In The Know: The Toxic Substances,

Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes

Control Act
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 According to a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) procedural manual on

toxic and hazardous waste management as mandated in the implementation rules for Republic Act
No. 6969, or the Toxic Substances, Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act:
Hazardous wastes are substances brought to the country without any safe commercial, industrial,
agricultural or economic usage.
Wastes are considered hazardous if they are listed under the Classification of Prescribed Hazardous
Wastes, which groups substances as wastes with cyanide, acid waste, alkali wastes, wastes with
inorganic chemicals, reactive chemical wastes, waste organic solvent, oil, containers, immobilized
wastes and organic chemicals.
Toxic wastes are substances that are poisonous and have carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic
effects on human or other life forms.
An inventory of chemical substances stored, imported, exported, used, processed, manufactured,
or transported in the country is maintained by the DENRs Environmental Management Bureau.
The list, called the Philippine Inventory of Chemicals and Chemical Substances, serves as a guide
for manufacturers, importers, distributors and users of chemicals in the conduct of their
business.Inquirer Research

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 Republic Act No. 6969 or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of
1990
Year of Enactment and ImplementationEnacted and Implemented in 1990PurposeControl of Toxic Substances and
Hazardous and Nuclear WasteControl AreaNationwideOverviewIt has been recognized that the public and the
environment are at risk in the use or exposure to chemicals as well as the long term damage brought about by
careless handling or disposal of hazardous wastes
To control, supervise and regulate activities on toxic chemicals and hazardous waste. Under this act importation,
manufacture, processing, handling, storage, transportation, sale, distribution, use and disposal of all unregulated
chemical substances and mixtures in the Philippines, as well as the entry even in transit, or storage and disposal
of hazardous and nuclear wastes are regulated.
FeaturesThe Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall be the implementing agency and shall be
assisted by the Inter-Agency Advisory Council
It provides for the regulation of all chemical substances that may pose threat to public health and the
environment through import, manufacture, sale, use, distribution, and disposal as well as the regulation of all
hazardous wastes from generation, transport, storage, re-use/recycling, treatment and disposal
Registration of the following is required to ensure that industrial economic growth is achieved in an
environmentally sound manner to effectively manage hazardous wastes in order to minimize human and
environmental impacts cause by industrial activities:
Hazardous wastes generators
Hazardous wastes treater
Hazardous wastes transporter

Violators shall be subject to fines, imprisonment, dismissal from office, confiscation and forfeiture chemical
substances and mixtures in favor of the government, deportation and barred from entry into the Philippines in
case of foreigner

Stricter toxic waste law eyed

ByMikas Matsuzawa, CNN Philippines
Updated 13:17 PM PHT Sun, August 2, 2015
Some lawmakers want a law to make it clear that the Philippines is not other countries' garbage can.
(CNN Philippines) Members of the House belonging to the Makabayan bloc want stricter toxic and hazardous wastes law in the country with this message in mind: The
Philippines is not other countries garbage can.
"Our laws are good and well intentioned but we have problems in implementation," Rep. Luz Ilagan of Gabriela Womens Party (GWP) said Monday (April 13).
Ilagan along with fellow GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus and Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna all from the progressive Makabayan bloc filed House Bill 5578 which seeks to amend
the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990 (RA 6969).
The amendments include the shipping of toxic military wastes out of the country and higher penalties, a media release posted on the House of Representatives site said Sunday
(April 12).
As provided under the bill, any nuclear or military waste produced while based in the country shall be shipped out to the homeland of the foreign military force, it explained.
Violations on Section 13 of the RA 6969 which deals with prohibited acts will also be raised from the previous range of P600 to P4,000 to P5,000 to P15,000.
The administrative fine that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) can impose will also be increased to a fine of not less than P15,000 but not more
than P75,000.
Ilagan argued that the amendments seek to improve an antiquated law.
He called P4,000 as "a measly sum" that could encourage a "culture of impunity."
"They can go on and continue the violation, she said.
Importation of garbage
Imported cargoes from Canada got attention in 2014 after aChange.orgpetition brought up how 50 40-foot container vans left at the Manila Port since 2013 has "garbage juice"
already leaking and posing a health hazard.
DENR, however, later declared the household garbage inside the cargoes as nontoxic.
Declaring it as not hazardous was the decision of the interagency committee created to deal with the issue, engineer Gerry Saez, head of the Hazardous Waste Management
Section of the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau, said.
The interagency committee is composed of the DENR, Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Bureau of Customs.
Saez added that even though not hazardous, the importation of the cargoes is against Annex II of the Basel Convention which deals with household wastes.
It was a case of misinformation on the part of the importer, he explained.
[The importer] declared it as plastic for recycling, Saez said. But upon inspection the DENR found that the cargoes contained household waste.
Right now, he said that resolving the issue involves diplomatic talks. But if the cargo could not be shipped back to Canada, DENR is looking at disposing the garbage in the
country as another option.
'Other cases'
This is not the first case of misdeclaring imported cargoes that contain garbage from other countries, according to Saez.
Ilagan pointed that other countries get away with sending waste-containing cargoes to the Philippines by taking advantage of the corruption in the country.
Related: Survey: Customs tops list of most corrupt Philippine agencies
They think of us as a garbage can. They belittle us. They take advantage of the corruption.