CEBU lawmaker and Deputy Speaker Gwendolyn Garcia is calling for an investigation into the dumping of 25,000 metric tons (MT) of garbage from South Korea in Cebu in February.

Garcia has filed on August 2 the House Resolution 1155 directing the appropriate committee to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation.

Documents showed at least two Customs officials were the culprits in the smuggling of the said Korean waste.

First, a copy of the Port Load Survey Report (PLSR) was filled up by the shipper in South Korea. The document was received by a representative of District Collector Elvira Cruz on January 19.

Second, the Single Administrative Document (SAD) showed the shipload of garbage from South Korea was processed inside the Cebu Bureau of Customs (BOC), the tax assessment, the Customs broker and the Customs personnel who processed the document. The date was January 21.

Third, the routing slip of the processing of the SAD showed processing began on January 20 and the release was on January 21.

A source from the Cebu BOC noted processing of a shipload of substances in just over a day is unusual. Once released, the smuggling operation was already consummated.

Fourth, the investigative report of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), dated February 7 of garbage unloaded from MV Christina.

This happened after the release of the shipment from the BOC two weeks earlier.

Fifth, the alert order requested by Cruz and approved by Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon, dated February 8.

The source said issuance of an alert order after the shipment was approved for release was highly irregular much like the alert of the P6.4 billion worth of shabu from China.

A second point was the alert order hid the truth about the release of the shipment, and that the office of Cruz knew about this way back on January 9 when her secretary received the PLSR.

In calling for an investigation, Garcia said Cebuanos were shocked to discover that 25,000 MT of trash made past customs clearance and dumped in an open dumpsite in Barangay

Tingub, Mandaue City.

A concerned taxpayer earlier sent a letter to President Duterte, alleging an “illicit” transaction by government officials because the 5-million-kilo mixed trash was reportedly supposed to be dumped at the landfill in Barangay Inayawan in Cebu City, which the DENR

ordered closed.

While the concerned officials denied the allegations, Garcia said whatever the ultimate destination of the foreign garbage, the fact is that it actually arrived, had been released from customs, had been dumped in a landfill in Cebu, had exposed Cebuanos to unknown and unchecked hazards and had caused Filipino taxpayers the inconvenience and expense of their hauling and repatriation.

“There is a need to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, to ferret out the truth about the South Korean garbage, to determine the persons responsible for this illegal exportation and to inquire into whether our present environmental and customs laws are adequate to safeguard the Philippines from, and our enforcement bodies sufficiently armed in the face of the onslaught of foreign garbage,” Garcia said.