DOJ indicts BOC personnel for entry of hazardous garbage from Canada
APANEL of government prosecutors has ordered the indictment of four personnel of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for allegedly being responsible for the entry of 50 container vans containing hazardous garbage materials from Canada in 2013.
Facing charges for violation of Republic Act 6969 or the “Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990” are Customs examiner Officer 3 (COO3) Benjamin Perez Jr., examiner COO3 Eufracio Ednaco, appraiser Customs Officer 5 (COO5) Matilda Bacongan and appraiser COO5 Jose Saromo.
Their co-respondents, namely, former Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director Juan Miguel T. Cuna and EMB employees Irvin Cadavona, Geri Geronimo Sañez and Renato Cruz, were exonerated by the Department of Justice-national Prosecution Service (DOJ-NPS) for lack of probable cause.
The panel also found all the respondents not liable for violation of RA 3019 or the Anti-graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
In a 16-page resolution, the panel noted that Perez, Ednaco, Bacongan and Saromo knew or were supposed to know that the vans contain hazardous materials since they attested to have physically examined them.
“When they re-routed the shipments to ‘green,’ they effectively facilitated the importation of hazardous waste into the Philippines,” the resolution read.
Based on the records, Chronic Inc. from Canada exported 103 container vans to the Philippines from May 26, 2013, until January 30, 2014, in several batches.
The shipments were consigned to two Philippine-based companies: Chronic Plastics, which received 55 units of 40-footer vans; and, Live Green Enterprise, which had a share of 48 containers of 45-footer container vans.
The contents of the container vans were later found to be mixed or heterogeneous plastic materials that were reportedly mis-declared as plastic scrap.
A check on the BOC’S Electronic 2 Mobile (E2M) Systems also revealed that there were only four entries filed by Chronic Plastics for the years 2013 and 2014, while no entries were filed by Live Green.
Of the four entries filed under Chronic Plastics, three were cleared and released while one was placed under alert for alleged violation of R A 6969 and the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).
Two of the three entries that were released were tagged as “yellow” while one was tagged as “red” by the BOC.
A “yellow” tag would imply a shipment has to undergo document examination, while a “red” tag means a shipment has to go through both document and physical examination.
But despite being tagged as “yellow” and “red,” the shipments under the three entries were reportedly re-routed to “green;” meaning they passed the scrutiny of the document examination and physical examination.
“After a careful review of the records of the case and submission of all parties, the undersigned panel of prosecutors finds probable cause to indict respondents Perez, Bacongan and Saromo for violation of Section, paragraph (b) in relation to Section 13, paragraph (d) and Section 5 of RA 6969.
If found guilty, the BOC personnel may be meted with imprisonment of up to 20 years.
The resolution was issued by the panel composed of Assistant State Prosecutor Loverhette Jeffrey P. Villordon, Assistant State Prosecutor Alejandro C. Daguiso and Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Gilmarie Fe S. Pacamarra of the DOJ-NPS.