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Cebu landfill collapse kills 36, exposes decades of regulatory failure

Leading crisis response; calling for DENR accountability

The Payatas garbage dump in Quezon City collapsed in July 2000, killing at least 218 people and spurring the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which banned open dumpsites and mandated sanitary landfills with engineering safeguards. Twenty-five years later, Cebu's Binaliw landfill collapsed under nearly identical circumstances—oversaturated waste piled too high on too steep a slope—killing 36 sanitation workers.

Updated May 22

Notable Quotes

"The DENR must be held accountable for regulatory lapses surrounding the Binaliw landfill." — January 2026

from Cebu landfill collapse kills 36, exposes decades of regulatory failure · Updated May 22

"What we want for the future is to bring down the volume of garbage being disposed of at landfills to lower our costs." — January 2026

from Cebu landfill collapse kills 36, exposes decades of regulatory failure · Updated May 22