South Korea to take back garbage shipment

MANILA, Philippines — The South Korean government has promised to bring back to their country 5,100 tons of garbage that arrived at the Mindanao International Container Terminal in Misamis Oriental last July.

“The government stated that it would take measures to have the waste in question brought back to South Korea as soon as possible,” the South Korean embassy said in a statement issued yesterday.

The embassy said South Korean authorities found out that the company behind the shipment made a false declaration.

The shipment, which was misdeclared as plastic synthetic flakes, contained plastic, used batteries, diapers and dextrose tubes, among other hospital waste, according to the Environmental Management Bureau.

“The joint inspection of the exporter’s business site found plastic waste mixed with significant amount of alien materials such as waste wood, metals and trashes which had not gone through appropriate cycling process,” the embassy said.

The Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Korea Customs Service, which investigated the Korean exporter, also confirmed that the documents required for export were forged, the embassy added.

EcoWaste Coalition lauded the action of the South Korean government to immediately resolve the controversy.

“This, we hope will lead to the Korean government strengthening its regulatory controls to ensure that garbage dumping in the Philippines will not happen again,”Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator, said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources had earlier said the consignee of the shipment, Verde Soko Phil. Industrial Corp., committed to return any hazardous material to South Korea.

Legal action

Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano said they are considering taking legal action against those responsible for the shipment.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) office in Northern Mindanao said more than 5,100 metric tons of trash arrived at the Philippine Sinter Corp. port in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental on July 21.

The BOC said another shipment of plastic garbage in 51 shipping containers arrived also at the MICT in Tagoloan last Oct. 20.

The shipment, which was also consigned to Verde Soko, is stored at the Phividec Industrial Estate complex.

“If the (local government unit) will say it will file a case against Phividec, we will be compelled to file a case against Phividec and even the Bureau of Customs, if there’s a need,”  Emano said. –  With Gerry Lee Gorit