House probe starts on shipment of Korean garbage in Misamis

By Ellson Quismorio

The joint House inquiry on the illegal sending of some 6,000 metric tons of garbage from South Korea to Mindanao last year will begin Tuesday.

Misamis Oriental 2nd district Rep. Juliette Uy (photo courtesy of Facebook)

Misamis Oriental 2nd district Rep. Juliette Uy initiated the investigation through House Resolution (HR) No.2317.

The subject of Uy’s House Resolution was the garbage and other solid waste consigned to Verde Soko Philippines that accumulated at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Misamis Oriental.

According to her, 5,000 metric tons of garbage are still at Phividec.

“Only the second delivery of 51 ship containers were shipped back to South Korea last month. We have yet to ascertain how that shipment was able to slip into the country,” the lady lawmaker said.

“That first shipment remains at the Phividec,” Uy noted.

It was July 2018 when the garbage–believed to include hazardous waste–arrived in the country aboard the vessel MV Affluent Ocean. It was offloaded at the Mindanao International Container Terminal and left at the Phividec.

After the Bureau of Customs (BOC) discovered the garbage shipment, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) conducted its own probe and filed criminal cases with Justice Department prosecutors against Verde Soko officials.

Uy said the probe has the support of the House leadership because “several laws may have been violated and it is incumbent upon the House to determine whether there are enough legal safeguards in place and whether the concerned national agencies and local government units comply with those laws.”

Taking part in the House investigation in aid of legislation will be the Committees on Ecology, Local Government, and Good Governance and Public Accountability.