THE CANADIAN GARBAGE MESS (Update No. 5)
By Anton Antonio
September 23, 2015
On April 25,
2014, I published (on my blogsite and Facebook page) an article on the Canadian
garbage mess starting with the article titled: “Dear Canada, We Don’t Need Your
Garbage”. Since then, I have written
several blogs on researched materials on the same issue to keep track of this
environmental problem. This is being
done on the belief that if the flow of information on public interest issues
stops, the issue slowly dies and is forgotten… And this is exactly how bad
people get away with crimes. Besides,
this is what true environmentalism is all about. Here are more of these researched materials. Please read…
“TARLAC GUV OFFERS CONTRACTOR P1-M TO STOP DUMPING CANADIAN
TRASH
Just stop the further dumping of Canadian waste in Capas,
Tarlac, Governor Victor Yap offered to pay the garbage contractor P1
million. The amount is reportedly to
make up for the loss incurred by Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC),
which was contracted to dispose the imported waste from Canada. Yap made the offer in a July 22 letter to
Clark Development Corp. (CDC), the owner of the land in Sitio Kalangitan,
Barangay Cutcut II in Capas, according to an Inquirer story. The governor has since prohibited the
disposal of the remaining trash to the landfill. In a July 16 hearing initiated by the
provincial board, MCWMC president and chief executive officer Rufo Colayco said
his company was not completing the disposal contract by sending back the eight
container vans delivered there on July 15 and refusing to accept 21 more
vans. He said the contract cost his
company about P1 million. “Since Mr.
Colayco has told the (provincial board) that the contract to accept 55
containers of trash is P1 million, I propose to pay the same to MCWMC, the
(environmental Management Bureau) and the (Bureau of Customs), and help ship
out this garbage from the province of Tarlac,” Yap said in a July 22 letter to
CDC president Arthur Tugade. Yap said
the amount is going to be taken from funds intended for emergency expenditures
in the provincial budget with the provincial board’s approval. The same letter was transmitted to MCWMC but
Colayco declines to comment on the governor’s proposal, saying he had not received
the letter yet. The amount Yap offered
is equivalent to the P1 million disposal contract that was charged to the
shipping company, Le Soleil, local representative of international firm Zim,
which owns the 55 containers. To stop
new attempts to dispose of the garbage in Tarlac, Yap also signed two
provincial board resolutions that barred the Capas landfill and other parts of
Tarlac from receiving foreign wastes.
Resolution No. 056-2015 sought the “immediate rescission or cancellation
of the contract between the BOC (Bureau of Customs) and MCWMC relative to the
dumping of the garbage from Canada in Kalangitan sanitary landfill in Capas,
Tarlac.” Resolution No. 057-2015 banned
the dumping of any garbage from foreign origin in the Kalangitan sanitary landfill
and elsewhere in Tarlac. Vice Gov.
Enrique Cojuangco, Jr. defended the provincial government’s actions. “Any Filipino should and would do what we
did. Let’s keep it simple – it’s just
wrong to allow waste or garbage of foreign origin, be it toxic or nontoxic, to
be dumped anywhere in the Philippines,” Cojuangco said. Colayco said MCWMC accepted the trash because
the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources certified these to be “Municipal solid wastes.” --- Luzon
Politics
“TARLAC DEMANDS CANCELLATION OF BOC’S GARBAGE DEAL ON
CANADIAN WASTE
After being used as a dumping ground of imported waste from
Canada, the provincial board of Tarlac is now demanding the cancellation of
contract entered into by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Metro Clark Waste
Management Corporation (MCWMC). Vice
Governor Enrique Cojuangco, Jr. said the board unanimously passed Resolution
056-2015 “demanding for the immediate rescission/cancellation of the contract
between the BOC and the MCWMC relative to the dumping of the garbage from
Canada in the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill in Capas, Tarlac.” With the contract cancelled, MCWMC can no
longer dump any imported garbage at the Capas facility, Cojuangco said. The Board, according to Cojuangco, stressed
that there is an urgent need to formally demand from the concerned parties the
stoppage of the dumping of the Canadian garbage in the sanitary landfill. The resolution also stated that “the dumping
of the garbage from Canada in Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill is in violation of
the authority granted by the Sanggunian Panlalawigan in its Resolution 023-2002
and Resolution 108-2003, to which the Clark Development Corporation, as owner
of the sanitary landfill agreed and confirmed.”
MCWMC President Rufo Colayco admitted to the provincial board that they
have entered a contract with the BOC to use the Capas landfill as disposal area
for the Canadian waste that have been sitting at the Manila Port Area since
2013. Canadian Ambassador to the
Philippines Neil Reeder, in a press conference in Iloilo City assured that the
garbage, which were stuffed inside container vans, are not toxic wastes. He said the Canadian Embassy, in cooperation
with the Philippine government, is looking for solutions on how to dispose
these waste materials. He added that the
Canadian government does not have a legislation to enforce the shipment back to
Canada.” --- Luzon Politics
In my previous articles on this Canadian garbage mess, I
already came up with a rejoinder on the statements of the Canadian Ambassador…
which are not too nice. I would no
longer wish to add more.
I would not want to pass any kind of judgment on the
propriety of the P1 million offer from the provincial Governor of Tarlac for
the CDC or MCWMC to take back the Canadian garbage… back to “where” is also not
clear. Although I am sincerely having a
hard time squaring up to the rhyme and reason for this, I am certain the
Governor has good reasons for choosing this management prerogative. We should
be glad, however, that Vice Governor Kit Cojuangco took a more definitive
stance in not allowing the further dumping of the Canadian garbage anywhere in
the province of Tarlac… or the Philippines for that matter.
The position of Vice Governor Kit Cojuangco reminds me of
the “NIMBY” Syndrome… “Not In My Back Yard”.
(For more information on the “NIMBY Syndrome”, please refer to the links
below.) It also reminds me that, on July
24, 2015, I wrote: “The ideal mindset
should be NO DUMPING OF GARBAGE IN PHILIPPINES with the remedy of DUMPING THE
GARBAGE BACK TO CANADA… it’s their garbage anyway. If we, Filipinos, cannot embrace this
mindset, we will condemn ourselves to the pitfall of the NIMBY Syndrome.” Vice Governor Kit thinks like a nationalist and
an environmentalist… and the many Filipino environmental advocates definitely
agree with him. There really is no other
way to resolve the Canadian garbage mess.
Thoughts to
promote positive action…
(Please
visit, like and share Pro EARTH Crusaders on Facebook or follow me at http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/
and http://twitter.com/EarthCrusader/)
REFERENCE:
Antonio, A.C., (2014). “Dear Canada, We Don’t Need Your
Garbage”. Retrieved on September 23,
2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/04/dear-canada-we-dont-need-your-garbage.html
Antonio, A.C., (2014). “The NIMBY Syndrome”. Retrieved on September 23, 2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-nimby-syndrome.html
Antonio, A.C., (2015). “The Pitfall of the NIMBY
Syndrome”. Retrieved on September 23,
2015 from http://antonantonio.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-pitfall-of-nimby-syndrome.html
www.luzon,politics.com.ph,
(2015). “Tarlac Guv Offers Contractor P1-M to Stop Dumping Canadian
Trash”. Retrieved on September 23, 2015
from http://www.luzon.politics.com.ph/2015/07/27/tarlac-guv-offers-contractor-p1-m-to-stop-dumping-canadian-trash/
www.luzon,politics.com.ph,
(2015). “Tarlac Demands Cancellation of BOCs Garbage Deal on Canadian
Waste”. Retrieved on September 23, 2015
from http://www.luzon.politics.com.ph/2015/07/25/tarlac-demands-cancellation-of-bocs-garbage-deal-on-canadian-waste/
Each one of us really have to do something right so that some will follow our simple acts. We have o practice good sanitary practice,so that by the next generation this kind of issue will be sort out.
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