If government fails to thrash Canadian trash
By Julius D. Mariveles and Cong B. Corrales
It’s not only cash but also trash that would be coming in from other countries if the government fails to send back the smorgasbord of waste from Canada lounging at the port of Manila for more than a year now.
And pretty soon, it’s gonna be more foul in the Philippines.
“This would open the floodgates to more garbage coming from other countries,” Ang Nars partylist Rep. Leah S. Paquiz told the PCIJ.
TAKE BACK YOUR GARBAGE, CANADA. (From left to right) Ang Nars Party Representative Leah Paquiz, Von Hernandez, president of EcoWaste Coalition and executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and Angelica Pago, Media and Communications Officer of Ban Toxics. Photo by Cong B. Corrales
Paquiz had already filed a resolution before the House of Representatives seeking a Congressional inquiry over the imported domestic waste, which some advocates say, could contain toxic matter.
Greenpeace-Philippines toxic campaginer Abigal Aguilar told the PCIJ that, based on their estimates, the government is spending at least P144,000 a day for the loss of income for storage space and the additional expenses for demurrage or payment for the chartered vessel – or a total of P66.6 million.
Greenpace and other groups like BAN Toxics, 1-BAP Partylist, Ang Nars Partylist, and Ecowaste Coalition have called on the govenrment last week to act now on the problem.
“We find it outrageous that the primary government agency mandated to protect the environment is the main instigator of the proposal to have these illegal waste shipments disposed of in our shores. Why should Filipino taxpayers bear the burden associated with this illegal shipment,” Von Hernandez, president of EcoWaste Coalition and executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said.
Hernandez was referring to the “options” outlined by government agencies including the environment department, the customs bureau, the Office of American Affairs, the United Nations International Organizations, the legal affairs office of the foreign affairs department, and the justice department that held an inter-agency meeting last September, 2014.
EMB Director Jonas R. Leones, in a letter to Paquiz, said that the options are: continued negotiation with their respective Canadian counterparts regarding the immediate return of the wastes to Canada; storing of the the waste in a designated disposal facility in the Philippines pending negotiation to decongest the Customs area; and disposal of the waste in a local landfill duly accredited by the DENR
Paquiz said that even suggesting of disposing the toxic domestic garbage is nothing but preposterous.
“Pick up your garbage Canada, and show us the decency that we so rightfully deserve as a nation. My motherland is not a garbage bin of Canada.”
The groups say they are also looking at the possibility of filing a complaint before the United Nations for alleged violation of the Basel Convention, which basically prohibits developed countries, such as Canada, to import hazardous wastes to developing countries like the Philippines.
Under the convention, illegal toxic waste trade is considered a criminal act. The convention also requires the exporting country, Canada, to return the mislabelled shipment and to pay the costs for the return.
On the other hand, Angelica Pago, media and communications officer of Ban Toxics told PCIJ that Congress should also amend Republic Act 6969 to plug the loophole which has caused the latest dumping of domestic wastes in the country.
It can be recalled that in the early 2000, a Japanese firm was caught exporting domestic wastes in the country.
Watch the news conference and know what the speakers said in this video short by PCIJ’s deputy producer Cong B. Corrales.