Petition updateReturn Canada Trash Senate Bill to Jail Liberal Party who approve Canada investor of trash export; Canada violated Basel Convention Waste Control Act; Jail Custom and DENR government officials disposing trash to Capaz Tarlac and other Philippine landfill2015July 14, Environmentalists blast dumping of Canadian wastes in Tarlac
Jam FlorDapitan, Philippines
Aug 5, 2015 — By: Dax Simbol, InterAksyon.com July 14, 2015 3:48 PM A truck hauling a container van laden with Canadian wastes is seen on its way to the landfill in Capas, Tarlac. (photo by Dax Simbol, InterAksyon.com) InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5 TARLAC CITY, Philippines -- Environmentalists and activists slammed the government for allowing the disposal of hazardous wastes shipped here illegally from Canada at a dumpsite in, of all places, the home province of President Benigno Aquino III -- Tarlac. “Our fears have been confirmed,” Abigail Aguilar, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner said. “For the Aquino government to allow this to happen right under our noses -- without proper court order and community consultation -- is unthinkable. It is legally, socially, and morally unacceptable to dispose of foreign waste, disguised and declared as non-hazardous, in our very own backyard.” The Metro Clark Waste Management Corporation, which operates the sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac has confirmed reports that 29 of 50 container vans of the Canadian waste, which have been festering in the Port of Manila since 2013, had been dumped there. However, the firm claimed the disposed waste contained no toxic or hazardous materials. The Concerned Citizens of Bamban, a socio-civic organization based in the Tarlac town, said trucks carrying the container vans had been passing through Barangay Pag-asa, an alternative route to the Capas landfill. The trucks used to travel only at night, said the CCB, but had lately taken to passing through the village even during the day. Although news reports said the Tarlac provincial government had ordered a stop to the dumping until MCWMC can present a certification from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, InterAksyon.com photographed a truck bearing a container van marked ZIM, in which the trash is stored, on its way to Capas. “This move is a bad precedent and sends a signal to other unscrupulous and illegal waste traders to ship their unwanted trash to the Philippines. It is inconceivable how our own government has carelessly acted without regard to our sovereignty, said Greenpeace’s Aguilar. The activist Anakpawis party-list joined the clamor to ship back the wastes to Canada and voiced support for Tarlac Governor Victor Yap’s order to stop the dumping. "Hindi lang environmental issue ang basurang ito kundi political, kung paano igiit ng gubyernong Aquino kung ano ang mabuti para sa bansa (This is not just an environmental issue but also a political one, of how the Aquino government decides what it thinks is good for the country),” Anakpawis Representative Fernando Hicap said in a statement as he called for the waste to be “returned to sender.” Hicap noted that farmers and Ayta communities belonging to the Kilusang Nagtatanggol sa Inang Kalikasan have long opposed the operation of the 100-hectare Capas landfill inside the Clark Special Economic Zone Sub-Zone D and is also against the 36,000-hectare Clark Green City project in Capas, claiming it would take land and livelihoods away from them. The Anakpawis lawmaker has filed House Resolution No. 1171 to investigate the impact of CGC project on farmers and Ayta communities. In November last year, a waste assessment and character study conducted by the DENR showed heterogenous, or mixed wastes, made of up household wastes, unrecyclable plastics, broken bottles and electronic wastes. The agency had also said earlier that the hazardous waste should be shipped back in accordance with the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes. But in March 2015, following Aquino’s state visit to Canada, the DENR made a sudden turnaround and announced that the waste is not toxic and could be disposed in the country. http://kickerdaily.com/environment-group-slams-disposal-canadian-wastes-in-tarlac/ Tarlac gov stops dumping of Canadian trash in Tarlac landfill http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/704902/tarlac-gov-stops-dumping-of-canadian-trash-in-tarlac-landfill PHL govt to dump Canada trash in Tarlac sanitary landfill July 13, 2015 9:19pm - http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/521446/news/nation/phl-govt-to-dump-canada-trash-in-tarlac-sanitary-landfill Environmentalists blast dumping of Canadian wastes in Tarlac By: Dax Simbol, InterAksyon.com July 14, 2015 3:48 PM http://www.interaksyon.com/article/114174/environmentalists-blast-dumping-of-canadian-wastes-in-tarlac
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