Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday, April 24 renewed her push for a legislative inquiry into the state of the country’s existing solid waste management framework in light of the fire that broke out at a landfill in Navotas last April 10.

Aerial view of the Navotas Sanitary Landfill fire site as Manila City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department (MCDRRMD) drones conduct thermal imaging and damage assessment to help support ongoing firefighting and monitoring efforts. (Photos courtesy of Manila Public Information Office)

Hontiveros said it is imperative for the Senate to conduct a comprehensive review of Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, and its amendments, noting how the landfill fire has affected nearby communities and raised serious environmental and public health concerns.

“For days, residents in CAMANAVA area, some other areas in NCR (National Capital Region), and even as far as Bataan have been exposed to unhealthy air quality that was never supposed to pose this kind of danger. This incident is deeply alarming,” Hontiveros said.

Earlier in February, Hontiveros filed Senate Resolution No. 285 calling for an investigation into the systemic failures that were observed in the collapse of the Binaliw landfill in Cebu City.

The senator said she filed the resolution to ensure that such incidents would not happen again in the future.

“This is exactly what we wanted to avoid when we filed PSN 285. Such incidents should not happen again. The real tragedy is if we do nothing to fix the obvious lapses in our solid waste management system,” she said.

The lawmaker said she believes the Navotas landfill fire is not an isolated incident and reflects recurring failures in regulation and waste management.

She cited past landfill disasters in Cebu City and Rodriguez, Rizal as a result of continued reliance on landfills.

“Our laws are clear. Landfills are meant to be the last resort and not the default solution. But gaps in the implementation of waste reduction, segregation, and recycling at the local level continue to push large volumes of waste into landfills,” she said.

Moreover, Hontiveros noted oversight gaps in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Administrative Order No. 2017 -15, Section 16.1, which limited Multipartite Monitoring Teams (MMT) to Environmentally Critical Projects.

Because of the classification of landfills below a certain capacity to non-ECPs or Category B projects, many in the country escaped regular monitoring and oversight.

“If monitoring is weak, violations of environmental standards can actually slip through. The DENR must ensure that obligations under the ECC, including the proper closure and rehabilitation of landfills, are strictly implemented,” she said.

Hontiveros urged the Senate to conduct the inquiry at the soonest time possible to ensure accountability, and strengthen solid waste management enforcement and prevent similar incidents from happening again.

“This is no longer a simple matter of waste management. The health of the people, the environment, and the safety of our communities depend on it. We need immediate action before the tragedy is repeated in other places,” she said.