Puerto Galera and nearby areas failed four consecutive water quality tests, making the popular tourist destination unsafe for swimming and other water activities, Oriental Mindoro Governor Bonz Dolor said Saturday.
“As far as water quality is concerned, salt water, from Puerto Galera to Bulalacao, bagsak (failed the test),” Dolor told reporters at Pola town, where President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited.
The governor said the latest results showed water quality was down even prior to Holy Week owing to the level of oil or grease followingthe massive oil spill triggered by the sinking of motor tanker Princess Empress off the coast of Pola, southeast of Puerto Galera, in late February.
Dolor said the local government of Puerto Galera earlier objected to the declaration of the state of calamity in the island, underscored by the visit of Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco last week and even diving at the area’s top spots to prove the water is safe.
When asked if local officials in Puerto Galera could be held liable for allowing tourists and residents to swim in their waters despite knowing that there are traces of grease, the governor said: “I refuse to comment on that.”
Dolor said he would wait for the official position of the Department of Health and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources before imposing a ban on swimming and water activities in the area.
Meantime, the quality of drinking water in 14 barangays in Pola town and another barangay in Naujan town also failed quality tests, the governor said. Air quality tests were okay, he added.
Despite the quality of its surrounding waters, Puerto Galera will remain open to tourists, the governor said.
“Tourism is not just limited to the sea. People can still go there but only for the meantime, considering there is poor quality on the water as far as grease and quality are concerned, so we are advising the public to take caution,” he said.
“Our rivers in Oriental Mindoro, during the holidays, they discovered were a good alternative,” he added.