SAN FERNANDO, Sibuyan Island, Philippines -- A year after a strong typhoon battered the island and sank a massive passenger ship in the sea, communities here have almost resumed their normal lives.

But with the bow of the upturned M/V Princess of the Stars still bobbing out of the water, people here are haunted by the tragedy that almost poisoned their seas and turned the waters that gave them nourishment into a watery grave for hundreds of passengers of the Suplicio liner.

“We want it out. It is bothering us,” said villager Consejo Rosas, referring to the shipwreck that remains about 500-700 meters off the coastline.

On June 21, 2008, typhoon Frank (international codename: Fengshen) struck Romblon province, directly hitting Sibuyan island.

The 23,824-ton MV Princess of the Stars, carrying 829 passengers and crewmen, was bound for Cebu but capsized in Romblon due to the typhoon.

“If its bow was not showing, this would not have been an international issue,” said Lieutenant Jonathan Galam, Philippine Coast Guard commander in Romblon, saying the capsized vessel has been reminding people of that fateful night.

Rosas remembered hearing warning signals coming from the ship hours before it sank, “but we could not go out because of the typhoon.”

“We did not see (how it happened). (But) we could hear noises (off the sea) and cargoes clanging,” said Perly Bibas, another resident.

He said winds and waves battered the island so hard that they decided to stay home the whole evening.

When the storm passed, he rushed to the shores and saw the capsized vessel.

He said fishermen's huts were washed off the coast.

Other residents claimed that flood reached the town's poblacion. The typhoon also damaged the Tablas Island, smashing seawalls at its eastern side, Nonong Navarette, a resident, added.

“In our records, (typhoon) Frank was so far the strongest that hit the province,” Galam said, adding that it sank not only the MV Princess of the Stars but also six other commercial tankers and fishing boats in other areas.

But the fishing community lost more when a fishing ban was imposed for fear of oil and toxic waste spill from the sunken vessel.

Galam recalled the one-kilometer-radius fishing ban was imposed immediately after the sinking after authorities discovered that the Princess of the Stars was carrying tons of the highly-toxic pesticide endosulfan.

The fishing ban was expanded to five kilometers in August and was reduced back to one kilometer in December after the chemicals were fully extracted.

“San Fernando was so poor for six months,” fisher Manuelito Rojero, 60, recalled.

He said they were allowed to fish only after the ban was lifted and the Department of Health declared the fish harvested from the sea fit for consumption.

“We had no choice but to eat (canned) sardines and our livestock,” he said.

“(Since) we were not allowed to fish, we did not have income during those months,” Rosas said.

When the ban was lifted, she said people were also scared to eat fish for some time, causing their income to dwindle.

“Even I did not eat fish for two months. But when we searched it over the Internet and found no harmful effects, we ate fish again,” said Dodoy Conde, a resident from another island, Romblon, Romblon.

Rosas and the other residents said they depended on aid and relief goods while the ban was in force.

Some of the fishermen resorted to working in construction projects.

Rosas, who had two kids to send to school, coped by selling soda drinks and junk food to Coast Guard personnel, rescuers, media men, and visitors who flocked to their island.

People of the sleepy town of San Fernando claimed seeing ghosts, believed to be the spirits of the victims of MV Princess of the Stars.

Bibas recalled one evening when he set off to catch fish, about eight months since the tragedy. “I saw groups of bright light in the waters,” he even demonstrated them to be moving like pools of fish.

He said the fishermen cheered, thinking they were “dilis,” and that they rushed to throw their “sayap,” a fishing net.

The next morning, he said, they were surprised to see nothing in their net but the seawater.

“Santermo pala [It was a ghost],” he said.

“Yes, there are santermos until now,” Ely Menese, 65, said.

She said her husband had seen human figures on boats, thought to be fellow fishers, but disappeared upon second look.

“He returned to the shore (after seeing the supposed ghost). He was afraid the santermo might cause his boat to capsize.”

Romblon, composed of three major islands, was directly hit by the typhoon Frank, said engineer Vener Balsamo, of the Royal Jessan Resources Inc., one of the salvaging companies commissioned by Sulpicio Lines to retrieve the sunken ship.

Sibuyan island was the hardest hit, he said.

At the shorelines, the community here has preserved a papaya tree.

Quoting stories from townsfolk, the tree was believed to have saved a couple during the typhoon, Balsamo said. “They held on to it,” as the waves battered Sibuyan.

The town that lost about P150 million in terms of infrastructure and fishery damage has slowly gotten back on its feet.

“Somehow, it was a blessing in disguise. Who would have noticed us if not for this (shipwreck),” San Fernando Mayor Nanet Tansingco said, but she lamented the deaths of the victims.

She said people from other places came to see the shipwreck and extend their help to the communities.

Aid from government agencies, non-government organizations, and private firms also poured in.

School buildings and bridges damaged by the typhoon were rebuilt through donations. Medical and dental missions, said to be rare in the remote areas of the island, were also held after the tragedy.

A one-kilometer-radius fishing ban was still in effect around the shipwreck as of Sunday, but Galam said the ban was being maintained only for security reasons, to ensure that the operations of the Coast Guard and the salvors would not be hampered.

He explained that fisherfolk could now fish around the area if they got the permission of the Coast Guard.

The ferry's salvors, Royal Jessan Resources Inc. and CV Gaspar Lighterage, arrived in Sibuyan island on June 11 and began their initial “surveying” of the shipwreck's surface.

The actual operations might begin in a week, said Balsamo, project engineer.

Galam said the Coast Guard was expecting the refloating to be completed in 230 days, given the favorable weather conditions.

“It is so far the most difficult (to salvage). For one, it is the largest passenger ship in the country,” he said.

The Coast Guard is expecting to retrieve remains of less than a hundred victims trapped inside the vessel.

Galam ascertained that the operations will not pose any harm to the islanders.

Weeks before the first anniversary of the tragedy, the weather on the island was marked by gray and overcast skies. But on Sunday, sun shone on a fine afternoon as people offered prayers for their community and the victims of the ship sinking.

“It seems the weather is consenting to the anniversary celebration,” said Balsamo.

On Sunday, the community held a Mass, a candle lighting and flower offering for the victims whose remains have not been retrieved, Tansingco said.

“It is also a (form of) thanksgiving because we have already recovered and we are still here,” she added.

When the shipwreck is refloated, the Coast Guard will install a memorial marker along the coastline of Sibuyan, Tansingco said.

She hopes this would be seen, not only as a reminder of a tragedy, but a symbol of the people’s resilience and a historical emblem that could even help boost the town’s tourism.