The flash floods caused by typhoon Tino and the landslide at the Cebu City landfill in Barangay Binaliw. Two incidents that appear totally unrelated. But are they?
When typhoon Tino flooded homes last November, families dragged their ruined lives to the streets. Mud-soaked furniture, broken appliances, clothes that would never be clean again. That debris did not disappear. It went somewhere. And months later, a landfill collapsed.
The flash floods happened on Nov. 4, 2025; the collapse of the landfill operated by the Prime Integrated Waste Solutions Inc. took place last Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.
The investigation into the causes of the landfill incident is yet to begin as efforts are focused on saving lives. As to the volume of garbage brought to Binalaw from homes ruined by the flash floods, there is no report on it, but Mayor Nestor Archival had said the City was grappling with severe congestion at the landfill, a situation made worse after Nov. 4.
In the weeks following Tino, Cebu experienced a surge of waste that was anything but ordinary. As one of the flood victims, I remember trying to shovel mud outside what remained of my home. The mud was too heavy. I dug again and again, only to make small dents, until I realized there were roots in the mud. This was mud that carried roots, plants and even trees from upstream, and it had a strong earthy smell.
Flood victims know this well. Washing mud out of clothes and other recovered items was a struggle. Cleaning meant brushing and scrubbing one to three times. What was once white turned a permanent dirty white despite repeated washing. Bits of mud clung to almost everything and only brushing them carefully and several times would make them usable again.
This is why disaster debris is different. Flood debris is heavier because it is soaked in water. It is unstable because it has organic matter, construction materials and household items. Loads of this garbage were hauled in large volumes and in quick succession, conditions that could indeed test the limits of any landfill.
While the investigation into the landfill collapse is yet to begin, it is reasonable to ask if the extraordinary volume and nature of post-Tino waste added stress to an already burdened garbage system in the city.
If floodwaters exposed the weaknesses of Cebu’s drainage and upland development policies, the landfill collapse shows how unprepared we are for the waste that disasters would leave behind.
In Binaliw, years of struggling with waste segregation and our dependence on a single site meant that any sudden surge, from daily consumption or disaster cleanup, would have consequences.
In both cases, warning signs were there long before the tragedy struck. And in both cases, people talk about accountability only after lives were lost.
Typhoon Tino did not end when the floodwaters receded. It resurfaced in a landfill collapse.