House urged to probe dumpsite on Aeta ancestral land in Subic

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers are urging Congress to open a probe into an illegal open dumpsite that operated for seven years inside the ancestral domain of an Aeta community in Subic, Zambales.

Rep. Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal) filed House Resolution 1250 on Thursday, July 30. 

It directs the House Committee on Natural Resources, sitting jointly with the Committee on Indigenous Cultural Communities and Indigenous Peoples, to determine which agency allowed the dumpsite in Sitio Tibag, Barangay Naugsol, to be established and kept in operation.

The resolution also asks the committees to assess the site's closure and rehabilitation plan, and to examine whether the P78 million the Subic government has requested would remove the waste from the ancestral domain or seal it in place.

READ: ‘This is a crime’: Subic LGU criticized for turning Aeta ancestral land into dumpsite

"It is a great desecration of our ancestral land to turn it into a garbage dump," De Lima said in Filipino.

The Subic government established and operated the dumpsite beginning 2019, according to recent reporting by GMA News and Public Affairs' in its I-Witness episode "Ibinasurang Paraiso." The House resolution also cites the documentary.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources found the site operating in violation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act in January 2022. The department ordered it closed in October 2025. A cease-and-desist order followed on March 16, 2026, after protests by local indigenous groups.

De Lima said the delay raises questions about the monitoring and compliance systems of the DENR, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Subic government.

Seven years of unsegregated dumping contaminated the community's main water source and rendered unusable land relied on by about 100 Aeta farming families, the Naugsol Aeta Farmers Association said. 

The inquiry will also examine whether free and prior informed consent was obtained under the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act.

The House resolution follows Senate Resolution 513, filed in mid-July by Sen. Robin Padilla, which seeks a similar inquiry.