THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) yesterday assured that is it doing “everything within its means” to have the waste shipments from South Korea immediately sent back. In a statement, BoC Spokesperson Erastus Sandino B. Austria said the BoC, through the Collection District of Cagayan de Oro, has already initiated talks with the South Korean government to fast-track the “reexportation of the waste shipments which came from Pyeongtaek City.” The Korean Embassy in the Philippines, in a statement on Nov. 22, vowed to address the issue. “Korean authorities will have the wastes in question be repatriated and properly disposed of and work to prevent recurrence of the problem,” it said. Environmental groups, however, have warned that they will continue to protest until the wastes, which entered the Mindanao Container Terminal in Misamis Oriental on July 21 and just recently reported, are shipped out. The Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Region X has examined the shipments consigned to Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corporation and found these to contain household hazardous waste.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR