Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera criticized the city for lacking a permanent waste disposal system five months after a January 8, 2026, garbage-slide at the Binaliw landfill resulted in 36 deaths.
Mayor Nestor Archival defended potential plans to reopen the Binaliw landfill, citing unsustainable daily disposal costs that have surged from P19.8 million to P117.18 million since the incident.
Garganera questioned the city’s rising daily garbage volume, which increased from 600 tons to 1,000 tons, and raised concerns regarding the completeness of technical evaluations conducted on the landfill’s safety.
CEBU City still has no permanent waste disposal system five months after a garbage-slide killed 36 people. City Councilor Joel Garganera is now questioning the city’s shifting waste policies, while Mayor Nestor Archival defends plans to reopen the Binaliw landfill due to skyrocketing garbage hauling costs.
During SunStar’s Beyond the Headline interview on Monday, June 22, 2026, Garganera expressed deep concern over the city's current situation. As the chairman of the City Council’s environment committee, he said Cebu City continues to rely on temporary measures and lacks a clear, long-term waste disposal solution.
He stated that the city has been “running in circles” since the Jan. 8 tragedy at the landfill operated by Prime Integrated Waste Solutions (PWS) in Barangay Binaliw.
Following the deadly incident, the city formed a technical task force to assess the landfill’s safety. However, Garganera said key offices, including disaster risk reduction and engineering units, were reportedly not fully represented in the evaluation, raising serious concerns about the completeness of the assessment.
He stressed that without a comprehensive technical evaluation, particularly on structural stability and foundation integrity, it cannot yet be determined whether the facility is safe for full-scale operations.
Garganera also questioned the city’s changing position on reopening the Binaliw landfill. He cited earlier discussions that there had been a “partial lifting” of the cease-and-desist order issued by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7, allowing limited operations.
“If there is already clearance, then why are we still not fully utilizing the facility?” he asked, noting that the city continues to haul garbage elsewhere while awaiting Binaliw’s reopening.
Mayor Archival, however, explained that the city is complying with EMB directives and has yet to fully return to the PWS landfill despite the reported easing of restrictions. He said full dumping operations have not resumed because of continuing objections and lingering concerns arising from the Jan. 8 tragedy.
Despite this, Archival maintained that reopening the Binaliw landfill remains the city’s best option to stabilize waste disposal operations.
The decision to haul garbage outside Cebu City has created a massive financial burden for the government.
Before the garbage-slide, the city spent around P1,100 per ton to dispose of about 600 tons of garbage daily at Binaliw. Today, it hauls roughly 1,000 tons of waste each day to Aloguinsan and other areas at a staggering cost of P3,906 per ton.
This means monthly disposal expenses have surged from P19.8 million to about P117.18 million. Archival described the current situation as unsustainable, saying the city is “bleeding P2.1 million every day” compared to the lower costs if Binaliw were fully operational.
The sudden jump in daily waste volume has also raised red flags. Garganera questioned how the city’s daily garbage volume rose to 1,000 tons from 600 tons despite existing waste segregation and other reduction measures.
Furthermore, he cited the EMB’s cease-and-desist order against waste transfer operations at the South Road Properties. Garganera pointed out that the varying cleanup timelines announced by city officials reflect the clear absence of a stable and long-term waste management strategy.
With millions of pesos being spent daily and safety concerns still lingering from the January tragedy, Cebu City faces intense pressure to finalise a safe, affordable, and permanent solution to its growing waste crisis. CAV