(Eagle News) – The Philippines’ Bureau of Customs said that it has returned to South Korea more than 2,600 metric tons of waste materials which have been in the country since 2018.
In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said that the BOC returned the 2,676 metric tons of waste that were stored at the PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority premises in Misamis Oriental since 2018.
This was part of the 5,176.91 MT that the South Korean government officials have committed to help ship back to their country after these were illegally exported to the Philippines in July 2018.
The waste materials consist of plastic synthetic flakes that were unlawfully imported by the Cebu-based Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp.
Guerrero said the garbage was shipped back in 151 forty-footer containers.
He said that the first batch of 51 containers were sent back to South Korea on Jan. 25, 2019. This was followed by another shipment of 50 containers on Jan. 15 this year.
Last March 21, the third batch consisting of 50 containers were shipped to South Korea.
“The re-exportation took some time because the wastes have been exposed to natural elements of heat and rain, which made it difficult to re-bag and stuff inside the containers,” Guerrero said in his report to Dominguez.
He said 2,500 MT of wastes still need to be re-bagged and were originally scheduled to be repatriated to South Korea by the end of March, but the imposition of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) set back the BOC’s timetable.
Guerrero said that the bureau would work on returning the rest of the waste back to South Korea.
“Rest assured that the Bureau will undertake all the necessary means, within the bounds of law, in order to expedite the re-exportation of these wastes,” Guerrero told Dominguez.
An Order of Forfeiture and Order of Re-Exportation were issued by the Port of Cagayan De Oro City against these waste materials from South Korea, which had arrived at that port in bulk and containerized shipments, according to the DOF.
It said Manila and Seoul were signatories to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal—more popularly referred to as the Basel Convention. This is aimed at reducing movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of toxic waste from developed to less developed countries.
(Eagle News Service)
