While failing to ratify the Basel B

While failing to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment, the Philippine Senate however ratified the controversial Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) in 2008. JPEPA allows the importation of Japanese chemical, hospital and municipal wastes into the Philippines, bolstered by a zero tariff provision that seemed to serve as an incentive to engage in toxic waste trade.33 At the onset of the anti-JPEPA campaign, the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s editorial observed: “Going by the treaty, it seems that the Philippines is now positioning itself as a global waste dump.”34 The Basel Action Network warned: “The waste trade liberalization provisions of JPEPA… can alter the national and global legal landscape and abilities to implement the Basel Convention and its decisions.”35