POLA, Oriental Mindoro (AFP) – A crab covered in oil creeps across the sand as fishermen wearing white protective suits, rubber gloves, and respirator masks scrape toxic sludge from the rocks along the shore.
A CRAB is covered with oil on a beach in Pola, Oriental Mindoro, one of the areas affected by an oil slick from the sunken tanker Princess Empress. (AFP)
More than half the oil has been discharged and dispersed over hundreds of kilometers of waters famed for having some of the most diverse marine life in the world.
Experts estimate the two main oil slicks northwest and southeast of the tanker could span 162-square kilometers.
It took two days for the slick to reach Buhay na Tubig, a remote barangay here, one of the island's worst-affected municipalities.
Some residents got sick after oil smeared the shoreline, turning rocks black and leaving dark globs on the beach.
Authorities have banned fishing and swimming indefinitely, leaving thousands of fishermen wondering how long they can survive.
"They say this might take six months, but what if we are unable to fish for an entire year?" asked Arvie Anonuevo, 32, who has three children.
For more than two weeks, Anonuevo and other fishermen have spent four hours a day cleaning up oil in exchange for a daily wage of P355 from the government – a little over half what they used to make from fishing.
The fishermen use trowels and sheets of thin, absorbent material to clean the rocks.
By the following day, more oil has washed up on the shore.
"It's annoying that the oil keeps coming back the next day no matter how much you clean them (rocks)," Anonuevo said.
The government estimates at least 5,000 hectares of coral reefs, seaweed, and mangroves have been affected.
Mangroves can suffocate if oil covers their roots, while corals – breeding grounds for many fish species – can die or struggle to grow and reproduce if exposed.
It will take at least six months to clean up the spill but the recovery could be years long, said Irene Rodriguez, an associate professor at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute.
One of the worst spills in the Philippines was in 2006, when a tanker carrying two million liters of oil sank off Guimaras province.
Rodriguez said 500,000 liters of oil leaked into the sea in that incident.
This time, she hoped "it can be contained as soon as possible."
"If (the oil) is not removed properly and not treated properly... this will have a significant impact," Rodriguez told AFP.
Living 'hand-to-mouth'
The Princess Empress was found last week by a Japanese remotely operated underwater vehicle at a depth of nearly 400 meters.
It had suffered "extensive structural damage" after sinking on Feb. 28, the Philippine Coast Guard said.
Seven out of eight cargo tanks have leaked. Of those, four are already empty.
About 60 percent of the oil has spilled into the sea, PCG spokesman Rear Admiral Armando Balilo told AFP.
Rough seas initially delayed the deployment of floating barriers to contain the slick.
Oil has been found as far away as the western island of Palawan, more than 350 kilometers from where the tanker went down.
Some oil has also drifted north to the Verde Island Passage, between Mindoro and Luzon.
The passage is near the top of the Coral Triangle, an area of water spanning down to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and East
Timor that is called the "Amazon of the Seas" because of its rich marine life.
The PCG said the vessel's insurers were looking for experts to patch the leaks and remove the oil.
Several countries, including the United States, Japan, and South Korea, are helping the Philippines respond to the disaster.
The owner of the tanker said anyone affected by the spill could seek compensation.
Financial help can't come fast enough for many of the fishermen, who would normally turn their hands to picking bananas or coconuts to supplement their incomes.
But banana trees were damaged by a strong storm last year and the next coconut harvest is months away.
Pola Mayor Jennifer Cruz is worried about how families will make ends meet once government assistance dries up.
"These are people who live hand-to-mouth," Cruz told AFP, warning it could be a year before fishing is allowed to resume.
Anonuevo is already struggling, having used half the money earned from the first week of cleaning rocks to pay off debts from buying food for his family and gasoline for his motorbike.
Fellow fisherman Marlon Fabrero, 46, said he was considering pulling one of his four children out of school to cut expenses.
"Where would I get the P50 daily allowance for each of them?" he asked.