The waste and pollution watch group EcoWaste Coalition on Sunday extolled the departure of 51 containers of illegal garbage exports from South Korea as a “triumph for environmental justice, morality and the rule of law.”
Speaking at the ceremonial send-off at the Mindanao International Container Terminal, Aileen Lucero, the group’s national coordinator, said “the waste shipments violated Korean and Philippine customs and environmental laws, as well as the Basel Convention.
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“Our resolute stance to get the garbage returned to its sender shows how much we, the Filipino people, want our fragile ecosystems to be protected against the adverse effects of waste trafficking, which is a serious threat to our people’s lives, their health and the environment,” Lucero said.
To emphasize their stance against waste trafficking, activists from the EcoWaste Coalition and various civil society groups from Davao City held a banner that read “stop exporting garbage to the Philippines.”
They also brandished placards saying “we are not a garbage can for Korean waste,” “Korean waste should be treated in Korea,” and “don’t transfer Korean waste to the Philippines.”
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“By saying ‘no’ to garbage dumping from Korea and other countries, we say ‘no’ to the derogation of our country’s dignity and sovereignty, ‘no’ to the disrespect for national and international laws, and ‘no’ to the harm they will bring to our communities,” Lucero told the crowd.
“As a civil society group dedicated to promoting a zero waste and toxic-free Philippines, we promise to remain vigilant to ensure that our country does not become a dump for any country’s garbage.”
MICT Port Collector John Simon echoed Lucero’s stance.
“May our victory serve as a lesson to the big nations that small nations like the Philippines can rise and fight for their right to have a clean environment free from the hazardous waste of the most powerful and industrialized nations of the world,” Simon said.
READ: BOC acts on South Korea garbage
Lucero was quick to point out “the struggle for environmental justice, morality and the rule of law is not yet over” as there were still 5,176.91 tons of bulk waste languishing on government land in Barangay Santa Cruz, Tagoloan, waiting to be sent home.
“For the sake of the Tagoloan people’s health and their environment, we call upon the Korean government to continue its fruitful cooperation with the Philippine government to ensure the rapid reexport of these wastes to Pyeongtaek City,” she said.
On Dec. 27 and 28, 2018, the governments of the Philippines and South Korea resolved to have the 6,500 tons of illegal garbage re-exported to the latter. Philippine authorities have determined the waste shipments as “misdeclared, heterogenous and injurious to public health.
Not forgetting about the 103 containers of reeking Canadian residual wastes disguised as plastic scrap for recycling, the EcoWaste Coalition said “the repatriation of the South Korean garbage to its source should rouse Canada into resolving the festering garbage dumping controversy.”
Illegal garbage exports from Canada entered the port of Manila in several batches from 2013 to 2014. In 2015, the waste from 26 of these 103 containers were illegally disposed of at a landfill in Tarlac.
Canada ’s indecisiveness to take their reeking garbage back violates the rule of law and is immoral, the EcoWaste Coalition said. Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assurance in 2017 that “it is now theoretically possible to get it back,” the Canadian garbage continues to fester with no end in sight, the group said.
The return of the dumped waste to South Korea shows doing the right thing is not just theoretical, the EcoWaste Coalition said, expressing its hope that Canada would finally comply with the Basel Convention.