoena last week.
The NBI based their subpoena on the Securities and Exchange Commission records of RDC Reield Marine Services, which shows that the company is owned by the Cabial family.
The NBI talked to Reymundo Cabial, owner of RDC Reield Marine Services, and his lawyers for almost two hours.
He refused to answer questions from the media, including queries about the structure of their ship MT Princess Empress.
The management of SL Harbor Bulk Terminal Corp. was also subpoenaed by the NBI.
They were identified as the company that chartered RDC Reield Marine Services in using MT Princess Empress. They also refused to answer questions.
Authorities earlier ordered a halt to the operations of RDC Reield Marine Services.
Defense Senior Undersecretary Carlito Galvez Jr. on Sunday said a total of 10,206 liters of oil waste and oily water, and 72,643 kilos of oil contaminated debris were collected in the shoreline clean-up operations.
The oil spill has affected various areas in the Mimaropa region and in Western Visayas.
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