Capas mayor believes trash from Canada no ordinary household waste

The mayor of Capas town in Tarlac province on Thursday expressed concern that the trash from Canada that were dumped in the town's landfill were no ordinary household garbage.

"Kung household waste lang ito, bakit ang Canada gagastos pa ng malaki para itapon lang sa Pilipinas?" said Mayor TJ Rodriguez in an interview on "News To Go. "Mas magaganda at malalaki 'yung mga landfill nila doon."

He said a monitoring committee will be established to look into the trash, which were contained in 27 container vans and dumped in Capas' sanitary landfill without permission from the local government.

"'Yun po sana 'yung gusto naming ipasuri kaya po may monitoring committee kami na gagawin po para ipa-imbestiga 'yung lahat po ng basurang itinapon," he said.

The 27 were part of the 50 container vans of mixed waste material that arrived at the Port of Manila starting June 2013 and were intercepted by the Bureau of Customs. They were misdeclared by Canadian exporter Chronic Inc. as "assorted scrap plastic materials for recycling."

The Philippine government did not press Canada to take back its waste, noting the good relationship between the countries. The trash were also not toxic, according to the Environmental Management Bureau.  

But according to Rodriguez, the dumping of the garbage in their town did not have the approval of the local government.

"Wala pong nag-approve niyan," Rodriguez said. "Nagulat na lang kami may nakalusot ng 27 container vans."

Rodriguez said the local government has the power to shut down the landfill, but it opted to have the case handled by the provincial council of Tarlac.

He also noted that only the provinces of Tarlac, Pampanga, the Clark Development Corporation, the city of Baguio, and Metro Manila are allowed to dump waste in the landfill, which is located at the boundary between Capas and Mabalacat town in Pampanga.

"Other than that, 'di na pupuwede magtapon. Kunwari basurang galing ng Visayas, hindi po puwede. Lalung-lalo na po kung galing pa ng ibang bansa," Rodriguez said.

According to the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines, there are no Canadian laws "to compel the shipper" to return the wastes, but recognized the need to review its regulations with waste and mixed household recyclables. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News