Smoke from Navotas landfill blaze triggers health alerts

Air quality plummeted across Navotas City and neighboring areas over the weekend as smoke from a massive fire at the old Navotas Sanitary Landfill continued to spread across Metro Manila and parts of Bulacan.

To recall, the fire broke out Friday night at the closed landfill, located on an islet in Barangay Tanza 2.

While the Bureau of Fire Protection declared the blaze under control Sunday morning, firefighters and the Philippine Air Force continued operations to extinguish smoldering waste mass and suppress thick smoke.

By early Sunday, the air quality index in Navotas reached 114, a level considered harmful to sensitive groups.

The office of Mayor John Rey Tiangco advised residents to stay indoors, close windows, and wear N95 masks if they must go outside.

The smoke also prompted an emergency evacuation in Barangay Salambao in Obando, Bulacan. Local authorities moved vulnerable residents, including senior citizens and children, to Obando National High School after air quality in the coastal area sharply declined.

Tiangco clarified that the landfill is no longer under city control. Its operations were terminated in August 2025 following the expiration of a franchise held by Philippine Ecology Systems Corp., and the site was subsequently acquired by San Miguel Aerocity Inc.

Meantime, the Environmental Management Bureau-National Capital Region deployed drones and ambient air sampling units to map the plume’s direction.

Officials warned that infants, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing heart or lung conditions, such as asthma or COPD, face the highest risk.