MANILA, Nov. 1 -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has mobilized a team with partner government agencies and local government units (LGUs) to contain and assess the impact of a massive wastewater spill in Bais City, Negros Oriental.

Some 255,000 cubic meters of molasses wastewater that leaked into Bais Bay on Oct. 26 from the Universal Robina Corporation (URC) ethanol distillery plant are posing a serious threat to marine life within the Tanon Strait Protected Seascape.

Bais has declared a state of calamity.

"Initial water quality assessments conducted by the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) indicate low levels of dissolved oxygen in affected waters, a condition that may cause fishkill and other adve...