Oceana demands accountability, immediate and just reparations for URC ethanol spill in the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape
Press Release Date: November 3, 2025
The country’s largest marine protected area – the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS) – is now in danger of serious and lasting ecological damage, following the collapse of Universal Robina Corporation’s ethanol plant containment lagoon in Bais, Negros Oriental. A key marine biodiversity and environmentally critical area, this TSPS is home to 14 species of whales and dolphins and a major fishing ground and source of food for many local communities in Negros and Cebu. Now, the beauty, bounty, and ecological integrity of Tañon Strait is under active threat of being adversely impacted by this negligent act. The spill can affect the nutrient cycling and food web stability of the protected area, and cause long-lasting damage to its benthic habitats, coral reefs, and seagrass beds, impacting fish and invertebrate populations.
Oceana calls on the government to hold URC fully accountable for this ethanol wastewater spill. The polluter must pay the highest price for its inexcusable failure to observe due diligence in the operation of its plant. The Universal Robina Corporation cannot simply get away with a mere ‘slap on the wrist’ just like the minor fines imposed on them in a similar incident in 2018. Moreover, the fact that this facility, located within a protected seascape, has had a similar accident in the past raises serious questions about the adequacy of the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) issued to the company as well as the latter’s own disaster preparedness.
The DENR must also publicly clarify what specific response protocols for a worst-case scenario spill were mandated in the facility’s ECC and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Given that the containment dikes were presumably constructed before the Tañon’s Strait’s protected area status, what specific upgrades and safeguards were required to ensure it complied with modern standards like the Expanded National Protected Areas System (E-NIPAS) Act of 2018. It needs to be asked, for example, why existing measures proved insufficient to prevent a disaster of this magnitude from happening.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Bais and other communities who are bearing the brunt of corporate negligence. The Tañon Strait is a national treasure, not a sacrifice zone for industrial waste. Oceana demands that URC and the concerned government agencies act with greater urgency and transparency to clean up this mess, initiate preventive measures to stop the continuing spread of ethanol pollution to neighboring areas, compensate the victims justly and fully for loss of income and livelihoods, and ensure that such a disaster never happens again. Accountability must be the cornerstone of our response.