Groups Welcome Senate Inquiry on Canada Garbage Dumping as Proposed by Sen. Koko Pimentel
Civil society groups
from the environmental and labor sectors welcomed the latest move by the Senate
to address the unsettled Canadian garbage dumping issue weeks after Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau announced “it is now theoretically
possible to get (the illegal garbage shipments) back.”
The Ang Nars Partylist, EcoWaste Coalition, Global Alliance for
Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Public Services Independent Labor
Confederation (PSLINK) and the Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong
Manggagawa (SENTRO) said the inquiry as proposed by Senate President Koko
Pimentel should help in preventing dumping incidents from ever occurring again.
The said groups are intervenors in Criminal Case No. 143-11191 being heard at
the sala of Judge Tita Bughao-Alisuag of the Regional Trial Court of Manila against
Canadian trash importer Adelfa Eduardo and customs broker Sherjun Saldon for
violation of R.A. 6969, or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear
Wastes Control Act.
Pimentel on Monday filed Senate Resolution 553, stating that “considering the
monumental consequences of allowing Canadian garbage to remain in the country,
it behooves the Senate, in consonance with its mandate under the Constitution,
to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, to determine whether there are
sufficient laws restricting the indiscriminate entry and dumping of solid waste
and other forms of harmful trash into the Philippines and to formulate
laws imposing high penalties for the introduction into the country of all forms
of trash.”
“Sen. Pimentel’s proposal to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation is
exceedingly timely and should merit the support from all Senators regardless of
their political affiliations. We expect the Senate Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources, chaired by Sen. Cynthia Villar, to convene
the first hearing in January next year as the current session is about to
adjourn soon. We look forward to an expedited process as the same
committee, then chaired by Sen. Chiz Escudero, had already tackled the issue at
a hearing conducted in 2015,” said Dr. Leah Paquiz, Ang Nars Partylist
representative to the last Congress.
“We welcome the probe being sought by the Senate President as this would assist
in analyzing the gaps in current laws and regulations that made it possible for
the illegal trash shipments to enter our ports and even overstay despite a
court order to send them back. More importantly, it will help in
identifying corrective measures that must be introduced and promulgated to
shield our nation from the adverse impacts of the unlawful waste trade to
public health and the environment,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator,
EcoWaste Coalition.
“The outcome of the planned inquiry should put a lid on the entry on
problematic waste imports into the Philippines
“The inquiry, we hope, will generate concrete results that will help strengthen
frontline agencies such as the Bureau of Customs and the Environmental
Management Bureau in performing their strategic responsibilities toward
safeguarding our country and our workers from the transboundary movement
of proscribed wastes,” said Annie Geron, President, PSLINK.
The groups pledged to participate in the proposed Senate inquiry and support
its important work in line with the state policy “to protect and advance the
right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology.”
“The Senate inquiry should create enough noise that will put additional
pressure on Prime Minister Trudeau and his government to take back their trash
now. As there is no guarantee that the ‘theoretical possibility’ he was
talking about last month was for real or not, we call upon all sectors to
remain vigilant and assert our sovereign right not be treated as Canada’s
dumpsite,” the groups said.
-end-
Link to Sen. Koko Pimentel's proposed resolution:
http://www.senate.gov.ph/lis/b
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