Sen. Panfilo Lacson yesterday blamed corrupt officials in the Bureau of Customs for the entry of foreign garbage in the Philippines.
Lacson took to Twitter to air his belief that BoC officials and personnel have a hand in the dumping of rubbish in the country’s ports by foreigners, comparing it to the smuggling of illegal drugs.
“As long as fictitious consignees and unscrupulous brokers continue to work with corrupt Customs officials, tons of garbage and shabu will enter our country’s ports,” the senator posted. “All, including garbage and shabu, are toxic and should be treated as such,” he added.
New shipments of trash were reported to have arrived here amid the long-standing row with Canada over the garbage shipped to the country.
Seven container vans of shredded municipal waste from Australia were discovered in a Tagaloan, Misamis Oriental port last May 14.
The broker of the shipment, according to the BoC, was the company which handled the importation of 51 misdeclared containers of trash from South Korea last year. (Vanne Terrazola)
