The Philippine Nationwide Waste Employees Alliance additionally requires the passage of the Magna Carta for Waste Employees as deaths brought on by the landfill collapse rise to 25
CEBU, Philippines – The Philippine Nationwide Waste Employees Alliance (PNWWA) on Thursday, January 15, known as out the administration of the Binaliw landfill in Cebu Metropolis for neglecting the protection of its employees after a landslide of their facility left greater than 20 folks useless.
“This tragedy will not be a mere accident nor a pure catastrophe. It’s the tragic and foreseeable results of long-standing failures in stable waste administration and power neglect of security in landfill operations,” PNWWA stated in a press release.
Based on officers and rescuers, all victims on the landslide had been employees and subcontractors of Prime Waste Options Cebu (PWSC), the operator of the Binaliw landfill and a subsidiary of billionaire Enrique Razon’s Prime Infrastructure Capital Integrated.
As of Thursday night, January 15, 18 victims stay hospitalized, 25 folks have died, whereas 11 stay lacking on the landfill.
PNWWA, composed of 12 waste employees teams representing over a thousand waste employees throughout the nation, highlighted that poorly managed and unsafe landfills have lengthy posed severe dangers to waste employees. The group known as for a clear and unbiased probe into the causes of the landslide on the Binaliw landfill website.
The Division of Setting and Pure Sources’ (DENR) Mines and Geosciences Bureau carried out a website investigation on January 9, reporting that the attainable causes for the collapse ranged from periodic rainfall oversaturating the landfill, lapses in engineering issues for the landfill stockpiles, to the landfill’s location.
Within the wake of the collapse, the waste employees alliance known as for the passage of the Magna Carta for Waste Employees, which stays pending in Congress through Home Invoice No. 6413 and Senate Invoice No. 2636.
“With out the Magna Carta, waste employees will proceed to face preventable dangers, exploitation, and lack of life,” PNWWA confused.
Persisting office hazards
Very similar to PNWWA, the Heart for Commerce Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) and the Institute for Occupational Well being and Security Improvement (IOHSAD) identified the unsafe working circumstances and culpability of PWSC within the occasions that led to the landfill collapse.
“Based on landfill employee Joey Boy Gealon, the incident occurred with out warning. Nevertheless, subsequent accounts point out that considerations concerning the protection and stability of the landfill had been raised properly earlier than the tragedy,” IOHSAD stated in a press release on January 11.
IOHSAD, citing observations from Cebu Metropolis Councilor Joel Garganera, acknowledged that the landfill operator had been reducing into gathered waste, reshaping the rubbish pile over time, and extracting soil earlier than stacking waste anew, leading to unstable mounds.
“These statements are according to employees’ accounts, together with these shared by Gealon, that considerations over the rising peak and situation of the landfill had been raised for years,” IOHSAD added.
The Binaliw landfill has been on the middle of controversies even earlier than the landslide.
A 2024 Fee on Audit report discovered that the landfill had insufficient drainage and stormwater administration, infestations of flies and rats, foul odor, and a possible leak in its therapy plant.
In July 2025, a Cebu Metropolis Setting and Pure Sources Workplace-led (CENRO) inspection revealed that PWSC carried out quarrying operations with out a allow on the Binaliw landfill.
CTUHR confused that the landfill collapse, the variety of deaths, and the issue in rescuing the lacking victims “uncovered weaknesses” within the DENR and the Division of Labor and Employment’s monitoring of the enforcement of sanitation, environmental, and labor requirements.
“These additionally expose nothing lower than the greed of Prime Built-in Water Options and Razon, who amassed big earnings however refused to uphold their employees’ proper to a secure office,” CTUHR stated of their January 11 assertion.
Each CTUHR and IOHSAD known as on the nation’s lawmakers to cross proposed amendments to the occupational security and well being regulation to higher defend waste employees and maintain employers to account for neglecting employee security requirements.
PWSC, in a press release despatched to Rappler on Wednesday, January 14, stated that they’re working with consultants and authorities for a complete investigation into the difficulty, including that they’ve offered monetary help and psychosocial providers to the households of affected workers.
On Monday, January 12, the DENR in Central Visayas issued a stop and desist order towards PWSC. – Rappler.com
