A new coalition of communities and environmental groups has vowed to block the construction of a ?26-billion waste-to-energy (WTE) incinerator project in Smokey Mountain, Tondo, warning that it will worsen pollution, displacement, and corruption.
On September 30, hundreds of residents, including waste pickers and urban poor families facing eviction, gathered for the Day of Action Against Incineration to launch the Manila Against Incinerator Alliance (MAIA).
The group is opposing a priority project of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Manila Mayor Isko Moreno that aims to burn garbage to produce energy while also addressing clogged drainage and flooding.
Communities push back
MAIA members warned that the project, to be built in Barangay 128, Smokey Mountain, will harm residents instead of solving Manila’s long-standing waste and flooding problems.
‘It is easy to put the blame on our litter as the source of flooding, but behind this narrative is the issue of persistent neglect of the need for comprehensive and transformative solutions to flooding and waste problems and the consistent rejection of hearing the pleas of marginalized communities,’ said Niña Fegi, coordinator of Panatang Luntian.
Urban poor organizations Samahan ng Magkakapitbahay sa Upper Smokey Mountain – KADAMAY, Samahan Para sa Maayos na Tahanan at Hanapbuhay (SMTH), and Samahan ng Nagkakaisa at Nagdadamayang Marala Organization (NANAMOR) led the protest against what they called forcible evictions tied to the project.
Incineration is ‘not renewable’
Former Bayan Muna lawmaker Ferdie Gaite, now president of the government employees’ group COURAGE, said that while WTE is being closed down in Europe, it is being pushed aggressively in the Philippines.
He stressed that municipal waste is not renewable energy, yet WTE incineration continues to be falsely categorized as biomass energy. Such projects, Gaite added, move forward because proponents disregard legal bans on incineration and avoid genuine consultation processes.
Labor leader Leody de Guzman criticized the project’s priorities, arguing that funds should have gone to housing for the urban poor in Smokey Mountain.
‘They are not only stealing money from us, but they are also stealing clean air away from us,’ he said, warning that Manila risked becoming a dumping ground for imported waste.
Funding under scrutiny
The $500-million project is partly financed by a $415.2-million loan from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, with a $84.8-million counterpart from the national budget.
According to the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), an international network focused on environmental justice, the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank continued to support the flood-control portion of the project despite earlier findings of corruption, land disputes, and inadequate assessments.
However, both institutions dropped the WTE component in 2024.
Still, GAIA noted that Malacañang pressed forward with the incinerator, tapping PhilECo, Kandenevia, and businessman Ramon Ang as potential investors.
Mayang Azurin, deputy director for campaigns of GAIA Asia Pacific, said the project ‘is moving so fast in a time with extraordinary exposés on corruption in infrastructure projects and breaches in environmental and climate thresholds.’
‘It is obvious that powerful elites of politicians, companies, and their international financial institutions, as their backers, can ignore everything to benefit from this WTE incineration project,’ Azurin added.
Ecowaste Coalition’s Kweyn Camillon Tagaduar, MAIA co-convenor, said corruption was diverting public funds from the people’s needs. ‘The people of Manila have greater force than the power of a few politicians and companies,’ she declared, as the crowd echoed her call to block the project.
MAIA urged the public to support its petition against the incinerator.