Unearthing mishap’s origin

Fault-finding over the trash slide in the village of Binaliw in Cebu City has become a mainstay on social media as the death toll rises.

Nosy Tarsee tried to get the real story behind the mishap, and this is what he found:

The landfill area struck by the trash slide had been battered by natural events before the tragic incident. Earthquakes, aftershocks, and relentless rains lately have worsened the problem.

Management of the landfill has been turned over from the previous operator, which had faced mountains of complaints over putrid odor and other environmental issues, to its current operator Prime Waste Solutions (PWS) just in 2023, or some two years ago which is barely enough time to put in place all that’s needed to completely turn the landfill into a safe, professionally-run materials recovery facility.

In compliance with environmental laws, the new operator, PWS Cebu, implemented measures to ensure the facility’s safety and soundness when it took over the landfill.

In November 2017, the DENR issued an environmental compliance certificate to the previous operator, ARN Central Waste Management Inc. (ACI) which required compliance with environmental safeguards for waste disposal.

About a year later, in April 2018, the Cebu City government gave a special land use permit to ACI to ARN Builders, ACI’s mother firm, to build a landfill on a 10-hectare area in Binaliw.

No city council approval was awarded, but public hearings were held with residents raising various issues, including safety.

Project proponents assured compliance with landfill safety standards, including the use of two open dumps with lifespans of 5 and 16 years.

But around a year later, between May and June 2019, the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau regional office issued notices of violation against ACI for improper garbage handling and missed deadlines for monitoring reports.

ACI acknowledged and announced corrective measures. At the same time, barangay officials and residents complained of a foul odor and health hazards, with some asking whether the actual operations matched the approved permits.

But around the same year in June, some city officials raised concern over the P55 million contract awarded to ACI following a bidding with the city’s Department of Public Service (DPS), assuring it was above board, and with the debates ending up in the hands of the then incoming city administration of Edgardo Labella.

In July of the same year, the city began using the landfill, dumping city waste into it after the mayor, Tomas Osmeña, signed a disposal contract with ACI, though some environmental concerns remained unresolved.

In June 2020, the DENR amended the ECC it granted to ACI, imposing additional conditions and safeguards, with ACI committing to comply with them, including enhanced monitoring rules.

Three years passed, and the landfill operations remained stuck in the most antiquated waste-management methods. Until January 2023, when operations were taken over by PWS after ACI acquired the area.

More than a year after PWS took over, it launched an automated materials recovery facility, reportedly the country’s first, to reduce landfill waste to 20 percent. The objective was to turn trash into fuel, a technology different and many times safer than turning waste directly into energy

The problems that PWS inherited from ACI, however, persisted and by August 2024, the city’s environmental office said the landfill continued to violate the Ecological Waste Management Act.

By this time, the transition of the landfill into a modern MRF has just taken off the ground and, like a jet, was still taxiing on the runway prior to liftoff.

In September of the same year, impatience manifested itself through a signature campaign by residents complaining of continued foul odor, health hazards and fly infestation.

In June last year, then-mayor-elect Nestor Archival issued a warning to shut down the landfill if the complaints persisted. He did not, however, address the issue of the city’s own waste management system that led to tons and tons of trash just being dumped on top of each other at the landfill. No segregation, no volume control.

Until the tragedy happened. Earthquakes, relentless rains, and other natural forces hammered the landfill site without rest. Water filled the gaps created by the earthquakes, causing the trash pile to slide into and away from each other.

The PWS has implemented necessary measures to prevent such tragedies, but unfortunately, this incident still occurred during their tenure.

Efforts to transform the site into a modern MRF were no match for what nature decides on its own. To say it’s preventable is easy, but not accurate. Nature doesn’t care about prevention. It strikes with impunity.

Right now, the biggest need is to help residents, employees, and homeowners get back on their feet, not to help them search for a scapegoat to blame.