Injurious to public health

THERE was one obscure but good news last week – the impending re-exportation of illegal waste shipments from South Korea, described by authorities as “misdeclared and injurious to public health.” It will help in rectifying the environmental injustice committed against the entire Filipino nation.

So as to prevent another dumping of foreign waste into our soil, why not ban waste importation and jail violators? In fact, Ilonggo Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon called for a total ban on all waste imports. Under Senate Bill No. 18 or the Waste Importation Ban Act of 2019 authored by Drilon, all waste imports, including recyclable materials, will be banned from entering the Philippines.

In recent years, it became apparent that the country was gradually becoming a dumpsite of foreign waste. Remember how Canadian garbage inside 103 shipping containers found its way to Philippine shores?

Our country appears to have become a cross boundary disposal site of unwanted and toxic shipments of waste from waste exporters like Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan. And despite several laws intended to protect the country from being a destination of waste imports, waste from various countries continue to be imported into our country to the detriment of our people and environment.

We have become a dumping ground for waste generated by other nations. We must fix our laws that allowed that to happen. We must then prohibit the importation of all kinds of waste or scrap including recyclable materials. We should never allow our country to be a dumpsite.

Under Senate Bill No. 18, not even recyclable materials can enter the Philippines. Why this? Because unscrupulous individuals are using loopholes in existing laws to bring other nations’ garbage into the country. It also mandates that all imported wastes shall be immediately brought back to the country of origin at the expense of the consignor or importer.

We must assert our unwillingness to be an entry point of hazardous waste from overseas. 

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