Killer landfills
Parts of Metro Manila have been blanketed in gray skies for two weeks now, not because of some weather phenomenon but due to a nonoperational landfill in Navotas that has been burning since April 10.
Despite authorities declaring the blaze “under control” on April 12, the 40-hectare landfill has continued to burn and emit toxic smoke. It has spread to as far as Bulacan and Bataan, prompting the evacuation of nearby communities.
This is not only an environmental problem but also a health catastrophe. One crucial piece of information that the public should be made aware of is that even if flames are no longer visible, landfill fires tend to persist underground and continue to emit harmful pollutants. This does not just affect those who live in the landfill’s vicinity, but anyone who gets exposed to the cocktail of pollutants being emitted into the atmosphere.
Imagine all the wastes—from plastics to heavy metals—in that landfill that are slowly burning. That is a lethal combination of dioxins and furans, produced when plastics are burned and considered some of the most dangerous chemicals that can cause cancer; as well as lead, mercury, arsenic, and chromium from discarded electronics and batteries that are converted into aerosols and could be easily inhaled and enter the bloodstream.
Particulate matter, or tiny solid particles and liquid droplets measuring 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter, arising from the landfill, can also bypass the body’s natural filters in the nose and throat and penetrate the lungs.
Third landfill accident
Another risk factor is the landfill’s proximity to fishing grounds that could destroy marine resources and eventually affect the food supply.
In a post-incident analysis released on April 17, the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health’s Center for Research and Innovation and the Breathe Metro Manila network warned that current air quality readings may be underestimating the real danger.
At least one death has been linked to the burning landfill—that of a 54-year-old woman, who was among the hundreds of evacuees from Barangay Salambao, in Obando, Bulacan, located less than a kilometer away.
That this is the third landfill accident this year has again highlights the need to review Republic Act No. 9003 (Ecological Waste Management Act) and RA 11898 (Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022). Is it a problem of weak implementation, or is it the lack of regulatory teeth?
Last January, a massive portion of the Binaliw landfill in Cebu City collapsed, killing 36 people and sparking calls for a review of the country’s waste management system. In February, a similar accident happened, this time in Rodriguez, Rizal, killing one person and prompting the mayor to call on the national government to adopt modern waste management technologies, like incineration, to replace open dumping.
Weak regulatory system
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has shut down the Binaliw landfill, but reports a month later stated that Cebu councilors were pushing for its reopening to manage the city’s garbage crisis. But what about the accountability of the operator, Prime Integrated Waste Solutions Cebu, to the environment and to the families of those who died?
As for the Rizal landfill collapse, the DENR has issued a cease-and-desist order against private operator Green Leap Solid Waste Management Inc. and has ordered corrective measures to rehabilitate the area.
Meanwhile, Phil Ecology Systems Corp., former operator of the Navotas landfill, whose contract expired in August 2025, has yet to implement the required safe closure and rehabilitation plan, according to reports.
That similar disasters have happened across three different landfills points to the government’s weak regulatory system. It should not stop at merely investigating the causes of these separate accidents, but must make the operators accountable and institute measures so that these accidents do not happen again.
Decades of stupor
It must also initiate a reassessment of the existing laws. Greenpeace Philippines pointed out that RA 11898 has prioritized waste recovery, but does not require companies to cut plastic production or transition to reuse at scale. RA 9003, on the other hand, it said, was designed around waste prevention, but government action has “largely focused on managing waste only after it is already generated. Reduction and reuse are acknowledged in policy, but they remain largely voluntary in nature. Without clear mandates and enforceable targets, prevention stays on paper while landfills continue to collapse.”
The group has called on the government to be tougher on corporations and require them to reduce the production of plastic and disposable materials.
These three landfill cases should wake the government up from its decades of stupor in implementing the laws to stem the mounting waste crisis before more tragedies happen and slowly kill us all.
For letters to the editor and contributed articles, email to opinion@inquirer.net
