Japan’s waste-dumping in Philippines will intensify under JPEPA — group

The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) revealed that ahead of the ratification the Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) a landfill for Japanese waste was already in the works in Ternate, Cavite.

According to Ka Willy Marbella, internal deputy secretary general of KMP, “the said landfill will be located in Brgy. Sapang in Ternate, Cavite. It is 84 hectares and would be placed near a river that drains into Puerto Azul and farmlands. It would definitely affect Maragondon and Ternate, Cavite and would pose a very serious danger to the lives and livelihood of people in the area,”

“It is Governor Ayong Maliksi himself who said that the landfill would be for old appliances and electronic products from Japan. He also said that the survey of the area has already been completed and the construction of the landfill should have started January 2006. Now these types of products are part of the so-called recyclables containing hazardous substances that Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio is talking about when he made a new pitch for the ratification of the JPEPA,” added the peasant leader.

“We have already passed our position paper against the JPEPA to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and we hope that they have studied our concrete basis for opposing the deal. They can also do an investigation to this landfill so that they can see the extent of its impact when it pushes through. It is the unity and vehement opposition of the people of Ternate to this project that pushed them to form Ternatenos Against Landfill alliance and is the only reason why the project is still not being implemented. We must help them in their opposition to the landfill as well as against JPEPA, which would reduce our whole country into a giant Japanese landfill,” ended Marbella. # # #

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