The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cagayan de Oro said it will return to South Korea within the month the final shipments of wastes illegally imported through the port in 2018.
District collector John Simon said BOC Cagayan de Oro port will ship out on February 16 and 23 the last containers of the illegally imported wastes, which were part of a shipment that arrived at the port in 2018 from South Korea.
A shipment from Korea that arrived in the Philippines in 2018 and was declared as plastic flakes was placed under alert and found to contain mixed non-biodegradable wastes after verification.
A warrant of seizure and detention was then issued against the shipment, and cases were filed for violation of Republic Act (RA) No. 10863, or Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, and RA 6969, or Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990.
BOC Cagayan de Oro port then initiated the re-exportation process. The first shipment, which included 51 40-foot containers, was successfully reexported to South Korea in January 13, 2019.
Another 50 containers were shipped out on January 19, 2020, while the last batches will be shipped out on February 16 and 23, bringing the total number of re-exported wastes to 201 containers.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III last year directed BOC to look into the creation of a special strike team to guard against the entry of waste materials that other countries may attempt to dump in the Philippines.
Last year, BOC also reexported illegal wastes dumped in the country from Canada and Hong Kong.
