“THAT’S prohibited by Philippine laws. That’s also prohibited under the language of JPEPA”.

House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. thus dismissed the rumor or suggestion that Japanese toxic wastes will be dumped into the Philippines under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

De Venecia reacted sharply to the earlier alarm raised by Philippine environmentalists that the agreement has a proviso that would allow the dumping of Japanese wastes into the Philippines.

There is no truth to that, de Venecia intoned. He said the JPEA or the special trade agreement between Japan and the Philippines is covered by the Basel convention which sways that wastes materials are covered by laws of both countries—Japan and the Philippines.

Fears have been raised recently that the Philippines might be swamped by wastes coming from Japan as soon as the JPEPA is carried out.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo earlier assured that JPEPA would be sent to the Senate for ratification when she was in Hong Kong on the last leg of her visit to China last week. She and former Japan Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signed the JPEPA while they were in Finland Sept. 9 for the Asia-Europe Meeting. (PNA)