Due to rough seas, Mobil Marianas\u2019 oil tanker has not arrived to replenish Rota\u2019s fuel supply, prompting authorities to resort to rationing of two gallons per two days for private users.<\/p>\n
For the government, Rota Mayor Benjamin Manglona said that fuel sale is on a \u201ccase by case basis\u201d so as not to hamper typhoon recovery efforts.<\/p>\n
Manglona said the fuel supply on Rota right now would only last for two to three days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no ample supply of fuel so I declared a local emergency here asking people to cooperate in the rationing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Manglona said Mobil\u2019s shipment is expected to arrive this week. If this does not work out, he said he would be forced to ask for the military\u2019s help to airlift fuel to the island.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other alternative is to appeal to the military. I\u2019ll try. My job is to ensure that we have fuel here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This comes even as another tropical condition, Songda, has intensified into a typhoon, which could hit the islands this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just very counterproductive,\u201d said Manglona.<\/p>\n
Meantime, Mobil spokesperson Cecil Bamba-Suda said yesterday that oil tanker Golden Micronesia will again attempt to enter the Rota port this Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tanker didn\u2019t arrive last Friday. We expect to have it this Thursday if weather conditions permit,\u201d said Bamba-Suda.<\/p>\n
She reiterated that Tinian and Saipan have no fuel supply problem.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Bamba-Suda said that Mobil had reserve gasoline and diesel fuel on Rota and Tinian \u201cfor the government\u2019s emergency needs to ensure recovery efforts are not restricted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manglona yesterday said he was not aware of any fuel reserve on the island. \u201cWe just know that what is left is good only for two or three days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Rota was heavily hit by Supertyphoon Chaba early last week, destroying crops, houses, and several infrastructures.<\/p>\n
The continued rough sea condition adds to Rota\u2019s vulnerability to food and fuel shortage.<\/p>\n
Reports said that fuel companies on Guam have tried but failed to send emergency supply to Rota due to the bad sea condition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Due to rough seas, Mobil Marianas\u2019 oil tanker has not arrived to replenish Rota\u2019s fuel supply, prompting authorities to resort to rationing of two gallons per two days for private users.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}