The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) plans to ask the Supreme Court to allow the temporary reopening of the Inayawan landfill in Cebu City as a waste transfer station.

DENR Secretary Raphael Lotilla told Cebu Governor Pamela Baricuatro and Cebu City Mayor Nestor Archival that the petition is necessary after Cebu City’s waste disposal system hit a snag.

The proposal, however, faces opposition from neighboring local governments, Talisay City and the Municipality of Minglanilla, who do not want Cebu’s waste brought to their areas, even temporarily.

The Binaliw landfill, which previously handled Cebu City’s garbage, was shut down after a tragic fire that killed 36 people. Cebu City had since arranged a 30-day temporary agreement with the Municipality of Consolacion to send its waste to Barangay Polog, operated by Asian Energy Corporation.

Lotilla emphasized that the government’s push to reopen Inayawan is focused on public health. “We will prepare a petition to the Supreme Court, at the very least, to allow a temporary lifting of the prohibition on the use of the Inayawan landfill as a transfer facility,” he said.

The 15.4-hectare Inayawan landfill has been closed since 2016 after a Writ of Kalikasan was issued by the Court of Appeals and upheld by the Supreme Court. Lotilla clarified that the petition is not for a full reopening of the site for permanent dumping but solely to use it as a temporary transfer station.