MANJUYOD, Philippines — For years, Jonalyn Rentuaya, president of Alangilanan United Seaweed Growers Association, began her mornings the same way. By 6:00 a.m., she and other seaweed growers in the Alangilanan neighborhood of Manjuyod, would be wading in the shallows of Bais Bay, out on their lines, tending their crop. Then, on Oct. 26, 2025, the usually clear waters deepened to the color of dark tea. A flood of waste from an ethanol plant about a kilometer away had poured into the bay. “It was maybe around 7:00 a.m. when the dike broke,” Rentuaya says. “Those on the shore immediately ran for safety because it was like a tidal wave. The pressure was strong.” The embankment holding the waste effluent of Universal Robina Corporation’s (URC) ethanol distillery collapsed, unleashing 255 million liters (67.4 million gallons) of wastewater into the bay, equivalent to about 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools of toxic ooze. Bacteria in the waste multiplied, consuming the dissolved oxygen that fish and other marine life need to breathe. Fish suffocated and seaweed on the lines died, and with them, the livelihoods of the coastal communities vanished. The spill reached 17 coastal villages across Bais and Manjuyod and affected at least 3,000 fishers, fish pen operators and seaweed growers, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said on Nov. 3, 2025, according to Mongabay reporting at the time. The spill’s impact was compounded by the bay’s ecological significance. Bais Bay opens into the Tañon Strait, the narrow channel separating Negros,…This article was originally published on Mongabay
