Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIV!
Constitution Hills, Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS:
Third Regular Session

9207

HOUSE BILL

Introduced by REP. JULIETTE T. UY

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Our country is awash with millions of tons of solid, liquefied and toxic wastes. Our rivers,
lakes and seas are massively polluted by these wastes. Our cities, factories, and homes
produce garbage like there’s no tomorrow, We already have a lot of our own garbage that
need appropriate and immediate management.

‘The more garbage we produce, the shorter and more polluted our tomorrows will become.
We certainly need not import any more garbage.

‘The Members of this Congress have not been remiss in their duty. There are dozens of
pending bills and resolutions addressing the massive problems of solid waste management
and air pollution we face.

As we are all aware by now, at the Port of Tagoloan in Misamis Oriental, there still are over
5,000 tons of garbage yet to be returned to South Korea. Add to that the so-called municipal
waste — processed fuel from Australia and another shipment of electronic waste from Hong
Kong

‘The practice of other countries and companies overseas of sending their garbage to the
Philippines is an insult to all Filipinos and an affront to our laws.

District, Misamis Oriental


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

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
Third Regular Session

HOUSE BILL Nt S207

Introduced by REP. JULIETTE T. UY

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING A TOTAL BAN ON THE IMPORT AND EXPORT OF WASTES,
PROVIDING FOR MEANS FOR ITS ENFORCEMENT, APPROPRIATIONS, AND
FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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

Section 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Total Ban on the Import and Export
of Wastes Act of 2019.”

Section 2. Total Ban on Importation and Exportation of Wastes, Processed Wastes, and
Waste By-Products. It is hereby declared illegal for any person, groups of persons, business,
corporate entity, or government office to import or export any form and whatever amount of
waste, processed waste materials, waste by-products whether organic or inorganic and in
whatever form whether solid, liquid, liquefied, gaseous, or mixture of substances.

Imported cargoes declared as waste or misdeclared to conceal the true waste cargo or smuggled
into the country shall not be offloaded from any transport vessel and shall be immediately
ordered by port authorities to depart from the port and return the illegal cargo to its port of
origin, with all costs borne by the shipper.

The Department of Transportation, in coordination with the Department of Foreign Affairs, the
Bureau of Customs, and Maritime Industry Authority, shall take control off the seized vessel,
hire the services of competent and properly certified officers and crew, and return the seized
vessel to the port of origin of the contraband waste cargo,

Section 3. Environmental Protection Desk at all Ports of Entry. To enable the proper front
line enforcement of this Act, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
Department of Finance and the Department of Transportation shall jointly establish an
Environmental Protection Desk at every port of entry in the country to be manned 24 hours a
day and seven days a week by competent and adequately trained personnel.

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Section 4. Penalties. The relevant penal provisions of environment and customs law, including
but not limited to the following laws shall apply as penalties to violations of this Act:

(a) Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (Republic Act 9003);

(b) Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 (Republic Act 8749);

(c) Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 (Republic Act 9275);

(@ Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990
(Republic Act 6969); and,

(€) The Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (Republic Act 10863).

Transport vessels which refuse to comply with the lawful orders of port authorities to
immediately depart and not to offload the imported contraband waste cargo shall be seized and
all its officers, crew, and contraband shipment consignee shall be immediately arrested for
violation of this Act and of customs and environment protection laws, including but not to the
following:

The shipper of the imported contraband waste cargo shall be immediately permanently banned
from shipping or causing the transport of any cargo to the Philippines.

The freight forwarder of contraband waste cargo meant for export shall be immediately ordered
and compelled to return the shipment to its shipper. Non-compliance shall result in the
immediate ban of the freight forwarder from entry into any port of the country.

‘The Implementing Rules and Regulations of this Act shall include other penalties and fines as
may be deemed necessary.

Section 5. Implementing Rules and Regulations. The Departments of Transportation,
Environment and Natural Resources, Finance, Justice, and Foreign Affairs shall jointly craft,
adopt, and execute the Implementing Rules and Regulations of this Act within sixty (60) days
from its enactment into law.

Section 6. Appropriations. The annual budget necessary to implement this Act shall be
included in the regular annual general appropriations.

Section 7. Separability. If any provision or part of this Act is declared invalid or
unconstitutional, the remaining parts or provisions not affected shall continue to be in full force
and effect.

Section 8. Repealing Clause. - All laws, executive orders, and administrative orders or parts
thereof inconsistent with any provision of this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

Section 9. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication
in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation,

Approved,

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