A8
MetroVanIndependent.com
April 2015
News
Garbage war
Greenpeace, eco groups hit
plan to dispose Canadian
garbage in Tarlac landfill
Manila – As the illegal Canadian toxic
wastes continue to rot in the Port of Manila
for over 600 days now, well-known running
priest Father Robert Reyes joined the call
to compel Canada to immediately re-export
the illegal shipment.
Father Reyes and environmental
advocates led by BAN Toxics, Ecowaste
Coalition and Greenpeace Philippines had
earlier staged a “BasuRUN” in Makati City.
“Basura” in Filipino means garbage.
Reyes, a well-known environmental and
human rights Church activist, joined the
group as they ran along the main streets
of Makati City business district leading
to RCBC Plaza, where the Canadian
Embassy is located. “These toxic wastes
are the worst form of expressing friendship
between our two countries,” he adds.
This developed as the same group
together with Ang Nars party list exposed
government plans to simply dump in a
Tarlac landfill the plastic and household
garbage contained in the rotting 50
container vans intercepted by the Bureau
of Customs in 2014.
Environmental and public health groups
earlier cried foul over the ‘manipulative and
bullying tactics’ being employed by Canada
against the Philippine government over the
illegal waste exports that were intercepted
in the Port of Manila in 2013.
“Dumping garbage on the poor is
immoral whether it is done to an individual
or to a country. President Aquino’s silence
over the matter while Canada is pressuring
our government agencies to submit to
their unfriendly request is irresponsible,
unpatriotic, and inconsistent with his
so-called Tuwid Na Daan or (the Straight
Path),” Fr. Robert Reyes said.
Father Reyes and environmental advocates during the "BasuRUN" event.
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s
government is an embarrassment to
the civic-minded and environmentally
conscious Canadians. We know this is not
the real Canada. We urge Prime Minister
Harper to take immediate action. Take
back your illegal waste shipment now,” the
activist priest demanded.
Sometime in February 2014, the Bureau
of Customs (BOC) seized 50 container vans
containing various waste materials and
hazardous wastes imported from Canada,
with the consignee Chronic Plastics, Inc.
declaring the shipment as ‘assorted scrap
plastic materials for recycling’.
Canada’s stance, however, pins the
blame on the private consignee and
maintains that it does not have any legal
capacity to compel the Canada-based
exporter Chronic Incorporated, to re-export
their noxious shipment.
“It’s been more than a year and yet
US debt bomb could trigger economic storm
By Yul Baritugo
Whenever an economic maelstrom hits
host countries in North America, ethnic
communities and other visible minorities
of all creeds or colour invariably takes a hit.
This is true whether one is Punjabi, Urdu,
Turkish, Tagalog or Chinese. They are the
first people laid off jobs and the last ones
given economic relief.
This year is particularly significant
because we will be watching developments
in the economy of a neighbor to the South
which appears to be on an unstoppable
downward spiral. This is probably the
biggest story of the decade. America had
hit its economic watershed. But strangely
enough, the peanut gallery remains silent.
One of the key indicators of this
growing malaise is currency movements.
When the Canadian dollar hit parity with
the US greenbacks, the Canadian kneejerk reaction was to flock to the border and
hit US groceries and outlet shops. Long
perceived as a weak commodity-based
currency, people were lining up in banks
to change their Canadian dollars to US
dollars. Yet, this development is just the
tip of the iceberg.
What really happened?
The latest economic data shows
an often ignored detail that otherwise
indicates a deep weakness. Economists
label this indicator as the percentage of
gross debt vs. gross domestic product
(GDP). GDP is the total output of goods
and services that a given economy can
produce. Gross debt simply means total
indebtedness.
In simple terms, it is akin to ho W6V