Navotas landfill fire: Who owns the mess?

Last Friday, as the sun set over Metro Manila, I stood at the foothills of Rizal overlooking the city.

I watched the fiery sun, in shades of pink and red, slowly disappear into the horizon.

But as I looked closer, I couldn’t help but notice the thick clouds of smoke billowing and drifting across the sky.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. The smoke that I saw from where I stood came from the burning Navotas landfill, roughly a hundred kilometers away from Rizal.

We all know what happened. On April 10, a smoke erupted at the shuttered Navotas landfill, triggered by methane buildup. It’s still burning as I write this, three weeks and counting.

The fire still burns – thick, acrid and extremely dangerous.

This is not the first time a landfill has resulted in disaster. Some collapsed, injuring or killing countless people.

And yet, we have not learned our lessons.

Who is responsible for the Navotas incident?

It seems that the illusion that someone, somewhere, is in charge also went up in flames.

Unfortunately, the negligence is costly and we’re paying for it.

Residents cough. Classes are disrupted. The wind carries the smog across the capital region and its environs. Even those of us who live and work far from Navotas are affected. All you need to do is step outside and look up to see the cloud of smoke.

And yet, accountability remains as invisible as this toxic air that we’e breathing now.

Man-made failure

The unfortunate thing is, this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made failure that unfolded over the years. It was a mess waiting to happen.

The Navotas sanitary landfill was never just a dump. It was a deal.

Built in the early 2000s, the landfill operated for more than two decades under a concession granted by the city government.

The private operator, Phil Ecology Systems Corp., part of R-II Builders Inc. of businessman Reghis Romero II, handled the technical side.

The Navotas LGU held the keys.

At the time, then-mayor Toby Tiangco defended the project as necessary. Metro Manila needed somewhere to put its trash. Cities needed waste solutions. That’s true, of course.

Tiangco became mayor of Navotas in 1998, became vice mayor in 1999 and became mayor again from 2000. He remained mayor of Navotas until 2010.

He actually focused on garbage issues, and the then municipality was awarded the Cleanest Municipality of NCR.

It was the LGU that granted Phileco the permits to operate as part of a large-scale, government-initiated reclamation project.

But fast forward to today. Waste solutions, including a landfill, demand stewardship. And stewardship demands accountability.

Over the years, the landfill grew as heaps and heaps of trash arrived. And so did the risks.

Many have already raised the alarm on the dangers of landfills, including fires, methane buildup and improper closure practices in similar sites across the Philippines.

Yet the Navotas site continued to operate, year after year, under the same political leadership, with the same approvals.

Apparently, there was no serious long-term transition or rehabilitation plan. There was no clear endgame.

Not surprisingly, Murphy’s Law prevailed.

In 2023, the land was expropriated by a unit of San Miguel Corp. for its airport project. The city did not step in to manage and oversee the landfill’s closure. The concession eventually expired.

The LGU should have made sure that Phileco, the operator, properly closed the site.

Unfortunately, a landfill does not disappear when a contract ends. The mountain of waste remains and along with it, gas builds up. If left unaddressed, it can end in disaster, as we are seeing now.

Proper closure

There should have been proper closure. It is a technical process that takes planning, funding and supervision. So who ensured that process happened? No one seems willing to answer. Shouldn’t the Navotas LGU have been responsible for that?

Perhaps Rep. Tiangco, who presided over a city government that enabled the landfill’s long-term operation, could provide some answers.

Our LGUs cannot take credit for projects when they work and keep silent when such endeavors end up in disasters.

Over the past weeks, much has been said about the landfill.

As for me, I’m just wondering how a critical waste facility reached a point where no one seems accountable for its safe closure.

I’m sure the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has clear guidelines on landfill closure and rehabilitation.

Insider PH reported that as early as May 2023, Phileco was made aware that the Navotas City government decided not to renew its franchise. Its authority to operate formally expired on Aug. 25, 2025, along with its environmental permit.

But did the LGU make sure steps to wind down were actually implemented?

Navoteños and non-Navoteños alike deserve answers, not finger-pointing.

We deserve clean air, not disclaimers from those responsible.

This Navotas landfill is not just a story about trash. It is a story about power, but the kind that refuses responsibility.

And that is the bigger tragedy. Nobody is owning the mess, and while that continues, so does the smog that envelops Metro Manila.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on X @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.