An environmental group warned that a deadly landfill landslide in Cebu City exposes failures in the country’s waste management system.
In a statement, Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Marian Ledesma said the incident recalls the 2000 Payatas dumpsite tragedy and shows a broken waste management system that has repeatedly failed Filipino communities.
“Our thoughts are with those affected by this disaster. This incident is reminiscent of what happened in Payatas 25 years ago,” Ledesma said, as she linked it to policy failures.
She warned that similar disasters will recur as long as authorities allow overproduction of residual waste, particularly single-use plastics, despite laws intended to prevent waste through reduction and segregation.
Ledesma said enforcement of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act remains inconsistent, while the Philippines still lacks a national policy regulating single-use plastics decades after the law’s passage.
She criticized the 2022 Extended Producer Responsibility Law as toothless and industry-biased, saying it prioritizes waste recovery and harmful approaches instead of proven upstream solutions for plastic reduction.
Greenpeace urged the government to fully implement RA 9003, amend the EPR Law, and hold corporations accountable for drastically reducing plastic production and shifting toward refill and reuse systems.
“The government shouldn’t wait for another tragedy, but should act now to address the plastic pollution crisis decisively,” Ledesma said, citing risks faced daily by nearby communities.
