THE House probe on Verde Soko's illegal shipment of tons of imported garbage from South Korea to Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental will resume on Friday, March 15, at a hotel in Cagayan de Oro City.
Misamis Oriental board member Gerardo Sabal said he received a personal invitation from the House committees on good government and public accountability and committees on ecology and local government. It can be recalled that he led the local investigation at the Provincial Board last year.
The second round of joint deliberation will tackle the "Resolution requesting the committee on ecology to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the illegal entry and dumping of hazardous plastic garbage from South Korea in the Phividec Industrial Estate in Tagoloan town."
The joint committees will also discuss the "privilege speech of Representative Frederick Siao about the shipment of 51 container vans of garbage from South Korea to the port of Tagoloan delivered during the plenary session last November 12."
Sabal said he will attend the congressional hearing to represent the board being the first body who exposed the illegal importation of Korean waste.
He also said he will present to the body the actions taken by the Provincial Board and the inter-agency task force composed of the Bureau of Customs (BOC), environment department, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), among others.
"We will reiterate how we exposed the problem and what were the actions taken (after that), like we were able to send back initial shipment of the garbage," he said.
The provincial lawmaker also said he will ask the body to prioritize the return of the remaining bulk of garbage before looking into who or what agency is responsible for the entry of the garbage.
"The priority now is how can we send back the remaining garbage, and the next step would be investigating how these wastes were able to enter the province, and identifying who are responsible in allowing it to enter here," he said.
Sabal said he and the Provincial Board is already gathering all the documents which will be presented to the House probe.
"I don't know if Governor Bambi (Yevgeny Emano) and Vice governor (Joey) Pelaez were also given invitations but on my part, I received a personal invitation (from the House of Representative Committees)," he said. (Alwen Saliring)