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RECEIVED

Republic ofthe Philippines 0.8 NOV 2016
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OATE:

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Constitution Hills, Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 42 87

Introduced by.
Gabriela Women’s Party Reps. EMMI A. DE JESUS and ARLENE D, BROSAS

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bil seeks fo amend in order to strengthen the county's existing laws on waste control and management,
particularly Republic Act 6969 or The Toxic Substances And Hazartous And Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990.

The technological advances in recent times have easily rendered obsolete or weakened the laws passed a couple of
decades ago. Thai's what happened to RA 6968. Passed in 1990, it has been quickly overtaken by huge changes
that swept across the entire waste-producing global capitalist system in the last two decades. These changes
tremendously affected the country in ways that exposed the law fo be no longer effective in addressing the swelling
issues of industrial waste proliferation and waste dumping in our jurisdiction,

Topping these global changes was the rise of the World Trade Organization in 1995, five years after RA 6969 was
passed, The free trade regime of the WTO unleashed the unprecedented expansion of global capilalst production
and along with it came the equally unprecedented increase in generated wasle, In fact, some estimates would even
Put global waste generation as having proportionately outpaced global capitalist production. While the globat
production of consumer goods had increased six-fold sine the 1990s, global waste generation had increased by 900
‘%, However due te high costs, developed countries could only recycle 11% of their waste’. The rest are exported to
Third World countries where environmental laws are weak and where these toxic and hazardous refuse are
welaomed as additional livelihood opportunities. Before the tum of the century, the trans-boundary trade. in waste
disposal in the developed countries became big business whose size and operation came to rival that of the
production of consumer goods,

I's a business that mimics the pattem of the trade imbalance between the developed and developing countries, with
the stream of waste disposal running from the North to South. This has led to what some environmentalists call as

* The figure pertains only to the US. Because of unavailabliy of global data and given that the US is the biggest producor of
industrial waste, we are taking this figure as some kind of watermark for al otner industrialized countses for purposes of this
Explanatory Note, Please see "The e-waste crisis introduction’ in E-Stewards! ards orgie



‘garbage imperialism” to describe a global production system in which developing countries have been relegated to
the economic niche of being the waste dump of the developed counties in addition to being the dumping ground of
the latter’ finished industrial products,

Equally importants the epeeding train of technological revolution inthe last three decades which has given rise to an
eruption of new, if not, growing forms of toxic and hazardous wastes, Among these growing forms of waste are the
refuse, called the e-waste (waste electrical and electronic equipment or WEEE), that have been the end result of the
explosion of the computer, inleret and electronic gadgets technology thal started in the 1990s, These consist of
broken computers and laptops, outdated cell phones, mp3s, play stations, printers, fax machines, and copiers,
Although they came under the definition of ‘hazardous waste’, they have nol yel reached the ‘end-of-life’ problem
they have reached today that they were hardly in the radar of RA 6969 and other local environmental laws, In
addition to televisions, air-conditioners and reftigerator constitute about 70 % of the industrial waste thal developed
countries dumped to Third World countries, Since these products are propelled by the law of dynamic obsolescence!
which entails rapid and never-ending upgrading, it generates 25 - 40 milion tons of global waste a year that annually
grows by 8 % since 2000. Environmentalsts see in these number surges, an environmental disaster waiting to
happen.

These global developments broke down the defenses that RA 6969 tiied to erect around our environment. Thus,
despite the passage of RA 6968, the country continues to be one of the leading destinations of chemical products
and toxic substances from developed countiies where these products and substances are in fact banned. The
Philippines remains as one of the leading importers of ‘persistent organic pollutants’ (POPs) which are continually
applied in our agricultural lands, poisoning our rivers, lakes and seas. In addition, sorap lead acid batleries from
industrialized nations particularly United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany have continually
entered the country. From 1990 101993, some 64,000 tons of toxic waste were shipped fo the Philippines, with over
27,000 tons coming from Australia. In 1995, Philippine authorities seized 122 forly-foot containers carrying infectious
medical wastes from Japan. Additionally, in 1999, a Japanese fim shipped 2700 metric tons of wastes for disposal
to the Philippines. Labeled as paper for recycling, the wastes in fact were a mix of hazardous medical and industrial
wastes unsuitable for recycling. From 2001 to 2005, up to 1.2 milion second-hand TVs, refrigerators, washing
machines, and air conditioners were estimated to have entered the Philippines, of which 60 to 70 percent came fram
Japan. Recently, environmentalists. have raised alarms over the possibilty of waste traders using recyaling as a
vehiole to camouflage waste dumping in the country when early this year, the Bureau of Customs uncovered
domestic thrash declared as recyclable plastics shipped in 50 container vans from Canada.‘

2Kenyon Reinier Stebbins, ‘Garbage Imperialism: Health implications of dumping hazardous wastes in third world counties’ in
Madical Anthropology: Cross-cultural Studies in Health and llness, Vol, 15, Issue 1, 1993; please also see Michael Cohen,

Toxic Wastes. «and =the. = New = World «Order in The = Third = World Traveler,
hito:swa shitdworkdvaveler com/EnvionmentToxieWasle NewWoridOrder hin (visited 09/30/13). Cohen's article traces the
journey of the infamous barge Khian Sea that eft Philadelphia with its cargo of 14,000 tons of toxic incinerator adh in seach of a

recipient country and finding none dumped it inthe Indian Ooean,
The low end of the figure is ftom SomijtaLaha, Transboundary Toxic E-waste Flow: Environmental Injustice Through Neo-
eoo!ogical_ Imperialism (tto-tavinw iss. nfleaciin e/Documents/Conference_presentations/Naturalne__Somita

sia.od!), visited 09/30/2013, The high end is from Science Dally, ‘Hazardous e-waste surging in developing counties,
02/28/2010,The figure on the yearly growth of e-waste is from The e-waste crieis intraduaton’ in E-Stowards li
Stewards orgthe-e-waste-cisis

“Philippine Daily Inquirer, ‘Group slams shipment of toxic waste from Canada’, 02/14/2014



RA 6969 was further weakened when the country entered into several multilateral and bilateral free trade agreements
following the colapse of the 1999 WTO negotiations in Seattle, USA, Among these agreements was the Japan-
Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) which contains a provision allowing the entry of Japanese
hospital waste into the county in exchange of employment opportunities for Filipino nurses in Japan. Likewise, under
‘he Visiting Forces Agreement and the recently-signed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US, the
county has continued to serve as a strategic base of US military operation in the Asia-Paeifio rim which is pregnant
of the possbilties that the US might be dumping its miitary waste in the country but shrouded by a ‘neither confirm
nor deny’ policy. In fac, the most recent incident of waste dumping in the county involved a company, the Glenn.
Defense Marine Asia Co., contracted by the US navy to dispose military waste from US war ships docked in Subic.

‘Apart from these extemal factors, RA 6969 also suffers from birth defects that somehow blunted its effectiveness in
dealing with waste dumping in the county, Foremost of these intrinsic defects was that it labored under the
‘ramework idea that environmental protection laws should not be a ‘restraint to trade’, an idea that dominated the
decade that launched the globalization of the WTO. Proceeding from such framework, RA 6969 stopped short of
Possessing those provisions that would have given Philippine authorities the teeth to purposefully prevent waste
dumping in the country and make the law truly a deterrent to acts of endangering the health of our people and of
poisoning our environment. Specifically, the law shied away ftom using the state's sovereign powers to prohibit the
importation of chemicals and chemical products that are banned in their country of origin or targeled for elimination,
due to their proven harmful effects, by intemational conventions. RA 6969 leaned more on the side of control and
management resulting in weak provisions against waste dumping.

Exemplying this inherent weakness is the laws penal provisions which, as aplly observed by no less than DENR.
Secretary Ramon Paje, are so light that they do not at all have exemplary deterrent effects®, Another case in point is
RA 6969's provision on stopping in transit those vessels that are bringing toxic, hazardous or nuclear wastes ino the
‘country. Notwithstending the good intention, it lacked the pre-enlry inspectorial mechanism for authories to prevent
the landing and enty of toxic and hazardous wastes into Philippine tertlory

Moreover, although the Philippines was already a signatory to the Basel Convention when the faw was passed, RA
£6969 failed to incorporate the Convention’s ‘extended producer responsibilty’ principle. As a result, the law, right off
the starting mark, did not have the proverbial long hand to reach out to the ultimate source of waste proliferation and
dumping. This created a gaping hole in the enforcement even of waste management and disposal in the country
With the country’s 48 milion cell phone users and 12 milion PC users, exponentially increasing from 10 milion and 2
milion respectively in the 1990s, this gaping hole is fast turning into an environmental nightmare.

In addition to environmental effects, various studies have shown that toxic and hazardous wastes, because of the
heavy metals they contain, are risks to human health and life. They can cause a wide range of diseases, infections
and injuries that can lead to death, and permanent or temporary disability. Even low-level exposure to these wastes
may lead to slow-progressing but fatal diseases such as diseases affecting the lungs and the liver Other focused
studies have also shown the adverse effects of such wastes on women and children. Exposure to toxio and
hazardous wastes has been linked to the considerable ooourrence of asthma, breast canoer and hormonal
imbalances among women, as well as miscarriage and intrauterine growth infection among pregnant women.
Children of mothers exposed to toxic and hazardous wastes were also observed to have suffered low bith weight,
preterm birth, birth defects and delay in motor and cognitive development.”

“The observation was made by Sec. Pej in response to the interpellaton by ane of the authors, Rep. Luzviminda ©. llagan,
during the appropriation committee deliberation of the 2014 DENR budget last August 2013

* Calin Goorgosou,, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on tho adverse effects of the movement and dumping of toxio and
dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights. United Nations Human Rights Council, 04 July 2011, p. 8.

} Harrison E, Partslow J, Grason H., Environmental Toxicants and Maternal and Child Health: An Emerging Public Health
Challenge, John Horkins Bloomberg School of Public Heath, 2008



Given its inherent weaknesses and the challenges to human health and environmental protection thal arose afler RA
6969 was enacted, the law is badly in need of, to use the language of present-day techie crowd, a major upgrading
Such is the purpose of this bill It seeks fo upgrade RA 6969 and other domestic laws on waste contiol and
‘management through the folowing: i

) It discards the framework idea that environmental laws should not be a ‘restraint to trade’. Such an idea,
Which dominated the globalization-obsessed 1990s and animated the crafting of RA 6969, has been proven
{o be toxic and dangerous to the welk-being of mankind and his already deteriorating environment, In place
of such framework, this bill upholds the contrary idea that emerged as an intemational reaction to the
unbridled free trade regime of the WTO ~ the idea that harmful ade cannot be a legitimate human activity
and has no place in intemational and domestic interaction among peoples and economies. Where trade
becomes harmful fo man and his environment, such activity must be interdicted wih prohibition

) This bill embraces environmental justice, the concept that the stream of waste from the developed countries
to Third World countries will only unjustly perpetuate the underdevelopment of the latter and should be
stopped.

©) It also embraces the ‘precautionary’ principle of the 1992 Rio de Janeifo Declaration, Where scientific proofs
are inconclusive as to the harmful effeots of an act, development project or chemical substance, this bill ers
‘on the side of precaution,

4d) It also adopts the ‘extended producer responsibilty’ principle of the Basel Convention of which the county is
a signatory, including the Basel Ban on trans-boundary trade of toxic waste, including e-waste, and
hazardous products;

€) This bill incorporates our commitment to the Minimata Convention on Merouty which is working toward the
eventual elimination ofthe use of mercury; and

4) It calibrates the administrative and judicial penalties for violations of RA 6969 to make such penalties truly a
deterrent to waste dumping in the county.

IF we are to prevent an environmental nightmare in this country, this bill should be passed with dispatch,

soe hall pre

EMMI A. DE JESUS NE D,BROSAS
Gabriela Women's Party ‘abriela Women’s Party


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Constitution Hils, Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL, no_42 87

Introduced by:
Gabriela Women’s Party Reps. EMMI A, DE JESUS and ARLENE D. BROSAS

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

‘Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Statement of State Policies and Principles. ~ The Stale adheres to the policy that protecting the
environment from further degradation and destruction is vital to the highest degree to promoting the well-being of the
Filipino people. In pursuance of this policy, the State hereby adopts and implements through this Act the principles
and agreements of certain Intemational conventions to which the county is a signatory and has committed
compliance, These principles are

a) The principle of the Basel Ban Amendment which enunclates the prohibition of trans-boundary trade in toxic
and hazardous wastes;

') The principle of ‘extended producer responsibly’ of the Basel Convention;

©) The precautionary’ principle ofthe 1992 Rio de Janeiio Declaration; and the

@) The principle of commitment to the Minimala Convention on Mercury which is working foward the eventual
elimination of the use of mercury;

Section 2. Section 5 of Republic Act No. 6969 is hereby amended to include the following,

Dumping - the act of transhipping into Philippine waters and soil those toxic substances, hazardous and

nuclear wastes, e-waste and other similar materials whose transhipment is prohibited by international
* conventions to which the country is a signatory; also, the act of disposing toxic substances, hazardous and

nuclear wastes, and e-waste in violation of Republic Act 6969 and of Sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 of this Act;



Electrical products ~ refer to products, appliances, or tools whose operation relies on electricity and thereby
contain wiring systems made of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, beryllium, polyvinyl
chloride, organotins, and brominated flame retardants;

Electronic products ~ refer to products, equipment, or gadgets whose operation relies on the convergence of
digital and computer technology and also thereby contains heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium,
beryllium, polyvinyl chloride, organotins, and brominated flame retardants;

End-oflife - refers to the condition when a product reaches the end of its supported useful cycle because
the period for the supply of the support system and services for the product provided by its manufacturer or
distributor/seller has terminated or ended;

E-waste - refers to electrical and electronic products that have reached their ‘end-of-life’ cycle, Such
products are considered hazardous wastes as defined in Section 5 (g) of RA 6969; and

Military waste - are wastes produced by equipment and instruments principally used in military purposes;

Section 3, Absolute prohibition of military and nuclear waste and inspectorial powers. ~ In furtherance of the
State Policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in our teritory, the entty and dumping of foreign nuclear and military
waste shall be absolutely prohibited. Thereby,

) Any nudear or military waste produced while basing in the country shall be shipped out to the homeland of
the foreign military force;

b) Before leaving its base of origin, the captain of the vessel or the wing commander of the aircraft of such
foreign military force shall issue a certification addressed to the Secretary of Foreign Affaics that
categorically states that said vessel or aircraft bound for the Philippines carries no nuclear or military waste;

©) The vessels and aircrafts of such foreign military foroe shall be subject to boarding and the exercise of
inspectorial powers by Philippine authorities; and

d) The captain of the vessel or wing commander of the aircraft who causes the entty of nuclear or military
waste into the country or who falls fo prevent such enty shall be subject to criminal prosecution under
Philippine laws;

Existing treaties and executive agreements inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or amended in accordanoe
with this Act.

Section 4. Enforcement of the Basel Ban Amendment in the country ~ In compliance with the Philippine
commitment to the Base! Ban Amendment, the importation or transhipment into the country of all hazardous wastes
as defined in RA 6969, as amended by this Act, is hereby prohibited,

Section 5, Extended producer responsibility. ~ In compliance with the Philippine commitment as signatory fo the
Basel Convention, it shall be the responsibily of manufacturers and producers fo track, recover, recycle and dispose
their electrical and electronic products in accordance with this Act, its Implementing Rules and Regulations and other
Philippine environmental laws,


Section 6. Devolution of EPR to domestic distributors and marketing agents. - In the case of manufacturers and
producers of electrical and electronic products not based in the Philippines and whose country of operation does not
follow the EPR principle, their responsibilties and liabilties that arise from Section 4 hereof shall devolve upon their
domestic dstrbutors and marketing agents,

Section 7. Window period for manufacturers and producers, - Manufacturers and producers of electrical and
electronic products, or thelr domestic distbutors and marketing agents, shall be given twelve (12) months from the
effectivity of this law to design a system and mechanism for tracking, recovering, recycling their products and for
disposing their e-waste as mandated by the preceding section

Section 8, Prohibition of importation of products that have reached ‘end-ofife’. The importation of electrical
and electronic products that have reached the ‘end-of-life’ is prohibited. The importers of such products shall issue a
Certification that their goods have not yet reached the ‘end-ofife’ and such certfication shall form part of their
Importation documents fo be submitted to the Bureau of Customs and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Section 9. Compliance to the Minimata Convention. ~ In compliance with the Philippine commitment as signatory
(o the Minimata Convention, the importation/manufacture, sale, handling, slorage, transportation, distribution, use or
Possession of meroury shall be hereby strialy prohibited. All persons, companies and enterprises engaged in
economic activities involving the use of mercury are hereby given a window period of one (1) year within which to
phase out such use and to replace it with appropriate technology.

Section 10. Observance of the ‘precautionary’ principle of the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Declaration. - In all cases
of determining whether an act, development project or chemical substance is harmful to the health of the Filipino
people and the environment, the precautionary principle shall be observed,

Section 11. Right to information. All documents related to implementing this Act, especially those mentioned in
Section 3, paragraph b) and Section 7, shall be considered a public document to which any interested citizen shall
have access to information,

Section 12 Right to citizen's suit. Any citizen not otherwise disqualified by law may file a complaint or suit against
any person or corporation for acts or conduct in violation of the provisions of this Act, or against any goverment
‘agency or official for failure to perform their function or duty as mandated in this Act;

Section 13. Creation of a National Implementation Plan Task Force. - There is hereby orealed a National
Implementation Plan Task Force (NIPTF) which shall have the principal task to design a National Implementation
Plan for achieving the policies and enabling provisions of this Act. The Task Force shall be headed by the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall have the following composition:

a) The Secretary of he Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Chairman
b) The Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology - Member
0) The Secretary of the Department of Health = Member
4d) The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry - Member
@) The Secretary of the Department ofthe Interior and Local Govemment - Member


4) The Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs ~ Member
9) Three (3) Representatives from NGOs and POs with proven ten years
experience in environmental protection advocacy and work - Members

Section 14. Period to finish the implementing design and IRR. - The NIPTF shall finish the design of the NIP,
including is Implementing Rules and Regulations, within six months after the effectivity ofthis Act. A copy of the NIP
shall be submitted to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee for this Act

Section 15. Further amendments to RA 6969.

1) Section 4 (b) of RA 6969 is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 4. Objectives - The Objectives of this Act are:

(b) to prohibit and monitor the importation, manufacture, processing, handling, storage, transportation,
sale, distribution, use and disposal of chemical substances and mixtures that present unreasonable tisk or
injuty to health orto the environment in accordance with national policies and intemational commitments;

2) Section 13 (a) of RA 6969 is hereby amended lo read as follows:
Section 13. Prohibited Acts ~ The following acts and omissions are considered unlawful

). Knowingly importing or manufacturing chemicals, chemical mixtures or chemical products which
are prohibited under this Act or knowingly using chemical substance or mixture which is imported,
processed or distributed in violation of this Act or: implementing rules and regulations or orders;

3) Section 14 a) (i) of RA 6969 is hereby amended to read as follows:
Section 14, Criminal Offenses and Penalties —

@) () The penalty of imprisonment of six (6) months and one (1) day to six (6) years and one (1) day and a
fine ranging from Five Thousand (P5,000) Pesos to Fifteen Thousand Pesos (P15,000) shall be
imposed any person who violates Section 13 a) to c) ofthis Act and such person shall not be covered
by the Probation Law. If the offender isa foreigner, he or she shall be deported from the Philippines and
barred from any subsequent enty into the Philippines after serving his or her sentence.

4) Section 15 of RA 6969 is hereby amended to read as follows:

Section 15, Administrative Fines, ~In all cases of violations of this Act, including violations of implementing
fules and regulations which have been duly promulgated and published in acoordanoa with Section 12 of
this Act, the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is hereby authorized to
impose a fine of not less than Fifteen Thousand Pesos (P15,000) but not more than Seventy-five
Thousand Pesos (P75,000) upon any person or business enterprise with a capital of less than P500,000
found guity thereof. If the violator is a business enterprise 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). The administrative fines imposed and collected
by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall acorue to a special fund fo be administered
by the Department exclusively for projects and research activities related to improving the control and
‘management of toxic substances and hazardous wastes,

Section 16. Joint Congressional Oversight Committee. ~ The House Committee on Ecology and the Senate
Committee on Ecology are hereby constituted as a Joint Congressional Oversight Committee for this Ac. The
‘committee shall meet once every six months or as the need arises to monitor and review the implementation of this
Act,

Section 17. Separability clause. - if any part or provision of this Act is declared void or unconstitutional, the
remaining provisions thereof not affected thereby shall remain in full foroe and effect.

Section 18. Repealing clause. - All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders and issuances, and rules and
regulations which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 19. Effectivity clause. - This Act shall take effect after fifleen (15) days following ils publication in the
Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation.