PHOTO/ CHANGE.ORG PETITION
The discovery of another batch of containers containing household trash from Canada has drawn flak from environmentalists with the government saying that it should be shipped right back to the source.
According to the Bureau of Customs, the 48 containers which were passed off as plastic scraps arrived in four batches between December 2013 and January 2014.
They have yet to be claimed at the Port of Manila by the consignee identified as Live Green Enterprise.
“If that’s the case, they (BOC) should immediately have it shipped back,” said Jonas Leones, director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
The second batch arrived after 50 container vans from Canada also carrying household waste were shipped to the Manila port in six batches from June to August 2013. The containers have remained in the country after the Philippine government agreed to drop its demand for Canada to retrieve the illegal trash shipment “for the sake of diplomatic relations.”
Environmental groups, however, continued to denounce Canada for refusing to take back the garbage despite the international treaty against hazardous waste dumping.
Leones said the BOC has yet to report to the DENR the new batch of illegally dumped garbage from Canada although it was mentioned “in passing” during their last meeting on the first batch.
He added that since the EMB did not issue any importation clearance for the second shipment, it was considered illegal.
According to him, the first batch of 50 containers exported by Ontario-based Chronic Inc. was issued an importation clearance before arrival on the belief that these consisted of scrap plastic for recycling.
A check of the shipment assigned to Valenzuela City-based Chronic Plastics, however, showed that it consisted of household garbage.
“[As] one of the policy changes we made after that episode, we told BOC that the applicant should get [an importation] clearance 30 days before the [arrival of the] shipment. If the shipment is already here, I will no longer issue an importation clearance,” Leones said.
He added: “The BOC is empowered and authorized to order the return or confiscation or disposal [of the shipment]. The BOC should have it shipped back. That [shipment is] illegal.”
According to Ban Toxics executive director Richard Gutierrez, the new batch of illegally dumped waste was adding “insult to injury.”
“Canada’s callous disregard for international law is simply not acceptable anymore. We warned President Aquino about letting Canada push us around and our agreeing to bury their first illegal shipment on Philippine soil. How long will the Philippines be willing to submit to what is nothing less than waste colonialism?” he asked.
EcoWaste Coalition coordinator Aileen Lucero said the latest episode of waste dumping was “just as outrageous and unacceptable.”
“The authorities must leave no stone unturned to obtain environmental justice for our nation and bring the illegal waste dumping, camouflaged as recycling, to a halt,” she added.