Groups support Santiago’s resolution against toxic waste dumping in PHL; calls for Basel Ban Amendment ratification intensified

16 September 2014, Manila – Environmental justice group BAN Toxics (BT) and the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) announced their emphatic support for the resolution filed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago calling for proactive measures to prevent toxic waste from other countries being dumped in the Philippines.

The resolution also calls for the ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment, an amendment to the Basel Convention, which bans the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes from developed to lesser developed countries that are destined for disposal or recycling.

“Once again Sen. Miriam is leading the charge on this issue. Sec. Paje and the DENR establishment should be ashamed.  Back in 2007 during the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement joint committee hearing, she recommended the ratification of the Basel Ban to the DENR. 7 years later, she’s still at it and the DENR still has its head stuck in the sand,” stated BT executive director Atty. Richard Gutierrez.

BT and ASoG released a study entitled Demystifying the Impacts of a Basel Ban Amendment Ratification by the Philippines[i] last March, which dispels the major concerns of industry and other sectors that the ratification of the Ban Amendment will have adverse impacts to the Philippine economy.

“The perceived negative impacts of the Basel Ban Amendment to the Philippine economy is based on fear-mongering and is without basis. The Ateneo School of Government has prepared a well thought of study that debunks the myth around the resistance to the Basel Ban Amendment,” Gutierrez added.

The study focuses on the economic, environmental, and health impacts of the hazardous waste recycling activities in order to aid in policy making in determining the acceptability of the Basel Ban Amendment. The study relied, in part, on trade import data from the United Nations Commodity Trade database (UN Comtrade) to assess Philippine imports of toxic waste for a period of 10 years and case studies to assess the impact of the Basel Ban Amendment.

“The prevailing trade data as well as empirical evidence on the ground show no reason why the Philippines should continue to withold its ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment. The gravity of this toxic waste problem cannot be denied, and we, as an independent country, should assert our rights against these foreign threat,” said Atty. Arvin Jo of ASoG.

Toxic wastes from other countries have exposed Filipinos to a number of health and environmental risks. In 1999 toxic waste from Japan was intercepted in Manila and just recently, the Canadian container vans holding hazardous wastes that were intercepted by the Bureau of Customs. Until now, the Canadian waste shipment is still lodged at the Port of Manila, more than a year after the first batch of garbage arrived on Philippine shores.

Hazardous wastes comes in many form including e-waste and other garbage such as medical wastes, and clinical wastes that include a toxic brew of mercury, lead, cadmium, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) and Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs), to name a few. According to the UN Comtrade, 4.7 million tons of hazardous waste have been shipped by developed to lesser developed countries from 1998 to 2008. Not only is public health and environmental integrity at stake, the latest toxic waste dumping has also exposed a growing traffic problem in the Manila port terminal.

BT and ASoG hope that Sen. Santiago’s resolution can finally jumpstart the ratification process that has long been dragged by the DENR since 1995.

“We not only need to send a clear signal to the rest of the world the Philippines is not a dumping ground, but it seems that we need to send the clear signal as well to the President and his cabinet that the Philippines should be nobody’s dumpsite,” Gutierrez ended. (Angelica Carballo-Pago)