Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Tarlac Gov. Victor Yap asked the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) on Monday (July 13) to stop dumping garbage shipped from Canada at its sanitary landfill in Capas town.
Yap said the waste management firm did not submit to him any certification from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) clearing the disposal of the garbage at the Capas landfill.
But MCWMC said it had already sent the requirements to the governor, including the DENR clearance.
Yap also wanted to know if the tests conducted by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the DENR could show that the trash was not toxic and processed using international standards.
Related: Stricter toxic waste law eyed
He said he was alerted about the arrival of “toxic” trash by concerned groups from the town of Bamban, which lies just beside Capas.
Some residents near the landfill, he said, had been complaining about the stench and the noise and mud trail made by trucks hauling the garbage.
As early as 2014, a Change.org petition brought to public attention the presence of 50 forty-foot container vans that had been at the Port of Manila since 2013.
“So eto ay dalawang taong mahigit na,” Yap said.
“Ba’t naman hindi kami mabigyan ng dalawang linggo, dalawang buwan para talagang suriin kung ano talaga yung mga issues involved here?”
Related: Aquino urged to remind Canada of illegal waste issue
[Translation: “So it’s been here for more than two years. Why can’t we have two weeks or even two months to examine the issues really involved here?”]
The petition also said that “garbage juice” had been leaking from the container vans, which contained mixed wastes — a misdeclaration of its contents.
The petition enumerated the items found in the shipment as nonrecyclable plastics, used adult diapers, broken bottles and glasses, waste paper, and kitchen waste, among others.
Related: Senator wants PH to return Canada’s trash
According to the DENR, exporter Chronic Inc. declared the contents as plastic for recycling.
Last May, 48 forty-five-foot container vans from the same exporter was discovered at the Subic Port, according to environmental group Greenpeace. The shipment contained similar content as those found at the port of Manila.
Since June 25, 26 container vans were already dumped at the Capas town landfill, according to Darwin Chan, general manager of MCWMC. The remaining containers are still at the Subic Port.
The big issue, Yap said, would be if it turned out that there was something wrong with the trash.
“Kami naman yung kawawa sa Tarlac,” he said.
[Translation: “It’s we here in Tarlac who will suffer.”]
