Philippines: A Day of Mourning in the Middle of a Grand Annual Celebration Dedicated to the Sto. Niño de Cebu

The 461st feast of the Senyor Sto. Niño, Cebu’s annual religious and cultural festival in honor of the Holy Child was put on a momentary freeze last January 8 after a deadly and ugly garbage landslide hit a mountainous village in Cebu City, central Philippines. Barangay Binaliw hosts a privately owned landfill facility, Prime Water Solution, Inc. PWS which employs 110 people, mostly as sanitation workers. 

On that fateful afternoon of January 8, the workers were preparing to go home when an avalanche of trash and debris came crashing down from a stockpile of waste reaching 115 feet high, resembling a structure 11 to 12-storeys in height . The state agency Mines and Geosciences Bureau cited over-saturation of landfill waste due to continuous rainfall over the previous weeks as a possible cause in the tragedy. 

However, non government organizations and independent media said that even before the disaster, complaints have been raised against the facility and its operators for alleged illegal quarrying and violation of environmental laws that impact on air and water quality. 

Personnel from various government agencies, local government units and civic groups were immediately mobilized to conduct emergency response.  But rescue operations were hampered by health hazards and methane gas. As days went by, heavy rains poured on the site further restricting the emergency response.

On January 12, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Region VII issued a cease and desist order CDO against the landfill and vowed to conduct a thorough investigation. A Senate inquiry is also in the offing.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Council declared January 16, 2026 as a Day of Mourning for the victims of the Binaliw landfill tragedy.  As this developed, Cebu Archbishop Alberto Uy in solidarity with Cebu City also marked January 16 as A Day of Mourning.  He called on all parishes across the Archdiocese to dedicate all Masses on January 16 to the victims of the landfill tragedy, as well as to their bereaved families.

A day ahead of the declaration, Archbishop Uy visited the area and offered mass for the victims of the tragedy. Binaliw belongs to the San Pedro Calungsod Parish Pulangbato. 

Priests who joined the concelebrated mass were Cebu Caritas President, Fr. Alex K. Cola Jr; Fr. Jose de Dios III, parish priest of San Pedro Calungsod Parish, Pulang Bato, Cebu City; and Fr. Filemon Cafino, parish priest of San Isidro Labrador Parish, Garing, Consolacion.

In his homily, Archbishop Uy said he came knowing that he cannot remove the pain of families affected by the tragedy.

“Only God can do that.”

‘If standing beside you today can lighten even a single ounce of your sorrow…if it can give you strength even for one hour…if it can remind you that you are not alone…then I am grateful to be here.”

“I have always asked our priests to be the first to go where our suffering people are—to sit beside you, to listen to your fears, to cry with you in your loss, and to pray with you in your darkness. This is at the very heart of our priestly ministry: to bring the tenderness of God to the very places where His people feel most broken and abandoned.”

“But this calling is not only for priests. It is for everyone who loves Jesus. Each of us is invited to bring His compassion to someone who is hurting—face to face, heart to heart, hand in hand.” 

 On the eve of the Feast of Senyor Sto. Niño (January 17, 2026), the response operations appears to near its end.  Three more fatalities were retrieved from the collapsed landfill bringing the number of fatalities to 35, 18 injured and one person missing.