Importer convicted over Canada waste

MANILA, Philippines — A business owner has been sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for illegally importing hazardous waste materials from Canada, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday.

In a decision dated Aug. 26, acting Presiding Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar of the Manila Regional Trial Court convicted Adelfa Eduardo, owner of Chronic Plastics, for violating Republic Act 6969, the Toxic Substances, Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990.

The DOJ said the court found Eduardo guilty of aiding and facilitating the importation of hazardous waste in 10 shipping containers, which arrived at the Port of Manila in June 2013.

Initially declared as plastic scrap, the shipments contained mixed, unsorted and heterogeneous plastic materials, which reportedly entered the country without clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The court ordered Eduardo to pay a fine of P1 million.

Two other defendants in the case, customs brokers Sherjun Saldon and Leonora Flores, were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Part of the waste imports was shipped back to Canada in 2019 on orders of former president Rodrigo Duterte.