Category: Environment Watch

More foul in the Philippines

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

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

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.

READ OUR STORY ON HOW MUCH WE ARE SPENDING HERE

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

The Picks Fly As They Pick

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.

More foul in the Philippines

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

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

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.

READ OUR STORY ON HOW MUCH WE ARE SPENDING HERE

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

The Picks Fly As They Pick

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.

The 66 million peso toxic waste

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

Or why we are paying P144,000 a day for imported garbage

By Julius D. Mariveles

TODAY, October 8, 2014, at the Port of Manila, fifty 40-foot container vans containing a smorgasbord of waste from Canada is on its 458th day of stay in the Philippines and the government, or we for that matter, will be paying P66 million for it.

And the register keeps on ticking.

These containers lounging at the port have caused problems – from port congestion, traffic snarls, to the loss, albeit temporary, of some of our favorite dishes at fastfood chains.

There could be some more lurking deep within these containers filled with “toxic waste,” according to campaigners, that may or may already be affecting the environment or, worse, the people’s health.

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.

GOVERNMENT plans to dump the toxic Canadian wastes in landfills, like this one in Bacolod City, instead of sending it back to the port of origin | Julius D. Mariveles Photo

GOVERNMENT plans to dump the toxic Canadian wastes in landfills, like this one in Bacolod City, instead of sending it back to the port of origin | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

Aguilar said total losses have already reached at least P66 million as of today, which can be broken down into P23.3 million for storage space and an additional P43 million for demurrage.

And while Filipinos are up in arms over the dumping of things dirty, government wants to do something dirty about it, environmentalists and anti-toxic campaigners say.

“Instead of bringing it back to the port of origin, government wants to dispose of it in the country… they are planning to dump it in sanitary landfills in Region 3, possibly near Subic,” Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner for the Philippine Abigail Aguilar tells the PCIJ.

And who’s going to pay for the cost of transporting them to landfills?

“It’s the government, which means that we, the taxpayers, will be spending for it,” Aguilar adds.

Greenpace and other groups like BAN Toxics, 1-BAP Partylist, Ang Nars Partylist, and Ecowaste Coalition have been calling on the government to speed up the retutrn of these container vans that contain mixed waste ranging from plastics with liquids and household garbage including adult diapers.

A SCAVENGER at a dumpsite in Bacolod City, Philippines | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

A SCAVENGER at a dumpsite in Bacolod City, Philippines | Photo by Julius D. Mariveles

Adult diapers alone, which may also contain human waste, pose a health risk because of the possibility that those who used it are sick, Aguilar points out. Some people have already raised concerns about the foul smell coming from and the leaching or the leaking out of fluids, whatever these may be, from the container vans.

But that’s just based on a quick peek into the content of these containers, she adds, since port authorities were able to open only 18 of the 50 container vans.

The wastes were imported by Chronic Plastics, a Valenzuela City-based firm, through its shipper, Chronic, Inc.

Authorities filed smuggling chargers against the company for alleged violation of the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, and other Philippine laws.

The shipments started arriving June of 2013.

More than 23,000 people have already signed the petition of Anna Marie Kapunan on the change.org platform calling on the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines to the “re-export” the container vans.

Aguilar notes that this is not the first time that shipments of this kind arrived in the Philippines.

In 2001, 127 container vans from Japan containing domestic and hospital waste declared as scrap paper also arrived in the Philippines.

GREENPEACE, BAN Toxics, 1-BAP Partylist, Ang Nars Partylist, and Ecowaste Coalition will be holding a news conference on October 9, 2014 in Quezon City, Philippines about this issue. Stay tuned for more developments.

Binay’s accuser, by the numbers

Julius Mariveles Leave a comment

From the PCIJ Files: MAKATI CITY

Ex-VICE MAYOR ERNESTO S. MERCADO

IN THIS series, we will share with you PCIJ’s databases on the wealth, campaign contributions and spending, and social network of elected government officials of the Philippines.

Former Makati City Vice Mayor Ernesto S. Mercado recently came to the limelight as witness to the alleged kickbacks from public contracts that supposedly went to Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” C. Binay when he was still mayor of Makati City.

Mercado was Binay’s political ally for 15 years before he switched to the Nacionalista Party in 2010. A former businessman, Mercado began his political career as councilor of Makati City in 1992 and was re-elected in 1995. He ran for vice mayor in 1998 but lost to actor Edu Manzano. He returned to public office in 2001 as vice mayor and won his 2004 and 2007 re-election bid. In 2010, Mercado ran for mayor but lost to Jejomar Erwin “JunJun” S. Binay Jr. who ran for mayor in lieu of his father, Jojo Binay, who ran and won as vice president.

How wealthy is Mercado?

Mercado’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) available at the PCIJ library showed that his net worth marked a minimal increase from P62.83 million in 2000 to P63.92 million in 2004.

As of 2004, his total assets stood at P114 million and his liabilities, P50 million. Mercado declared owning P54.3 million worth of properties in Makati City, Pateros, Antipolo City, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Laguna, Batangas.

His most expensive properties were a P12-million condominium unit in Makati City and P10-million land property in Pateros. He also declared stocks and business investments worth P52.9 million.

Farmers hungry while world eats beyond its means

Ed Lingao Leave a comment

by Julius D. Mariveles

THE WORLD is already eating way beyond its means, yet those who produce the food barely have enough to eat.

This dual layer of ironies was highlighted during the Responsible Business Forum on Food and Agriculture in Manila this week, as experts from around the world emphasized how growing consumer food demands are far and fast outpacing the ability of the world’s natural resources to provide this need.

The challenge, says World Wildlife Fund-Philippines president Lory Tan, is to find ways to produce more food while using up even less resources such as land and water.

Tan cited the country as an example in showing the pressure that people are placing on the natural resources of the world that would be compounded by problems brought about by climate change and water scarcity. In the face of the need for food, participants discussed the need to improve agricultural productivity while improving rural livelihood and reducing its impact on the environment.

“We are eating ourselves up; (the Philippines) sits 117 percent beyond our natural capital,” Tan said as he opened the two-day forum that gathered representatives from various agricultural sectors and business leaders throughout Asia.

Resources persons underscored the need to rethink food production. Jason Clay, senior vice-president, Markets and Food of the World Wildlife Foundation-USA cited as an example the growing of cattle for beef, which takes up 60 percent of land yet only provides for 1.3 percent of the total needed calories.

Tan and Clay said the answer to this problem is not to use more resources such as land for food production, but rather to find more efficient ways to produce the food that more people really need. In addition, both cited the need for people to be more efficient in their consumption of food, as a significant percentage of the food produced is really just wasted because of the nature of a consumer-driven society.

At the same time, experts noted how this growing food consumption is not reflected in the plight of those who have a direct hand in food production – the farmers.

Sec. Francis Pangilinan, presidential assistant on food and agricultural modernization, pointed out that Philippine farmers remain among the poorest of the poor.

Coconut farmers, for example, earn only an average of P23,000 a year, or not even P2,000 a month.

This, even as food prices have risen by 7.4 percent, or well above the inflation rate of 4.4 percent, Pangilinan said.

Key Statistics On Agriculture

Even as the Gross Domestic Product of the Philippines rose last year, the second fastest-growing in Asia next to China, 20 out of 100 Filipinos remain hungry while four million households or at least 20 million Filipinos cannot feel the growth and do not have enough food, he added.

“We should treat our farmers like our parents,” Pangilinan quoted his own young daughter as saying. Pangilinan said people should place more importance on farmers, perhaps even more than lawyers and engineers, since people rely on the output of farmers three times a day, compared to the few times that people need lawyers in their lifetime.

Among the agricultural commodities addressed during the open and working group discussions were rice, poultry, fisheries and aquaculture, palm oil, coffee and cocoa, and sugar.

Juan Farinati, vice-president for Asia of Monsanto Corporation, said that there should also be a focus on “innovation and partnerships” that would lead to producing more food with less resources.

He cited the case of Vietnam where farmers have shifted to corn from other crops and were able to export it only a year using Monsanto bio-engineered seeds that increased the income of farmers to more than US$400 per hectare.

Aside from the shift to other crops, Matthew Morell, deputy director general for research of the International Rice Research Institute, said there is also a need to improve production systems like moving to mechanized farming to boost yield.

He added genetics would play a “strong role” in improving rice strains that would have higher yields.

Guy Hogge, head of sustainability of Louis Dreyfus Commodities, on the other hand, said farmers in rural areas might not have access to markets as he raised the need for government intervention in agriculture.

Sugar, on the other hand, once the biggest export commodity of the Philippines, was described by Sugar Regulatory Administration Gina Martin-Bautista as a “game changer” because it can be used to branch out to other industries like bio-water and bio-plastics because it is a “green commodity” or environment-friendly.

Bautista, however, pointed out that Thailand, which learned sugar production from the Philippines, has outstripped the country in terms of production.

Second only to Brazil in terms of sugar production, Thailand now has more than one million hectares planted to the crop compared to the Philippines’ 420,000 hectares.

Yet while Thailand only has double the hectarage devoted to sugar compared to the Philippines, it is producing more than four times the sugar output, or 11 million metric tons for Thailand compared to the Philippines’ 2.5 million metric tons.

Amid the problems posed by climate change and limited resources, Pangilinan said, using the words of his then nine-year-old child, that “we must treat farmers like our parents” because “we need them on a daily basis” for us to eat.

He also said that if the country’s framework for sustainable agriculture must put farmers, fisherfolk, and agricultural first, integrated environmental care and preservation and must show “new way of doing things” while going back to basics.