IT’S ABOUT TIME!
by Anton Antonio
May 18, 2015
I saw this news item on
Facebook today…
“(CNN Philippines) – Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago has filed a
resolution urging the government to force Canada to take back the stinking
containers of waste it illegally exported into Philippine soil since 2013. The feisty senator, who heads the Senate
committee on foreign relations, cited an international agreement that the
government can use in justifying its stand against Canada’s irresponsible
garbage disposal. Santiago said that
under the Basel Convention, Canada is responsible for some 50 container vans of
waste now sitting in Philippine ports. “This
issue goes beyond waste management and threatens our sovereignty. I am alarmed
that the government seems willing to say that we are an international trash bin
out of fear of ruffling Canada’s feathers,” the senator said. Malacañan has earlier ruled out negotiations
to return the illegal shipment to Canada. A multi-agency task force has also
allegedly agreed to locally process the waste, which includes household waste
such as used adult diapers. “The
decision to process the waste in the Philippines upon the request of the
Canadian government sets a dangerous precedent for other countries to dump
their waste in Philippine soil with impunity,” Santiago said in the Senate
Resolution No. 1431. She added that the
garbage from Canada is covered by a provision in the Basel Convention, noting
that Annex 2 of the international agreement explains that “other wastes” include
those collected from households.”
A little over a year ago, I
published an article in my blogsite (http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/) with an angry little title “Dear Canada, We
Don’t Need Your Garbage!!!” on the same issue…
DEAR CANADA, WE DON’T NEED
YOUR GARBAGE!!!
by Antonio C. Antonio
April 25, 2014
Chronology of Events:
- March 22, 1988 – The Philippines was a signatory to an international agreement “to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries.” The agreement’s primary objective is “to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous waste.”
- May 5, 1992 – The Basel Convention, held a month before the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, on hazardous waste outlawed the export of hazardous waste from developed to developing countries.
- June 2013 – 50 forty-foot container vans of used heterogeneous (meaning: diverse in character and content) waste materials began to arrive in Manila, Philippines. The containers vans from Canada actually included used plastic bags, bottles, newspaper, household garbage and (lo and behold) used Canadian adult diapers. The consignee was Chronic Plastics and the shipper was Chronic, Inc. The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOD) declared the importation as unlawful pursuant to Republic Act No. 6969 (Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Act of 1990). This exportation from Canada violates the Basel Convention of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal.
- February 2014 – The BOC filed a complaint before the Philippine Department of Justice (DoJ) against the shipper, Chronic Plastics.
- March 13, 2014 – The Philippine Government through the Department of Health (DoH) – Bureau of Quarantine opened the 18 containers vans from this particular importation and reported the need for these to be disinfected… the cost of disinfection shall be shouldered by the Philippine Government. The waste materials in the containers vans has began to post serious risk to the health of the community living and working at the Port Area and also the environment particularly Manila Bay.
- March 17, 2014 – The DoH – Bureau of Quarantine, in consultation with other concerned Philippine Government agencies, commenced disinfection procedure on the 18 container vans using sodium hypochlorite (bleaching solution).
The 50 container vans are still at the Port
Area and garbage juice is now leaking from the containers vans and endangering
the health and well being of people and the environment.
Who is to blame? There are a few who
say that the Canadian Government will never intentionally violate the Basel
Convention… that they were, quite possibly, not even aware of their
unintentional export of waste materials to the Philippines... and that
this is just the workings of unscrupulous businessmen from both the Philippines
and Canada. Well… please do not insult the intelligence of the Filipino
People. This is simply adding insult to injury!
Perhaps the better question to ask is:
How could Canada, with all its advancement in systems and procedures,
technology, economy and culture, err on this particular shipment?
Personally, I find it very hard squaring up to the possibility that the
Canadian Government simply fell out of consciousness while these container vans
were being inspected, documented and loaded for shipment. Whether this
export was intentional or not is something I don’t know. But this I know…
pwede silang mag-tanga-tangahan but this will no longer defeat the fact that
we, poor Filipinos, now think that there are idiots in the Canadian
bureaucracy. The next question then would be: How could 50 forty-foot
container vans go unnoticed? It is also of equal importance that the
Canadian government should refrain from hiring the blind or the visually
impaired for seaports assignment.
I feel strongly that this goes beyond a
simple isolated case of a freak shipment of waste materials to the Philippines.
There is a deeper reason to all these. It is also a case of respect or
the lack of respect for us as a people and as a nation. Canada, a 1st World
country, should learn to respect developing economies (like us) and not treat
them as their garbage dumpsite.
Today, I related this incident to a parking
attendant and he was quick to reply: “Ang bastos pala ng mga Canadian na
‘yan. Dapat hakutin ang mga basura na ‘yan at itambak sa embahada
nila!” But this will not get rid of the problem. The Philippines
should immediately return these 50 container vans of waste materials to Canada
with a little note that says: “Dear Canada, We don’t need your garbage!!!”
In another blog, “The Ripple Principle”, I
suggested that “If we are “noisy” enough about what we want to see happen,
somehow-sometime-somewhere, this will eventually get to someone who could
actually make it happen.” (Antonio, 2013)
Thank you Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago for making things happen. It’s about time.
Just my little thoughts…
(Please visit, like and share Pro
EARTH Crusaders on Facebook or follow me at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/)
REFERENCES:
“Solon wants PH to return Canada’s trash”. Retrieved on May 18, 2015 from http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2015/05/17/senator-santiago-return-trash-to-canada.html#.VVki3WfhCA4.facebook
Antonio, A. C. (2014).
“Dear Canada, We Don’t Need Your Trash”.
Retrieved on May 18, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/dear-canada-we-dont-need-your-garbage.html
Antonio, A. C. (2014).
“The Ripple Principle”. Retrieved
on May 18, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-ripple-principle.html
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