MANILA, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government has committed to help ship back to its country some 5,176 metric tons (MT) of waste it illegally dumped in the southern Philippine Misamis Oriental province last year, the Philippine Department of Finance said on Wednesday.
Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez that the waste materials, consisting of plastic synthetic flakes, were unlawfully imported by a Cebu-based company in July and October last year.
The shipping containers full of waste materials from South Korea are currently stored at the PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority premises in Misamis Oriental, Guerrero said.
Guerrero said order of forfeiture and order of re-exportation were already issued by the Port of Cagayan De Oro against these waste materials, which arrived in the Philippines in bulk and containerized shipments.
"The (South) Korean government has expressed its commitment in collaborating with the Philippine government to execute the repatriation of these materials, and its willingness to shoulder the shipping cost without the arrastre and demurrage charges," Guerrero said.
Manila and Seoul are signatories to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal that designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent the transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries.
The Philippines is also now working with the Canadian government on how to ship back tons of waste that Canada illegally shipped to the Philippines from 2013 to 2014.
Canada's failure to immediately remove its garbage on May 15 prompted Manila to recall its ambassador and consuls in the North American country. But efforts are underway to ship back the waste materials within a few weeks.
