After officials of Tarlac and Bulacan provinces objected to the dumping of garbage from Canada in their landfills, concerned groups also urged the Quezon City government to pass a resolution opposing any plan to dispose of the foreign waste in Payatas.
A proposed resolution filed by Quezon City Councilor Dorothy Delarmente noted that the Bureau of Customs 鈥淸was] reportedly scurrying for alternative sites where the illegal garbage imports from Canada can be disposed of after Tarlac and Bulacan provincial officials raised legitimate objections to foreign waste being dumped in local landfills.鈥�
It expressed strong disapproval to any move to dump the garbage from Canada at the Payatas Sanitary Landfill in Quezon City.
鈥淭he Quezon City Council finds the dumping of foreign waste in our country totally inexcusable and unacceptable and demands that such unethical and unlawful act be brought [to] a halt,鈥� the proposed resolution said.
Aileen Lucero, coordinator of EcoWaste Coalition, said the resolution should be swiftly adopted by the city council, noting that its passage would be a 鈥済reat gift that the councilors can give as the city marks on Aug. 19 the 137th birth anniversary of former President Manuel Luis Quezon after whom the city was named.鈥�
鈥淭hey will surely earn 鈥榞anda鈥� and 鈥榩ogi鈥� points for saying 鈥榥o鈥� against dumping,鈥� Lucero said.
鈥淲hether hazardous or not as some quarters would claim, the controversial garbage would not qualify as 鈥榤unicipal waste鈥� because it鈥檚 not locally generated,鈥� she added.
Other Quezon City-based groups, such as Ang NARS, Ban Toxics, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino-NCR, Greenpeace and Kalikasan People鈥檚 Network for the Environment, have also expressed support for the proposed resolution.
EcoWaste said that from June 2013 to January 2014, a total of 103 shipping containers of mixed garbage from Canada misdeclared as 鈥減lastic scraps鈥� for recycling were exported to the Philippines. At least 26 of these were dumped at a landfill in Capas, Tarlac, from June 26 to July 8.