Gov’t to sue Navotas landfill operator over April 10 fire
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said on Monday that environmental conditions around the Navotas Sanitary Landfill Facility are steadily improving following the massive fire on April 10.
During a site inspection conducted with officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways, Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna said that enforcement actions, including maintenance and legal proceedings against the landfill operator, Philippine Ecology Systems Corp. (PhilEco), will continue over alleged violations of environmental laws and environmental compliance certificate (ECC) conditions.
Despite the landfill being in transition since San Miguel Corp. (SMC) already owns the site, Cuna said the responsibility still lies with PhilEco.
“The operator still needs to do the rehabilitation. It is their obligation since they committed to it under the ECC,” Cuna said.
On Sunday, President Marcos announced in a Facebook post that the landfill fire has been fully extinguished.
Maintenance needed
Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said that proper maintenance is critical to preventing another fire.
“The whole thing has been covered. But as we said earlier, this should continue, it cannot be stopped. Maintenance is critical here because the burning gas, methane, is still present underneath,” he said.
Dizon added that SMC should also help ensure proper maintenance is being carried out and prevent another fire.
“The soil needs to be compacted to prevent oxygen from entering beneath it and it should be closely monitored, especially now during the hot season. If this is not watched closely, it might flare up again, so we really need to keep an eye on it. We can’t be complacent,” he said.
Despite the improved environment conditions at the landfill, the DENR said it has already issued Notices of Violation to PhilEco for multiple ECC and environmental law breaches, including failure to submit a mandatory safe closure and rehabilitation plan, failure to install and maintain air pollution control devices and systems such as insufficient number of gas vent pipes, failure to comply with daily soil cover under Presidential Decree No. 1586, or the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System, unauthorized discharges under the Clean Water Act, and failure to complete the abandonment plan.
Cuna said the government is preparing stronger legal action together with the Office of the Solicitor General.
“Environmental negligence has consequences. We will not allow operators to walk away from their responsibilities,” he added.
A fire broke out at the 44-hectare landfill in Barangay Tanza, Navotas, on April 10, after built-up methane gas from decomposing materials reached ignition point. Although the fire was put out, other smaller fires broke out days later, leading to unhealthy air quality levels in Metro Manila and nearby cities.
Cuna, however, said the air quality in those areas has significantly recovered, with monitoring stations in Caloocan and Navotas, and Meycauayan and Obando in Bulacan showing stabilized readings within “fair” to “good” levels.
The DENR said this reflects reduced emissions after suppression efforts and the natural dissipation of smoke as smoldering activity declined.
