The Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI), long advocating for stronger ecological protection through the Rights of Nature and the proposed Ecocide Prevention framework, expresses grave alarm over the recent fire at the Navotas landfill. This event cannot be dismissed as a mere accident. It is the foreseeable consequence of long‑standing environmental mismanagement and institutional neglect.
Since the fire broke out earlier this month, toxic smoke has spread far beyond Navotas, blanketing parts of Metro Manila in thick smog and pushing air quality to dangerous levels. Commuters have reported dense, pungent air along major corridors such as the Skyway toward Pasay, while local governments have issued warnings that air quality has reached very unhealthy to emergency levels.
A landfill that burns for days, releasing hazardous emissions into the air, is not simply a technical failure. It is an ecosystem under sustained assault, and a community forced to absorb the consequences. This violates people’s right to a healthy, balanced ecosystem, as well as the rights of adjacent ecosystems and other living species that depend on fresh air.
The incident reflects the same patterns of large‑scale environmental harm the Ecocide Prevention Act seeks to stop: ignored risks, weak enforcement, tolerated hazards, and communities left exposed to toxic danger.
And when known and documented dangers are allowed to persist, the resulting harm is not accidental—it is systemic.
Accountability must therefore extend beyond landfill operators to the institutions that permit these dangerous conditions to exist. The public deserves protection and assurance that environmental hazards are neither minimized nor normalized.
PMPI calls for:
A transparent investigation, immediate protection for affected communities
A full overhaul of landfill management and emergency systems;
And the urgent passage of the Ecocide Prevention Act to ensure real accountability for large‑scale environmental harm.
The Navotas landfill fire is not an isolated event. It is a warning. Treating incidents like this as routine only deepens the cycle of destruction. Recognizing the scale and nature of the harm is the first step toward ensuring it never happens again.
Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI)
