The Senate has found the US Navy contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia liable for violating Philippines laws when it dumped hundreds of thousands of liters of wastewater off Subic, Zambales.
Millions of liters of sewage wastes were dumped in the Philippine waters by US Navy contractor Glenn Defense Marine Asia without proper permits from the government, Senator Loren Legarda, who headed an investigation into the waste dumping incident in Subic Bay in October, said Wednesday.
The Senate finding that Glenn Defense Marine Philippines Inc. violated Philippine environmental laws by dumping toxic waste into Subic Bay could put the US Navy contractor in deeper trouble with the authorities here.
A top official of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) has assailed the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) for allowing a US Navy contractor to continue servicing American vessels here despite an ongoing investigation on the firm’s alleged waste dumping in Subic Bay last month.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has disputed news reports saying the US Navy support ship M/T Glenn Guardian had dumped toxic wastes into the Zambales body of water.
A US Navy contractor on Wednesday questioned the accuracy of the results of laboratory tests on the wastewater samples that the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) collected from its vessel last month, saying the integrity of the sample used and the procedure applied in testing it needed verification.
According to a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) procedural manual on toxic and hazardous waste management as mandated in the implementation rules for Republic Act No. 6969, or the Toxic Substances, Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act:
The finding that the ship waste dumped by a US Navy contractor into Subic Bay was not hazardous pertains to just one incident, the chief of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) said on Tuesday, indicating that the contractor is not yet off the hook.
Three senators on Monday filed separate resolutions calling for an investigation of the supposed dumping of toxic waste from a US Navy ship off the coast of Zambales province by a vessel owned by a Singapore-based multinational firm that allegedly did not have the required registration and permits to do so.
Despite a finding by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Ecology Center that waste dumped into waters off the area last month was nontoxic, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said his department had yet to accept it.
The head of the Philippine office of a US Navy contractor on Monday disputed claims by government agencies that it dumped into Subic Bay toxic wastes from American ships that recently took part in joint military exercises in the country.
Malacañang on Monday shot down a senator’s suggestion that the Philippines consider terminating the Visiting Forces Agreement over the alleged dumping of toxic wastes in Subic Bay that officials said was neither nuclear nor chemical.
