By Jigger Jerusalem/PNA
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY –- An environmental advocacy group has urged Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu to look into the result of the toxicity test conducted by the Environment Management Bureau-10 (EMB-10) in connection with the controversial tons of trash from South Korea.
Bencyrus Ellorin, chairperson of the Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and the Environment, said he found it “mind boggling” that EMB-10 is withholding the result of the toxicity test of the 6,500 tons of waste that arrived in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental from Pyongtaek City, South Korea last year.
Ellorin said EMB-10 should be transparent in its findings on the plastic wastes.
“No less than [EMB-10 regional director] Sabdullah Abubakar admitted in a meeting with us last month that indeed the wastes were found toxic which means there could be violations to RA [Republic Act] 6969 or the toxic and hazardous materials law,” Ellorin said in Pinoy Aksyon’s January 7 statement.
The plastic trash was supposed to be used as raw material for a recycling facility owned and operated by Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp., located inside the Phividec Industrial Estate complex in Sitio Buguac, Barangay Santa Cruz, Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
Both the EMB-10 and the Bureau of Customs-10 (BOC-10) red-flagged the garbage when Verde Soko failed to comply with some of the government requirements.
EMB-10 said Verde Soko was not able to obtain an import permit for the plastic wastes, while BOC-10 maintained that the imported trash was not properly declared by the importer.
As of this posting, Abubakar has yet to issue an official reply to Pinoy Aksyon’s statement. Earlier this month, the Philippine and South Korean governments have agreed to ship back the trash back to South Korea.
Ellorin said South Korean must re-ship all the imported garbage as he noted only 1,400 of the 6,500 tons are to be returned to the country of origin.
“While the return of 1,400 tons of waste of Korea is cause for celebration, 5,100 tons are left behind. And this waste may have already contaminated the environment as these were already taken out of container vans and lying in open air at the Verde Soko plant at the Phividec,” he added.
In another statement, John Simon, the sub-port collector of the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) in Tagoloan, where the imported trash arrived in two batches last year, said reshipment will start on January 9.
Meanwhile, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has lauded the move of the two governments to return the wastes to South Korea.
“We’re not someone else’s dumping ground. The Philippines should assert its dignity and co-equal standing as a sovereign state in the community of nations. We should not be seen as a recipient, officially or unofficially, of waste material coming from other countries,” Pimentel said in a statement.
He said he was thankful to the South Korean government “for its commitment to resolve this matter and take back the mis-declared shipment.”
“At the same time, it’s very urgent that we direct our Bureau of Customs and related agencies to file the appropriate charges against those responsible for bringing in foreign trash through an illegal misdeclaration of cargo,” the senator added.
“Let’s ensure that this brazen act is not tolerated and in fact punished to the fullest extent of the law, particularly our Tariff and Customs Code and possibly the Toxic Substance and Hazardous Wastes and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990,” he said.
