TAGOLOAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/19 January) – After waiting for a year, Customs and local officials as well as environmentalists rejoiced as 2,400 metric tons of household wastes and plastic shreds were loaded into container vans Sunday for shipment back to South Korea.
Ports collector John Simon (center in white); Rep. Juliet Uy (1st district, Misamis Oriental) and other local government officials react during the send-off ceremony for 2,400 metric tons of household wastes and plastic shreds that will be shipped back to South Korea on Sunday, January 19, 2020. MindaNews photo by FROILAN GALLARDO
Ports collector John Simon said the garbage, loaded in 60 container vans, will be shipped back aboard Maersk ship MV L8H Nordmarsh at the Mindanao International Container Port in Tagoloan.
Simon said the ship would arrive around midnight Sunday .
“At long last after a year of waiting, we will be shipping back a portion of the garbage back to South Korea,” he said.
He said the South Korean government paid for the shipping cost of P10 million in accordance with the Basel Convention.
He said some 2,700 metric tons still remained at the facility of Verde Soko in Sitio Buguac, Barangay Santa Cruz in Tagoloan.
Simon said the remaining garbage will be shipped back on Feb. 9.
The entire shipment of 6,500 metric tons garbage arrived here in July 2018.
The first batch of 1,400 metric tons of garbage was shipped out last January 2019.
Criminal charges were already filed against Verde Soko, a Filipino shipper, for bringing in the illegal shipment from South Korea in 2018.
Warrants of arrests were issued against company officers, including a South Korean living in Cebu City. (Froilan Gallardo/MindaNews)
