Here in the United States, we remember 9/11. In the Philippines, they talk about the "8/11 tragedy." That's a reference to August 11th of last year -- when an oil tanker sunk in waters off the central part of the country.

Somewhere between 50 and 100,000 gallons of oil spilled, causing the largest environmental disaster in Philippine history.

Fishing vessel

The spill struck the Visayas region -- known for its tropical island resorts and fishing villages. The World's Jason Margolis travelled there to see how people in the area are coping.

Listen to the report

Margolis: On a beach on the island Guimaras, a group of fisherman is building a new 40 foot motorized outrigger canoe. It's a bigger boat then the one they were using before the oil spill happened. The men are building it now because they need a bigger boat to travel on longer fishing expeditions, farther from their village.

Fisherman Rene Jaurana says the area where they used to fish is practically devoid of life as a result of the spill.

Fisherman Rene Jaurana

"We have no idea if fish will come in again or they will not. We have no fish to catch at this time."

Jaurana's home on the beach

Margolis: Jaurana lives in a thatched three-room hut on the beach with his wife and child.

Jaurana: "This is the charcoal we are able to use to cook our food..."

Margolis:The family is eating a lot of rice these days because Jaurana isn't catching as many fish.

Rene Jaurana's kitchen

Margolis: His predicament is severe, but not unique. Some 35,000 families along the coast here were affected by the oil spill. Locals say a black sheen of thick oil came drifting towards them. They say the wind blew the oil ashore. It covered, the sand, rocks and native mangroves. Jaurana was lucky; at least his house wasn't affected.

People in a nearby village weren't so lucky.

When you arrive by boat in the village of Lapaz, you can see the black stain of oil clinging to the rocks in the harbor. Jerry BuenConcelio lives in Lapaz with his wife and seven children.

The bamboo poles of his modest house are coated with what looks and feels like sticky tar. He says his youngest children are coughing and have trouble breathing.

He's angry at the oil company Petron, which owns the oil that spilled. The tanker went down during stormy weather. There's been suspicions of foul play, that smugglers might've punctured the ship trying to pilpher oil.

A special government committee found the shipping company, Sunshine Maritime, and Petron liable; the tanker was allegedly overloaded, the ship did not pass maritime inspection rules, and the ship's captain was not properly licensed. Petron was told to clean up 112 miles of affected shoreline.

The oil company recently declared phase one of the clean-up complete, that's the physical removal of oil. But, locals here on Guimaras island say Petron left behind a mess, literally lurking just below the surface.

At an outdoor village council meeting, councilor Ramon Ortiz digs into a bag of sand coated in oil. This is sand that has "officially" been declared clean.

Ramon Ortiz is a councilmember in the village of Lapaz. He shows a bag of oily sand that has officially been declared clean.

This is not just a story of human hardship though. LaPaz sits on the Taklong Island National Marine reserve, one of the most biodiverse marine areas in the world.

Veronica Ortiz is the chairwoman of the village. She points at a cluster of dead and dying mangrove trees covered in black.

These mangroves are the key to the whole ecosystem here. They provide food for plankton and fish, and magroves protect the shoreline from wind and erosion. Without healthy mangroves, the whole ecosystem breaks down. The locals here want this clean.

Mangrove trees at the Taklong Island National Marine Reserve. The tree roots are coated in oil.

But back in Manila, Petron officials says the story isn't that simple. Carlos Tan is Petron's health safety and environment manager. He says, there are limits how much physical clean-up they can do.

Tan:"We can only remove so much sand. We cannot really dig down and remove all of the sand. Otherwise it will cause extensive erosion. And probably it will cause more damage. We can only remove the upper strata, the top soil."

Margolis: But that doesn't mean the clean-up is done. Tan says they're now beginning Phase II, which may involve using microbes to literally eat the oil. There are bacteria that naturally do this in nature.

So, Tan says the idea is to use "biostimulation," or stimulating oil-eating bacteria to reproduce.

Tan: "And the more of these bacteria, the more of them to eat the oil. So that means that oil will disappear in probably a few weeks, or a few months."

Margolis: But quickly finding a local, innocuous oil-eating bacteria is a challenge. This area has never dealt with an oil spill of this magnitude. So Tan says scientists are also considering bioaugmentation.

Tan: "If you're saying bioaugmentation that mans you're adding a foreign bacteria that is not of that area. We have received offers, for example, of the enzymes that were used in the Exxon Valdez. But these are foreign bacteria."

Margolis: And introducing foreign bacteria presents a risk: Nestor Yunque is a professor of biological sciences at the University of the Philippines.

Yunque: "If you have foreign bacteria, coming from other areas, they don't have natural, what do you call this, natural enemies. So there's a possibility that after they have consumed oil, they could consume other things within the area."

Margolis: In other words, foreign bacteria could do more harm than good. So, given the limitations of what science can be used, the best remedy in some cases is to do nothing, or, to allow natural erosion to do its job. The downside is that this takes a time. Dr. Gracianao Yumul heads the Philippine Department of Science and Technology.

Yumul: "The Rehabilitation, depending on whose school of thought you're dealing with, it ranges from 10 years all the way to 20 years... We don't have any idea how long this rehabilitation will take place for the simple reason this is only the second time we have an oil spill. The first oil spill was not this kind of magnitude."

Margolis: Meanwhile, oil is still slowly seeping from the tanker that remains at the bottom of the sea. There are plans to siphon up that oil soon.

For many of the locals in Guimaras, the slow nature of the clean-up has brought much anger and finger pointing...towards the oil company and shipper. But also at the government, which many say failed to do its job regulating the ship and clean-up effort.

Life on the many tiny islands in this part of the Philippines has come to a virtual standstill.

Stummar: "This is the badly hit area. Really badly hit area. Because the wind comes from here."

Helen Stummar lives on the island of Nagarao. You can walk the perimeter in about 30 minutes; the interior is thick with coconut trees and jungle brush.

Nagarao island resort owner Helen Stummar shows her oil soaked beaches

Margolis: Stummar says accidents happen. But she's mad because nobody came to help for weeks, even as the oil was lapping up on her shore.

Stummar: "First of all, it's like you are abandoned, you know. It's like nobody cares, you know."

Margolis: Stummar runs the small Nagarao Island resort. It's a rustic island where people come to escape.

With only generator electricity, an old-fashioned alarm clocks wakes you up.

Stummar: "We can accommodate for foreign guests about 30 to 50 person."
Margolis: When are your busy times?
Stummar: "Supposed to be this month, starting October to March, that's busy days for European tourists."
Margolis: How many visitors do you have right now?
Stummar:"I had only one. Yea, I had one couple."

Margolis: Stummar continues to clean her island on her own, removing oily sand and scrubbing rocks. Plastic bags filled with oily sand sit on her beach. She says as important as the physical rehabilitation, it's equally important to rehabilitate the area's image. After all, a clean shoreline and clean water may bring back fish and fauna, but only a clean image will bring back tourists; tourists, that this area they call paradise desperately needs.

For the World, I'm Jason Margolis, Guimaras, the Philippines.