It was more than nine months ago, October 2012 to be exact, when the waste dumping issue hit the newspaper headlines. It even prompted a senate investigation.
In February 2013, the Senate concluded its investigations resulting in a Committee Report which made recommendations to concerned government agencies.
Interested to know what has happened in the past five months since the Senate Report? Absolutely nothing!
This prompted the SBFCC to write Senator Loren Legarda to make a follow up. Below are extracts from the letter:
Dear Senator Legarda:
...We write your good office in relation to the Subic Bay Waste Dumping issue which your committee investigated half a year ago. We are happy to say that the SBFCC has now put in place an Automatic Identification System (AIS) antenna in Subic Bay which can identify, locate, and track vessels within Subic Bay and abutting areas up to 100 kilometers out. We have also requested SBMA to require transponders on smaller commercial vessels so that they can be tracked as well. Had this system and procedure been in place during the dumping issue, we would have known exactly the specific tracks the vessel had and where it went to dump the waste. Now we can.
We also write to comment on our impression on developments five (5) months since the issuance of your committee’s report. Sadly, we feel that your committee’s recommendations, particularly to other government agencies, seemed to be largely ignored. We write, therefore, on what seemed to be lack of action of some government agencies to heed and implement the recommendations embodied in the Committee Report No. 738 dated February 5, 2013 submitted by the Committees on Foreign Relations and Environment and Natural Resources. It may be recalled that a Committee Report was issued following comprehensive hearings and investigation in aid of legislation on the reported toxic and hazardous waste dumping at Subic Bay by Glenn Marine Asia Philippines, Inc, a foreign contractor of the US Navy.
The committees strongly recommended to SBMA, PCG, DENR, and MARINA the following measures, among others:
“1) For the SBMA, PCG, and DENR to initiate administrative proceedings against Glenn Defense for its failure to comply with the country’s environmental and marine protection laws and regulations and to impose necessary penalties as warranted;
2) For the SBMA, PCG, DENR to suspend all permits issued to Glenn Defense until such time that the administrative proceedings shall have been completed and appropriate sanctions shall have been meted out;
3) For the DENR, in coordination with the PCG and DOJ, to conduct further investigation to determine if the filing of criminal / civil cases against Glenn Defense, and its blacklisting, is warranted. The findings in this report shall be used as an input to the investigation...
6) For MARINA to review its decision to exempt Glenn Defense from the government’s permitting requirements covering the temporary use of foreign ships in Philippine territory on what is now established as a misplaced assumption on the part of Glenn Defense that it is covered and entitled to the privileges accorded under the VFA...
9) For MARINA to review the extent of permitting violations by Glenn Defense prior to the adoption of MARINA Memorandum Circular 2011-04 and to impose the necessary penalties for such violations;”
However, despite the clear and meaningful recommendations submitted by your committees, except for SBMA which already suspended [Nov 2012] the hauling of wastes by barge of Glenn Defense pending further investigations, the other aforementioned agencies seemed not too eager, for reasons not known to us, to initiate their own proceedings. Had they done so, at least Item 2 above would have been enforced already. As it happens, Glenn Defense is still operating in many areas around the country.
[PD 601 and RA 9993] have placed upon the shoulders of PCG the enforcement of laws and promulgate and administer rules and regulations for the protection of marine environment and resources from offshore sources of pollution within the maritime jurisdiction of the Philippines.
The illegal dumping made by Glenn Defense is a serious offense and should not be disregarded. It has been eight months since the issue of the waste dumping by Glenn Defense began and five months since the issuance of the Senate Committee Report and Recommendation, yet we have not heard of any sanctions against Glenn Defense and we have not heard of any suspension or revocation of their permits, much less any investigation being conducted against them by the PCG.
The SBFCC is concerned that the lack of action from government agencies might be perceived by other companies in the same business of hauling waste as an inference that they can get away with similar violations, which could ultimately make the Philippines a dumping ground of waste.
In light of the foregoing, we appeal to you and the committees you represent as part of your oversight powers, in seeing to it that laws are faithfully enforced and to put government agencies to task in carrying out their mandates. We hope that all the necessary parties are held accountable for their failure to enforce the laws under their jurisdiction and that all those who are guilty of violating our environment and destroying our marine life are penalized and made to follow the laws of the land.
We trust that you will not let violators of our environment and maritime laws get away with their illegal acts and make a mockery of a senate’s committee report which the SBFCC finds just and reasonable in the first place.
SBFCC Board of Directors
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