Rep. Gwen asked: Include trash from Korea in probe

A Cebu City resident has asked Deputy House Speaker Gwen Garcia (third district, Cebu) to include in the Congress’ investigation the allegedly illegal shipment of 25,000 metric tons of garbage in Cebu from South Korea last February 2017.

In his letter to the congresswoman, Jun San Sebastian of Topas St., Casals Village in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City believes that by including the matter in the investigation it would lead to the identification of the culprits.

The House’s dangerous drugs committee and the committee on ways and means are investigating the seized P6.4 billion shabu shipment in Manila.

Shipment documents

San Sebastian has attached in his letter several documents of the reported illegal shipment, including a port load survey report filled up by the shipper from South Korea and was received by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Cebu last Jan. 19, 2017.

Other documents were the single administrative document (SAD), which showed that the shipload of garbage came from South Korea; routing slip of the SAD processing, which indicated that the shipment was processed on Jan. 20, 2017 and it was released the following day; and the investigation report of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) last Feb. 7, which confirmed that the shipment was garbage.

In the SAD, the Congress can check on the tax assessment, name of Customs broker, and names of Customs personnel who processed the documents.

Part of the reported illegal shipment was sent back to the South Korea through mv Cristina, while the other parts were either stored in a warehouse in Mandaue City or dumped in the city’s Barangay Taboc. /