The Manila Times-Nov 2018
Customs Commissioner Rey Guerrero ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the entry into the country of 5,000 tons of garbage from South Korea.
Guerrero said that the 51 containers of waste material, which passed through the Mindanao International Container Terminal (MICT), has no permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and was found to contain hazardous materials and thus considered illegal.
“Investigation is ongoing. We are working with DENR to have it re-exported,” Guerrero said.
As of posting time, reports said that the South Korean government has ordered the return of the garbage.
Sources at the MICT told The Manila Times that Floro Calixihan Jr., district collector of the Port of Cagayan de Oro, which has jurisdiction over MICT, and MICT sub-port Collector John Simon maybe liable under the operation of command responsibility as the shipment was not covered by a permit from the DENR.
He cited Customs Memorandum Circular (CMC) 44-2015, which prohibits the unloading of hazardous shipment without clearance.
CMC 44-2015 stipulates a “No Importation Clerance, No Unloading Policy” under Republic Act (RA) 6969, otherwise known as the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990, and the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.
Records showed that the illegal cargo arrived on July 21, 2018 from South Korea and was declared abandoned. It was declared as synthetic plastic flakes but upon inspection was found to contain “trash/waste.”
The shipment was consigned to Verde Soko Industrial Corp. (Verde) with office address in Sitio Buguac, Barangay Sta. Cruz, Tigaloan, Misamis Oriental, while the broker was identified as Mary Claire T. Booc. In a meorandum to Guerrero, Simon said that on October 24, Verde Soko asked the Customs Intelligence Investigation Service (CIIS) for the “lifting of abandonment” on its shipment.
The shipment was inspected as part of the process, which led to the discovery that it contained garbage, not synthetic plastic flakes as declared. It was also discovered that Verde Soko was not a recycling plant for plastic because the machinery found in the plant were incapable of production.
The sub-port of MICT has recommended the filing of a diplomatic protest to the South Korean government and an investigation on the nature of business of the owner and his status as businessman in South Korea. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
