THE DAMAGE caused by oil spills in 2023 has reached P4.93 billion, according to the data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Tuesday.
The PSA’s Compendium of Philippine Environment Statistics (CPES) Component 4 showed that the damage due to “human-induced disasters” reached P9.29 billion last year, of which 53.1% was mainly from oil spill incidents.
“The reported oil spill in various regions resulted in damages in the agriculture sector,” the agency said.
In 2023, damages brought by “minor human-induced incidents” such as armed conflicts/firefight and fire incidents totaled P4.36 billion.
“The total damages [sic] in infrastructure amounted to P4.31 billion or 98.7% of the total damages [sic] due to minor human-induced incidents,” the PSA said.
Meanwhile, damage resulting from natural extreme weather events and disaster declined by 17.5% to P24.49 billion in 2023 from P29.68 billion a year earlier.
The total damage wrought by minor natural incidents reached P1.24 billion, up 33.4% from P0.93 billion in 2022.
Infrastructure incurred the highest damage overall at P630 million or 50.7%, followed by agriculture at P530 million or 42.4%. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
