DUMP FIRE An earth-moving equipment scoops up a mound of trash in an effort to put out a fire that hit a section of an industrial zone in Misamis Oriental where imported garbage has been stored. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Misamis Oriental, Philippines — A portion of the 5,177 metric tons of trash from South Korea stored at an industrial zone in Tagoloan town in Misamis Oriental province caught fire on Monday, but Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) officials said the blaze might have started spontaneously.
Insp. Randy Obsioma, chief of the BFP Tagoloan station, said the fire might be due to the presence of methane gas emitted by the pile of garbage inside the compound of Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp. at Sitio Buguac in Barangay Santa Cruz.
The heat, Obsioma said, could have triggered the fire that started as early as 9 a.m., although it was reported to the BFP only at 1:45 p.m. or almost five hours later.
Obsioma said residents living nearby already saw smoke coming from the Verde Soko yard, where the heaps of garbage had been stored, earlier on Monday but they ignored it. A farmer even went inside the compound to bring his cow to graze, he said.
Probe
The residents were only alarmed when the smoke got bigger, Obsioma said.
Located inside the 3,000-hectare Phividec Industrial Estate, Verde Soko’s waste recycling operation has not taken off as the trash shipment from South Korea that would have been used as raw materials for its facility had been seized by authorities for violating importation rules.
More than 6,500 MT of mostly plastic waste have been brought into the country in two batches last year. About 1,500 MT had been shipped back to South Korea in January this year.
The imported trash has become an object of controversy, with environmentalists and politicians lamenting that the Philippines has become a dumping ground of rich nations.
Misamis Oriental Rep. Juliette Uy has sought investigation of the burning of the Korean trash.
In a statement, Uy said those responsible for the incident “is sabotaging our lawful efforts to enforce our country’s antipollution laws.”
Air pollution
“Now, they have made matters worse by polluting the air in Misamis Oriental with the toxic fumes from the burning of the garbage,” Uy added.
Uy and John Simon, Bureau of Customs (BOC) subport collector, have filed cases against Filipino and South Korean officials of Verde Soko for the trash importation.
Last week, the embassy of South Korea in the Philippines wrote EcoWaste Coalition to inform that steps were being taken so the remaining trash in Tagoloan would be shipped back to its origin.
The flames that consumed the heaps of garbage took 11 hours to put out.
Obsioma said they had to bring in earth-moving equipment, like a backhoe and a payloader, to help stop the fire from spreading.