THE Philippine Justice department on Wednesday said it will file a motion for the execution of the June 30 ruling of Manila Regional Trial Court to ship back adult diapers and other garbage to Canada.
As of press time, Canadian Embassy could not make reaction as it is still finalizing the statement to be disseminate to the public.
DoJ’s interagency committee said that it will implement Manila RTC Branch 1 Judge Tita Bughao Alisuag’s order to ship back to Canada the 50 container vans of used adult diapers and household waste from a certain Canadian company.
These toxic wastes were illegally dumped in the Philippine soil in 2013.
The DoJ said it will file a motion for execution immediately after the September 30 hearing on the case.
Alisuag ordered the shipping back at the expense of the Canadian exporter.
The garbage-filled containers are currently lying at Manila and Subic ports for three years now despite the calls made by environmental health and justice groups, labor organizations and even by concerned lawmakers to return the illegal garbage shipment to Canada.
On January 21, 2013, 50 containers of adult diapers and household wastes arrived in Manila.
The Bureau of Custom said the shipment contained “scrap plastic materials for recycling” but included adult diapers and household waste.
An Ontario-base Chronic Inc. shipped the containers to Manila through its Valenzuela-based consignee Chronic Plastics. However, the containers remained unclaimed at the port in Manila.
The Canadian embassy to the Philippines said in a statement in 2013 that the Basel Convention and Canadian domestic regulations allows Manila for the shipment to be returned “if they are found to be in contravention with the Convention or cannot be completed in an environmentally sound manner.”
The embassy said that the Canadian government is a party to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and that it is committed on upholding its obligation.
