A tragic landslide at a materials recovery facility has cast a grim shadow over Cebu City, renewing urgent calls for systemic reform in the country's waste management practices.
A Deadly Collapse and a History of Neglect
On January 8, 2026, a catastrophic garbage landslide struck the Binaliw landfill in Cebu City. The collapse of massive waste piles directly endangered personnel working at the site, many of whom are part of the informal waste sector. These workers perform the indispensable yet often invisible labor of recovering recyclable materials, operating in conditions that are chronically undervalued and unprotected.
This disaster is a stark reminder of the lethal consequences of unsafe waste disposal and the persistent neglect faced by communities living and working near dumpsites. It painfully echoes some of the nation's darkest waste-related tragedies, including the Payatas dumpsite collapse on July 10, 2000, and the long-standing crisis at Smokey Mountain in Tondo.
Beyond Condolences: Demands for Concrete Action
Honoring the victims requires moving beyond expressions of sympathy. The EcoWaste Coalition emphasizes that justice begins with prioritizing rescue operations, ensuring responder safety, and providing urgent aid to affected families. The group has issued a clear call to local government units and national agencies to take immediate, life-saving measures.
The coalition's specific demands include:
- Providing immediate and adequate relief, including medical aid, compensation, livelihood support, and sustained psychosocial services for affected families and workers.
- Conducting a transparent and independent investigation into the landfill's operations, structural conditions, and safety protocols, with all findings made public.
- Shutting down unsafe dumps and facilities without delay and fully enforcing Republic Act (RA) 9003, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
- Meaningfully engaging affected communities, especially informal waste workers, in planning and developing just transition programs toward safe and sustainable livelihoods.
Enforcing the Law, Rejecting False Solutions
RA 9003 was enacted in the wake of past tragedies to ensure no community would be placed in harm's way because of garbage. More than two decades later, the same failures are being repeated, with people still dying from waste mountains that should have been dismantled long ago.
The coalition also cautions against exploiting this tragedy to promote false solutions. The Binaliw landslide must not be used as an excuse to justify costly and polluting waste-to-energy incineration technologies. The path forward lies in the strict enforcement and compliance with RA 9003, focusing on waste reduction, segregation at source, recycling, and composting.
With strong political will and genuine concern for people and the environment, Cebu and the entire Philippines can achieve a Zero Waste future. As the nation mourns the lives lost, this tragedy must become a definitive turning point. Justice for the victims means ending deadly dumps, protecting workers and communities, and finally implementing ecological waste management in both letter and spirit.
