The local online community reacts to a senator's attempt to connect issues affecting the Philippine Constitution and the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro.
The local online community reacts to a senator's attempt to connect issues affecting the Philippine Constitution and the oil spill in Oriental Mindoro.
Sen. Robin Padilla said in a televised interview on Saturday that the oil spill could have been avoided if the country's shipping sector had been open to foreign ownership.
“Kung iyang mga barko na ‘yan ay luma at tagpi-tagpi, eh, kasalanan po ‘yan ng ating [1987 Philippine] Constitution,” he told CNN Philippines in a video posted on March 18.
“Sapagkat kung ang Constitution sana natin, pinapayagan natin ang foreign competition, lalo na sa shipping, hindi sana ganyan ang kalagayan ng ating shipping dito sa bansa — na konting disgrasya lang, eh ganyan ang nangyayari,” the neophyte senator added.
Meanwhile, Padilla’s initiative of connecting the Philippine Constitution and the Oriental Mindoro oil spill raised some eyebrows online.
“‘Yung bagyo, baka gusto [niya] rin isisi sa ‘outdated’ Constitution,” a Filipino on Twitter commented.
“Akalain mo ‘yun, na ma-i-connect [niya] ‘yan,” another Twitter user wrote with an eyeroll emoji, pertaining to Padilla’s desire for a Charter change while discussing the oil spill incident.
“Ay, oo grabe, foreign competition lang ang makakaiwas sa oil spill. Striktong pagpapatupad sa standards at pagmumulta sa mga lumalabag, who [you]??” a Filipino from YouTube sarcastically commented.
“Anong kinalaman ng competition sa oil spill, ang babaw ng analysis,” another YouTuber wrote.
Others, however, commented that Padilla was “right.”
“Local companies have a reputation of offering subpar services to the Filipinos,” a YouTube user claimed.
“Pair those with corrupt government regulators and events as disastrous as this one, are not unexpected. As long as these lousy local companies remain unchallenged by world-class foreign players, Filipinos will never get the best of services,” the online user added.
The incident
Last month, MT Princess Empress capsized in the waters of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, causing over 800,000 liters of industrial oil to spill into the Tablas Strait and other adjacent waterbodies like the Verde Island Passage.
The motor tanker was en route from Bataan to Iloilo. It was only found on Tuesday, three weeks after it capsized.
The incident has so far affected over 150,000 individuals or 32,000 families in the regions of Mimaropa and Western Visayas.
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