DFA: DENR best agency to handle problem over Canadian garbage

TRASHY BUSINESS Heavy equipment is used to unload freight boxes containing trash from Canada at a sanitary landfill of Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. in Capas, Tarlac province. PHOTO COURTESY OF MCWMC

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs distanced itself from the issue of the dumping of the Canadian wastes to the Philippines’ local landfills, saying the case — not being a diplomatic problem but a domestic one — should be best left to the environment department.

“It (Canada waste issue) was not a diplomatic problem but a domestic one,” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose said at a news briefing on Tuesday, telling reporters to direct their questions to the Department of Environment of Natural Resources,  the lead agency in handling the case of the Canada’s rubbish.

Jose said the fact that the Bureau of Customs allowed the entry of the vans containing waste materials from Canada made it a domestic issue.

“It should have been explained by the BOC,” being the agency responsible for screening the entry of goods in the Philippines, he said.

Jose said the decision whether to lodge a case against Canada at the secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal would be up to the DENR, the lead agency in the inter-agency group taking up the issue.

Basel Convention is an international treaty signed by 182 states, including the governments of the Philippines and Canada, aimed at preventing the transfer of hazardous wastes from developed to less developed countries.

“As a member of the inter-agency group, the DFA has actively participated in efforts to find solutions, including providing guidance to the DENR … on how to file a case against Canada,” Jose said.

He said the DFA would support a legal action against Canada should the DENR decide to do so.

Jose said the DFA sent a note verbale to the Canadian embassy, in 2014, conveying the earlier announcement of the DENR that the shipment of wastes from Canada constituted a violation of the Basel Convention.

The DENR, however, decided to rest the case and dump the garbage to local sanitary landfills since based on their waste analysis and characterization study (WACS), the waste materials were not toxic and hazardous but mixed scrap plastic and household waste.