The Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development (IOHSAD) supports the filing of a House Resolution calling for a joint investigation into the series of landfill incidents across the Philippines and their impacts on the environment, nearby communities, and waste workers. The resolution was introduced by ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio L. Tinio, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Jane I. Elago, and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Louise M. Co.

The call for an investigation is especially timely as the country marks World Day for Decent Work on October 7. Decent work requires not only employment but also safe and healthy working conditions, dignity, and protection from preventable harm.

The series of incidents in Binaliw, Cebu; Rodriguez, Rizal; Navotas; and Davao within the first half of 2026 demonstrates the urgency of addressing the country’s waste management system. The Binaliw landfill collapse claimed 39 lives and injured 18 people. In Rizal, around 420,000 cubic meters of waste collapsed while about 1,500 waste workers were scavenging for recyclable materials, resulting in deaths, injuries, and missing persons. In Davao, a massive waste slide buried 15 homes and caused deaths and injuries, while the Navotas landfill fire burned for nearly a month and severely affected air quality in surrounding communities.

These incidents cannot be reduced to isolated accidents or unfortunate circumstances. They raise serious questions about the operation, maintenance, monitoring, and regulation of landfill facilities. The House Resolution itself points to documented operational and environmental violations, including erosion and structural risks in Rizal, regulatory concerns in Davao, and deficiencies in the safe closure and methane management of the Navotas landfill.

For IOHSAD, the landfill crisis is therefore both an environmental and occupational health and safety crisis. The risks do not stop at the landfill fence. They are carried by workers who handle and recover waste, by communities living beside disposal facilities, and by the wider public exposed to polluted air, water, and other environmental hazards.

Waste workers, particularly those in the informal sector, remain among the most vulnerable in this system. They work in conditions where the very material that provides their livelihood can also bury, injure, or poison them. Their safety and welfare must not be treated as secondary to waste disposal operations.

The government must investigate these incidents comprehensively: not only what caused each disaster, but also what hazards were known beforehand, what safeguards were required, whether these were enforced, and who should be held accountable for failures and omissions.

At the same time, the country must move beyond a waste policy that treats disposal capacity as the primary solution to the garbage crisis. Sanitary and safe disposal facilities are a basic obligation of government, not a substitute for waste reduction, segregation, recycling, recovery, and stronger waste governance.

The recent accumulation of garbage during heavy monsoon rains, including in Parañaque, further shows that the waste crisis extends beyond landfill sites and directly affects communities and the environment.

On this World Day for Decent Work, IOHSAD reiterates its support for the House resolution and its call for an investigation, and urges Congress and the concerned government agencies to ensure meaningful accountability, stronger enforcement, and greater protection for waste workers and affected communities.

Safe work is decent work. Safe communities require a safe environment. Neither should be sacrificed in the name of managing the country’s waste.

The landfill crisis must be addressed as a systemic problem, one that demands a waste management system that protects workers, communities, public health, and the environment.