(Eagle News) — The Office of the Ombudsman has found probable cause to charge a Department of Environment and Natural Resources official over the Canada trash mess.
In a statement, the Ombudsman said Undersecretary Juan Miguel Cuna, who was also found guilty of simple misconduct and ordered suspended without pay for three months, will face charges for violation of Section 3(e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act after it was found he “acted with gross inexcusable negligence when he issued a Registry Certificate in favor of Chronic Plastics despite the insufficient details in its Importer Registry Sheet” when he was the Environmental Management Bureau director.
Chronic Inc. was the Canadian-based company that exported several shipments of container vans declared as plastic scrap materials but were later found to contain trash.
The shipments arrived in July 2013 and August 2013.
They were declared abandoned after it was discovered the company exported them without securing import entries.
The EMB also subjected the shipments to confiscation and seizure proceedings after declaring the trash could no longer be recycled.
“Without the necessary information, the EMB cannot sufficiently make a determination that Chronic Plastics is capable of recycling materials to be imported. However, despite this, respondent Cuna still approved Chronic Plastic’s application for registration,” the Ombudsman said.
The Ombudsman also noted Cuna issued six Importation Clearances to Chronic Plastics “despite an existing Notice of Violation dated 05 September 2013 for importing heterogeneous and assorted plastic materials in violation of DENR Administrative Order No. 1994-28.”
