Fisherfolk file class action suit vs firms linked to Oriental Mindoro oil spill

MANILA, Philippines – Fisherfolk from Oriental Mindoro filed a class action suit with a regional trial court on Tuesday, December 9, seeking to hold liable the shipowner, charterer, insurer, as well as intergovernmental organizations over the “environmental catastrophe brought by the [Oriental] Mindoro oil spill.“

This comes more than two years after MT Princess Empress capsized off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro, triggering a fishing ban across the province and a congressional inquiry that delved into anomalies surrounding shipowner RDC Reield Marine Services.

“Kung ikukumpara sa naging pinsala sa amin, malaking sampal ang kakarampot na bigay ng IOPC,“ said fisherfolk leader Aldrin Villanueva, among the plaintiffs in the case. “Lalo pa sa ilan na wala talagang natanggap.“

(If you compare it to the damage we sustained, the scanty amount that the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds gave was a slap in the face. Especially to those who did not get anything at all.)

Respondents to the case were RDC Reield Marine Services, charterer SL Harbor Bulk Terminal Corporation, insurer The Shipowners’ Club, and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC).

Outside the regional trial court in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, where they filed the case, fisherfolk and environmental advocates called out San Miguel Corporation to pay for damages. SL Harbor, the ship charterer, is a subsidiary of San Miguel Shipping.

Petitioners are requesting that the court consider their case to be a class suit on behalf of other fisherfolk in Oriental Mindoro. If the court does not permit, petitioners are requesting that they be allowed to file and pursue their claims jointly.

In the complaint, nine fishers said they didn’t get indemnity because they were prevented from filing their claims as they had to seek employment outside the province following the oil spill.

“More than two and a half years have passed since the incident, yet plaintiffs have not received just, timely, and adequate compensation from any of the defendants for the actual and consequential economic losses and/or damages they have suffered resulting from the incident,” the complaint read.

Petitioners said the IOPC Funds “hastily collected data” from vulnerable fishers.

On the third anniversary of the oil spill on February 28, 2026, claimants will lose their right to compensation unless they have filed a legal action beforehand to protect their claims.

Claimants who have not reached an “amicable agreement,” the insurers and IOPC had said in a statement last October, “are encouraged to seek legal advice on the requirements of legal action in order to avoid expiration of their rights to compensation.”

According to a government report, over P2.7 billion had been distributed to claimants as of September 2025.

MT Princess Empress left the private port SL Harbor Terminal in Limay, Bataan, with over 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil or “black oil” bound for Iloilo on February 28, 2023. It encountered strong winds and rough waters along the way, and its engine gave way when seawater poured onto the ship.

Months after the oil spill, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources estimated that environmental damage could reach P7 billion. A separate assessment by think tank Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development estimated damage to reach P41.2 billion. In the immediate aftermath of the spill, affected fisherfolk and residents volunteered in the government’s cash-for-work program to augment their income. – Rappler.com