Smokey Mountain residents warned of risks from P26-B waste-to-energy project

May 28, 2026 | 8:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Residents of Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila may face deeper poverty if a proposed waste-to-energy incineration project is allowed to proceed, environmental advocates warned.

Various civil society groups, community leaders and residents raised concerns about the proposed 100-megawatt waste-to-energy project during a dialogue organized by the National Anti-Poverty Commission last week.

The groups primarily questioned the project proponent, Philippine Ecology Systems Corp. or PhilEco, which they accused of committing several environmental violations and failing to address accountability over the Navotas landfill fire.

They also cited 10 notices of violation issued by the Environmental Management Bureau against the company since 2022.

The proposed facility, eyed for Smokey Mountain, would burn waste and convert it into usable energy. Proposed in 2025, the P26.648-billion project is designed to burn 3,000 tons of solid waste and convert it into electricity every day.

Making the poor poorer

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives-Asia Pacific, an environmental justice network advocating against incineration, said the proposed facility could have serious economic and social consequences.

"The local and international evidence is resoundingly clear that WtE incineration makes the poor poorer and drives cities into debt. What will happen to the tens of thousands of waste workers in Manila if all of the waste is used to feed the WtE facility?" Brex Arevalo of GAIA-Asia Pacific said in a statement.

Mayang Azurin, also of GAIA-Asia Pacific, said the project runs counter to Proclamation 39, signed by former President Fidel V. Ramos in 1992, which reserved portions of land in Tondo for housing and commercial or industrial development.

Azurin also said forced evictions and illegal site preparations are ongoing despite the lack of a required environmental impact assessment and environmental certificates.

‘Humane solutions’

The facility has been presented as a solution to waste management problems in Smokey Mountain, but Shey Levita of EcoWaste Coalition said waste problems in the area are "a national waste governance issue."

Greenpeace, a global environmental advocacy network, also said waste-to-energy incineration is not a solution to the waste crisis.

"Solutions must be humane and rooted in the real needs and rights of affected communities. Reuse systems and renewable energy can help, and real renewable energy does not burn waste, depend on plastic, or endanger communities," Eunille Santos of Greenpeace said in the same statement.

Community leaders in Smokey Mountain also called for the project to be stopped.

"Pigilan po natin ang mga pasilidad na makakasira sa komunidad at maglalagay sa marami sa panganib," Anora Madrid of Samahan ng Maralita sa Smokey Mountain said. (Let us stop facilities that will harm communities and put many people at risk.) 

— The image "Manila, Smokey mountain area" by Rita Willaert is under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0