Green activists press Korea to take back trash
Environmental advocacy organizations including EcoWaste Coalition on Thursday trooped to the South Korean Embassy in Taguig City to press the Seoul government to keep its promise to take back the shipments of waste that had arrived in the Philippines.
The embassy confirmed in a press release it issued last Nov. 21 that South Korea “would take measures to have the wastes in question be brought back to Korea as soon as possible,” stressing that “relevant authorities of Korea will have the wastes repatriated and properly disposed (of) and work to prevent recurrence of the problem.”
Dubbed as the “Keep Your Promise” caroling, the EcoWaste Coalition, together with Buklod Tao, gathered at the embassy gates to restate their demand to get the Korean garbage, described by the authorities as “injurious to public health,” out of the country before Christmas Day.
The groups said their presence at the embassy is meant to implore the South Korean government to honor its promise and ensure that the illegal hazardous waste shipments weighing 6,500 metric tons are “removed from our land’’.
“As the Customs authorities have already issued a ‘reexportation order’ and confirmed that the garbage ‘is now ready for pick-up,’ we hope the re-shipment will be done at once before Christmas,” said Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition’s national coordinator.
“With the resources at the command of the shipper and the Korean government, Lucero said they see no justifiable excuse for the delay in the re-shipment of the garbage.
“The re-export of the garbage consignments will be the best Christmas gift ever that we can ask for from South Korea,” she added.
To drive their message across, the group sang a modified version of “Sa Maybahay ang Aming Bati,” a favorite song that children sing when they go caroling.
The song’s last stanza says: “Ang sanhi po ng pagparito, ipaalala inyong pangako. Kung sakaling kami'y perwisyo, pasensiya na kayo kami'y apurado (That is why we are here is to remind you of your promise. If we are a nuisance we apologize for our impatience.”
They also brought a trash-filled dummy boat with a ribbon and bow resembling a gift with the side of the boat marked “Rush: Return to Korea.”
The protesters also held photos of the illegal Korean garbage imports that were taken by the EcoWaste Coalition during a field visit conducted on December 11 at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
This latest action came on the heels of a “re-exportation order” issued last December 6 by the Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Region X against the misdeclared “plastic synthetic flakes” imported by Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp. from South Korea that were found to be “misdeclared, heterogenous and injurious to public health.”
A copy of the order obtained by the EcoWaste Coalition from BOC-Region X was submitted to the South Korean Embassy. It was recommended by John M. Simon, port collector, Mindanao Container Terminal Sub-Port and approved by Atty. Floro G. Calixihan, Jr., district collector, Bureau of Customs – Collection District X.
According to the statement provided by Simon to the EcoWaste Coalition on December 11: “The Customs has announced that the illegal imported garbage from South Korea is now ready for pick-up and repatriation back to Korea. The South Korean government is being reminded of its promise to assist in the return of the waste as soon as possible in compliance to its commitment to the Basel Convention.”
“The call of the people is for its immediate return to Korea,” Simon said.