THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said all the waste illegally shipped to the country in 2018 will be sent back to South Korea within the month.
In a statement on Sunday, BOC said a total of 101 containers were already reexported to South Korea in January 13 last year and January 19 this year.
Citing a statement from Port of Cagayan de Oro District Collector John Simon, the BOC said the remaining batches of waste that were scheduled to be shipped in Saturday, February 16, and February 23 shall bring the total reexported waste to 201 containers, “and shall finally rid the country of the illegally imported waste.”
“Collector Simon thanked all those involved in successfully sending back the wastes to South Korea and stressed that the Bureau, under Commissioner Rey Guerrero, shall remain firm in its commitment in protecting the country’s borders from the entry of any illegal shipments including wastes that are harmful to the environment,” BOC said. In 2018, a shipment declared as plastic flakes was alerted and was verified to contain mixed nonbiodegradable waste.
A warrant of seizure and detention was then issued against the shipment and cases were filed for violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) and RA 6969 or Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, the BOC said.
BOC earlier said the waste materials were “unlawfully imported” by the Cebu-based Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp. in July and October 2018.
Manila and Seoul are signatories to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, more popularly referred to as the Basel Convention.
The convention is designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries.
‘Ban imported waste’
Environmental groups based in Quezon City and Davao City on Sunday called on the Duterte administration to ban the importation of foreign waste.
At the same time, they also appealed to other countries to stop exporting their unwanted waste to the Philippines.
The appeals were made by environmental advocates led by Quezon City-based EcoWaste Coalition and Davao City-based Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) at the send-off ceremony held at the Mindanao International Container Terminal (MICT) for the third batch of illegal South Korean waste shipments to be reexported.
They pushed for preventive measures to halt the entry of hazardous waste and other refuse, including household and plastic trash, into the country’s ports.
In a statement, the groups quoted Port Collector Simon, who said that “the reexportation of the remaining wastes from South Korea this month signifies our nation’s steadfastness to protect public health and the environment from the deceptive trade in hazardous waste disguised as plastic waste for recycling.”
The BOC official also stressed that “as guardians of our ports, we [the BOC] are committed to curb illegal trade and halt all forms of customs fraud, including the practice of falsely declaring hazardous waste and other wastes as recyclables.”
Environmental advocate Aileen Lucero, the National Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, said “the chain of foreign waste dumping incidents that sparked national outrage warrants the imposition of tougher policies that will effectively deter the illegal traffic of hazardous waste and other wastes, especially those from developed economies who have more resources to safely manage their own wastes.”
Chinkie Peliño-Golle, IDIS executive director, agreed: “We must not allow countries to continue exporting their waste problem to the Philippines. To send a clear signal to these countries that we do not want their waste, the government has to fast-track the adoption of preventive measures banning the entry of wastes in whatever form of disguise.”
The groups specifically pointed to the need for the Duterte administration to proceed with the long-overdue ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment (an international law banning the export of hazardous wastes and other wastes from developed and developing countries), and to ban the importation of waste altogether.
“These environmental justice measures will protect our country and our people from the negative consequences of global waste trade,” the groups insisted. The groups, likewise, asked the government to ensure that all parties behind the unlawful waste shipments from South Korea to be held fully accountable, and for the national government to extend full assistance to the local government unit affected by the illegal traffic of waste, including the conduct of environmental sampling to assess the contamination of the storage area for illegal waste and its cleanup and rehabilitation.
Bernadette D. Nicolas and Jonathan L. Mayuga