From living water to toxic sludge: the Philippine island devastated by an oil spill

May 08, 2023

The slick from sunken tanker Princess Empress has harmed livelihoods, caused health problems and done untold damage to marine life. Can Mindoro island recover?

It is a beautiful sunny day on Mindoro island but a nauseating stench fills the air and black sludge covers the beaches and rockpools. The cause? A massive oil spill off the eastern coast of the island, from the tanker Princess Empress, carrying 800,000 litres of industrial fuel oil when it sank on 28 February.

The resultant oil slick, stretching for 75 miles, threatens hundreds of fishing communities near Pola, as well as biodiversity in more than 20 marine protected areas.

Vicente Madera Jr's livelihood from fishing is under threat from the oil spilled from the MT Princess Empress, which capsized in February

The Philippine maritime authorities located the wreck this week and a state of disaster has been declared for nine districts in Oriental Mindoro province. In the village of Buhay na Tubig, which translates as "living water", locals like fisherman Vicente Madera Jr have seen their income disappear.

With five children and a wife who works as a classroom volunteer, Madera, 49, does not know where to turn. The lack of food is a constant worry, as fish was the mainstay of their daily meals. Now, they eat vegetables and their remaining livestock.

Thick black oil clings to the shoreline at Buhay na Tubig, near Pola, in Oriental Mindoro

The number of families affected in the province stands at 21,000. People who rely on the sea are struggling to make ends meet, the oil spill affecting local businesses and tourism as well as daily life.

Madera's neighbour, Elenor Pabula, says: "We used to have fish every day, but now we’re lucky if we can get some vegetables from our garden. It's the children we are actually worried about.

"We can't give them vegetables every day, and now we have no money to give them for their daily allowance [for school meals]."

Local council head Annabel Ferrera is worried for her village. The barangay hall, top, where Buhay na Tubig's administration is based

The barangay captain - local council head – Annabel Ferrera, fears for her community. Some people harvest coconuts, but the province is still recovering from super-typhoon Rai (known locally as Odette), which ravaged the region in late 2021. She worries that desperate people in her community may resort to desperate measures, such as the illegal drug trade.

The toxic oil spill has impacted the health of islanders.

"I have been experiencing difficulty breathing since the oil spill," Ferrera says. "My throat itches and it's very difficult to swallow food. When I visited the town's clinic, they gave me cetirizine, assuming it was an allergy."

Oil clinging to the rocky shoreline at Buhay na Tubig

Almost a dozen people in Buhay na Tubig have visited the clinic with similar symptoms. In Oriental Mindoro, at least 122 islanders have fallen ill, according to Governor Humerlito Dolor. Other symptoms reported include vomiting, diarrhoea, coughs, dizziness, eye irritation and fevers.

Testing air toxicity levels at Buhay na Tubig

Toxicologists are monitoring and treating people affected. The Philippines government has advised those with respiratory illnesses to evacuate and for others to wear an industrial gas mask and ensure they get water from safe sources.

A cash-for-work programme, introduced this month, has been extended until May. The programme pays 355 pesos (£5.30) for 15 days to those assisting in the clean-up operations.

Islanders from Buhay na Tubig join in the clean-up as part of the government's cash-for-work programme

The government has allocated more than 84.4m pesos to the programme, initially intended for 14,000 participants.

Some complain compensation levels do not match what they earn from fishing.

Cleaning the oil-polluted shore of Mindoro island is a daunting, laborious job

Madera says he could usually earn up to 1,000 pesos on a good day, enough to feed his children and send them to school.

Some fishers are leaving for labouring and odd jobs in the towns.

Cleaning up the beaches around Buhay na Tubig as part of the government's cash-for-work scheme

Everyone who can is helping the clean-up, a daunting and slow task.

They can work on cleaning for only two hours at a time to minimise exposure to the oil's toxins.

A crab covered in oil in a rock pool at Buhay na Tubig

The government says it has distributed at least 20m pesos in cash aid to people affected. It has also given food packs to more than 21,000 families in Oriental Mindoro and about 6,600 in Antique province in the west of Panay island, south of Mindoro. However, the list of those in need keeps on growing as the spill spreads.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is assessing biodiversity sites and has designated affected coastal towns as "exclusion areas".

A Philippine Coast Guard team laying absorbent pads on water contaminated with oil

The PCG and the islanders are using absorbent pads to soak up oil on land, while coast guards have laid booms around the suspected location of the wreck.

Miles from the shore of Oriental Mindoro, a Philippine Coast Guard ship sprays oil dispersant to break up the slicks

Some PCG vessels have been modified to spray dispersants that break down the oil slicks into smaller droplets. But dispersants are themselves damaging to marine life.Jefferson Chua, a Greenpeace Philippines campaigner, says the toxic dispersants don't remove oil but leave residue in the area, causing further environmental damage.

Philippine coast guards onboard the vessel BRP Bagacay prepare the oil dispersant before spraying it on the slick off Oriental Mindoro

Fears that the spill could reach the Verde Island Passage (VIP), the strait that separates the islands of Luzon and Mindoro, a rich area of marine biodiversity, worsened last week when the spill was sighted off Verde Island.

The PCG has since said there are no longer any traces of the spill in the waters around the island. Nevertheless, threat to the reefs and other marine life has renewed calls for the government to ban oil tankers passing through the VIP.

Shells covered in oil near Buhay na Tubig

Several organisations called for an investigation, prompting the Philippine senate to open an inquiry, which has already found that the MT Princess Empress had no up-to-date permit to operate. The ship's owner, RDC Reield Marine Services, said the company had complied with requirements to amend its licence last December. The Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) administrator, Hernani Fabia, said the application was still pending.

Clearing the beaches of contaminated debris in the cash-for-work programme

On 21 March, justice minister, Jesus Crispin Remulla, called for criminal charges over the spill. The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas for documents as it builds its case. Remulla has also called on Marina to provide relevant documents amid allegations that the agency allowed the tanker to operate without a permit.

In Buhay na Tubig people want justice and compensation.

Vicente Madera Jr does not know what the future holds for him and his family. He wonders if he will ever be able to fish again or if the "living water" will one day thrive again.

Vicente Madera Jr is uncertain what the future holds for him, his family and his community