Cebu landfill landslide death toll now at 13

The death toll in the landslide at a landfill in Barangay Binaliw in Cebu City has risen to 13, with 23 persons still missing.

According to a report of GMA Regional TV’s Allan Domingo in “24 Oras”, among the latest fatalities logged is a 50-year-old woman, whose remains is the 11th body to be recovered from the debris.   

A dump truck driver recalled that he noticed the mountain of trash moving before the landslide occurred. 

“Nagtapon kami ng basura at napansin ko na tila may paggalaw. Kaya pinamadali ko ang loader at backhoe. Nagmadali kami sa pagbaba pero may pumalit na nagtapon din ng basura,” said Louis Bacarisas. 

(We were dumping trash when I noticed what seemed to be some movement. So, I told the loader and backhoe [operators] to hurry up. We rushed to get down, but someone else took our spot to dump their trash as well.) 

Rescuers have to be extra careful in their search and retrieval operations on the 23 missing landfill workers due to the unstable state of the trash pile. 

“Kung uulan, hold muna ang operation. That’s for the safety of our responders and secondly, unstable ang ating working area, patuloy ang paggagalaw ng basura,” said Bureau of Fire Protection Cebu City Fire Station spokesperson SFO3 Wendell Villanueva in vernacular. 

(If it rains, we will put the operation on hold. That’s for the safety of our responders and secondly, our working area is unstable; the trash continues to shift.) 

The family of the missing workers and the members of the media have been prohibited from entering ground zero. 

“Nasa stage pa rin tayo of search and rescue. We cannot say retrieval because it's unfair for the family. When we say it’s retrieval, yung rescuers natin consider as family yung nasa loob,” said Councilor Dave Tumulak. 

(We are still in the search and rescue stage. We cannot call it retrieval because that would be unfair to the families. When we say it is a [rescue], our rescuers treat those inside as their own family.) 

On the other hand, a woman already accepted that her husband could already be dead. But she’s been waiting at a distance from ground zero for a chance to see him for the last time. 

“Masakit sa dibdib, hindi ko mapigilang umiyak araw-araw. Hindi ako titigil para sa aking mga anak,” she said. 

(It’s heartbreaking, I can’t help but cry every day. I won’t stop [waiting/fighting] for the sake of my children.) 

“Nanawagan ako na sana paigtingin nila ang paghahanap para may tsansa pa na makuha ng buo ang katawan ng aming mga relative, buo pa ang katawan ng aking asawa, makikilala pa siya.” 

(I am appealing to them to intensify the search so there is still a chance to recover the bodies of our relatives intact—that my husband's body might still be whole and recognizable.) 

Prime Integrated Waste Solutions, Inc., the operator of the landfill, has yet to give a comment on the incident. But Cebu Mayor Nestor Archival said that the operator’s management vowed to take care of the financial needs of the workers. 

The city council also declared a state of calamity in Cebu City following the incident. But the investigation of the incident would now be up to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/RF, GMA Integrated News