Phl not a dumping ground: BOC to file case vs Canada trash importer

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials said Thursday that they are filing charges against importers who brought in trash from Canada to the Philippines.

At a televised press briefing, BOC Commissioner Sunny Sevilla said those who will be charged are the owner and customs broker of Chronic Plastics, a company based in Valenzuela City.

According to the BOC, Chronic Plastics is the consignee in record of 50 container vans that contained assorted scrap plastic materials for recycling.

But the real contents of the shipment were later discovered as tons of waste plastic and paper materials from Canada.

"Pagbukas [ng shipment], umaalingasaw daw," Sevilla said, adding that this may have happened in the past also.

Sevilla said the presumption is that the garbage will be dumped here.

"Hindi po basurahan ng ibang bansa ang Pilipinas," Sevilla said. "Hinding-hindi po tayo dapat pumayag na tayo ay maging basurahan ng mundo."

Ariel Nepomuceno, customs deputy commissioner for enforcement, warned that the waste shipment could pose biohazard risks.

He said the Philippines could impose provisions of the Basel Convention to send the garbage back to Canada.

"While we will investigate further, it is clear that the importer violated our tariff and environmental laws. The Basel Convention provides that shipper or sender will return the scrap plastic to Canada," Nepomuceno said in a previous BOC release.

In August and September 2013, the container vans arrived at the Manila International Container Port and were issued Alert Orders because the consignee had incorrect import documents.

The Chronic Plastics declared a value of US$222,000 for the shipment.

The shipper was identified as Chronic Inc., an entity based in Ontario, Canada.