SENATOR PIA: "JAPAN'S SIDE NOTE AGAINST TOXIC
WASTE IS MOST WELCOME... BUT IS IT LEGALLY BINDING?"

Senator Pia S. Cayetano has welcomed the reported exchange of notes between the Philippines and Japan assuring that the latter won't export toxic waste to the country under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

At the same time, however, Cayetano expressed concern about the legal significance of the May 24 understanding between Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, as she raised questions on whether a mere side note was enough to amend JPEPA's controversial provisions on toxic wastes.

"Definitely, Japan's renewed assurance should be viewed as a positive step toward addressing the controversies surrounding JPEPA," said Cayetano, who chairs the Senate committee on environment and natural resources.

"But is it the proper procedure to amend a bilateral agreement through a mere exchange of diplomatic notes?" asked Cayetano, a lawyer.

"The understanding itself has not been made public but was only carried by news reports and government press releases, and so we could only wonder as to what it really contains, as well as its legal significance."

"I think it would be premature to conclude that the understanding puts a closure to the toxic waste issue, even as the Senate has yet to deliberate the contents of the main agreement itself," she stressed.

Echoing the views of environmental groups, Cayetano is hoping that the May 24 understanding is not a mere PR tool aimed at making JPEPA more acceptable to senators and Filipinos.

She said that a more definite and legally binding act would be for both governments to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment which prohibits the movement of toxic waste for disposal or recycling from rich to poor countries.

"Ratifying the Basel Ban Amendment would provide greater protection to the Philippines from becoming a dumping ground for toxic wastes, not only from Japan, but also from other industrial countries," she stressed.

(Note: The Basel Convention restricts the movement of toxic waste from industrialized to poor countries, while the Basel Ban Amendment plugs the convention's loopholes by prohibiting the practice of trading toxic waste whether for disposal or recycling. The Philippines and Japan are both signatories to the Basel Convention, but have yet to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment.)

Cayetano has conducted a series of workshops and consultations with environmental groups, including the US-based Basel Action Network (BAN), Ecowaste Coalition and Greenpeace in studying the provisions of the JPEPA.