Trader convicted over hazardous waste imports from Canada

The Department of Justice (DOJ) secured the conviction of an entrepreneur for illegally importing hazardous waste materials from Canada.

This as the DOJ reaffirmed its commitment to uphold environmental justice in the country.

In a decision penned by Acting Presiding Judge Marlo A. Magdoza-Malagar on 26 August 2026, the Manila City Regional Trial Court (RTC) found the business owner of Chronic Plastics guilty of aiding and facilitating the importation of hazardous wastes stuffed in ten container vans that arrived at the Port of Manila on 23 June 2013.

Initially declared as compressed plastic scrap, the shipment was found to contain mixed, unsorted, and heterogeneous plastic materials and allegedly entered the country without the requisite clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

During the proceedings, evidence showed discrepancies between the shipment's declared contents and the materials discovered during inspection.

The accused was sentenced to 12 years and one day to 20 years of imprisonment and ordered to pay a ₱1 million fine, with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency, for violating Section 13(d) of Republic Act No. 6969, or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990.

On the other hand, the court acquitted the other two co-accused in the case, both customs brokers, ruling that the prosecution failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt with the evidence showing that their involvement was limited to facilitating the release of the shipments, with insufficient proof that they knew of or participated in the loading of the prohibited waste materials.

“Real Justice for All means not only upholding the rights of every person, but includes protecting our environment by holding accountable those who exploit or abuse it for selfish gains,” Justice Secretary Fredderick A. Vida stressed.

Vida likewise, commended Assistant State Prosecutor Christine Fatima V. Estepa for the successful prosecution of the case.