DAVAO CITY – Lawmakers from a women’s partylist group want higher fines and strict monitoring of toxic dumping in the country through a legislative measure.
Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Luzviminda Ilagan said they filed before the House of Representatives House Bill 5578 or An Act Prohibiting Waste Dumping and Strengthening the Existing System of Waste Control and Management in the Country thereby Amending Sections 4 (b), 13, 14 a) i, and 15 of Republic Act 6969, and for other purposes.
“The outdated law imposes meager fines for waste dumping and poses no threat to those who wish to make a dumping site out of the Philippines,” said Ilagan who co-authored the bill with Gabriela Representative Emmi De Jesus and Bayan Muna Representative Karlos Ysagani Zarate.
“We hope that the leadership of both Houses of Congress sees this as an urgent measure that needs to be passed,” said Ilagan.
Ilagan said they wanted to amend previous laws “so that this weakling of a government that is bereft of the political will to arrest and penalize those who dump toxins and garbage in our country will have no more excuse to run after those who treat our country and our people like garbage.”
In a press release, Gabriela said the bill amends section 12 of RA 6969 which raises the fines imposed to those found guilty of dumping toxic wastes and garbage in the Philippines from a range of P5,000 to 15,000 to a range of P15,000 to 75,000.
Gabriela said the proposed bill “further stipulates that if the violator is a company with a capital of above Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P500,000), the fine shall not be less than Seventy-five Thousand (P75,000) but not more than Three Hundred Thousand Pesos (P300,000) for every violation.”
Ilagan said there is still a “need to review the country’s commitment to various trade agreements that allow end-of-life products from highly industrialized countries, dubbed as surplus imports to freely enter the country.”
“This is garbage imperialism and this has to stop,” she said.(davaotoday.com)
