What lies beneath a mountain of garbage is more than waste—it is a story of lives lost, communities forever changed, and the growing dangers of climate change. Communication Program Assistant Professor Annie Perez-Gallardo brings these realities to light in Ilawom sa Basura (Beneath the Trash), a documentary that revisits the tragic Binaliw Landfill Collapse and examines it through the lens of extreme weather events and climate vulnerability.
Presented by ABS-CBN News Documentaries and supported by the Earth Journalism Network, the documentary investigates how a landfill disaster became a devastating reminder of the hidden risks facing communities living beside the country’s waste disposal sites. Rather than simply recounting the events of the collapse, Ilawom sa Basura asks difficult but necessary questions: How did this tragedy happen? Could it have been prevented? And what lessons should the rest of the Philippines learn as climate change intensifies?
The documentary returns to the affected community in Binaliw, where families continue to live with the memory of loss and the lingering call for accountability. Their stories are interwoven with expert insights on environmental management, disaster risk, and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events that place vulnerable communities at even greater risk.
By connecting waste management, governance, and climate resilience, the documentary highlights how disasters are often the result of multiple intersecting factors rather than natural hazards alone. It underscores the urgent need to rethink how landfills are managed and how communities can be better protected from preventable environmental catastrophes.
As climate change continues to intensify rainfall and other extreme weather events across the Philippines, the documentary serves as a timely reminder that the consequences of environmental neglect extend far beyond overflowing landfills. The tragedy in Binaliw stands not only as a local disaster but as a cautionary tale for communities across the country that face similar risks.
Ilawom sa Basura is now available for public viewing on the official ABS-CBN News YouTube channel.
Watch the full documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQU31Udg5V4
To know more about the conditions surrounding the Binaliw landfill collapse, read more of Asst. Prof. Perez-Gallardo’s report here: https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/regions/2026/6/13/the-climate-risk-beneath-cebu-s-garbage-0933
Poster by ABS-CBN Documentaries