Human Rights Online Philippines

Environmental group to President-elect Marcos: Prioritize environmental issues

BAN Toxics urged President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to prioritize ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment and take action for proper chemicals and wastes management in time for his upcoming inauguration.

“We call on President-elect Marcos to prioritize the ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment, implement measures for sound chemicals and wastes management, and the total ban of waste importation to protect our nation from becoming the world’s dump site again,” says Reynaldo San Juan Jr., executive director of BAN Toxics.

The Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes Management and Disposal was established to protect human health as well as the environment from the harmful effects of improper hazardous waste management worldwide.

The Basel Ban Amendment prohibits member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the European Union (EU), and Liechtenstein from exporting hazardous wastes to developing nations, whether or not for recycling. The objective of the Ban Amendment is to protect both human health and the global environment from the negative effects of improper hazardous waste management.

As of June 2022, the Philippines has yet to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment despite being a Signatory to the Basel Convention since 1989.

Since the organization’s formation in 2006, BAN Toxics has been advocating for environmental justice through the promotion of sound chemicals and wastes management. Together with allied environmental groups, the organizations campaigned for the immediate repatriation of the Canadian waste and the ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment.

The group further recommends to the new government to give priority on sound chemicals and wastes management, plastic reduction, climate change mitigation and promotion of toxics-free schools program. BAN Toxics spearheaded the Toxics-Free Schools Program in 2014 with the goal to make schools safe for children and faculty members and to increase public awareness on toxic and waste pollution in schools and homes.

“It’s high time for the government to stop taking a back seat when it comes to childrens’ health and environmental protection and start making environmental issues a priority. It is the policy of the State to protect and promote the right to health and to a balanced and healthy ecology of the Filipino people.” BAN Toxics added.

Notes:
[1] Ateneo School of Government: Demystifying the Impacts of a Basel Ban Amendment Ratification by the Philippines
[2] IPEN: The Entry into Force of the Basel Ban Amendment

Media Contact
Melendre Heidyl dela Torre, Communications Officer, BAN Toxics
melendre@bantoxics.org | +63 917 514 2956

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