Call out S. Korea on waste shipment, solon urges DFA
Iligan City Rep. Frederick Siao (Photo from his Facebook page)
Iligan City Rep. Frederick Siao wants the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to issue a note verbale or diplomatic protest against South Korea for shipping 51 container vans full of solid waste to the Mindanao International Container Terminal in the Port of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.
“We want the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a note verbale or diplomatic protest against the Republic of Korea,” Siao said in a privilege speech on Tuesday. “We want our DFA to implore upon the government of South Korea to arrest, shut down, and prosecute the cohorts of Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corporation in South Korea.”
“We want the DFA to tell the government of South Korea to conduct a thorough investigation of this shipment of garbage and to prevent any other similar shipments from being shipped to our country ever again,” he added.
The shipment of garbage, according to the Bureau of Customs, entered the country last July 24.
Then on Oct. 24, Verde Sokor Philippines sent its representative to request for the lifting of the abandonment of their shipment.
The lawmaker slammed the company, saying the garbage should be returned to them.
Siao would also want the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to “shut down and seize all the assets of the Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corporation” and that all officers and supervisors of the company be “charged.”
Siao also called on the DENR, DTI, DILG, and LGU of Tagoloan to file administrative and criminal charges against their personnel who approved and processed any of the permits and clearances of the shipment.
The incident is the second time in recent memory that garbage has been shipped to the Philippines from another country, Siao said, pointing out that the previous shipment came from Canada. /atm
