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to the Government of Austria
to cancel the "toxic
debt" of the Government of the Philippines
from the now-defunct,
life-hazard Medical Waste Project
On 23 May 2001 , countries all over
the world signed the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty formed to
protect human health and the environment from the harmful impacts
caused by persistent organic pollutants (POPs). The Convention
identifies waste incinerators as significant sources of four of the
initial list of 12 POPs being targeted for reduction and elimination.
Signatories to the Convention, including Austria and the Philippines , agreed to prohibit
and/or take the legal and administrative measures to prevent the
production, importation and exportation of POPs.
In 1997, prior to the
Stockholm Convention, the Austrian government inked an ATS199.96
million (equivalent to PhP503.65 million) loan agreement with the
Philippine government for the Austrian Medical Waste Project, which
included the purchase of medical waste incinerators from Austria for
the use of 26 government hospitals under the control of the Department
of Health (DOH) in the Philippines.
The loan agreement,
endorsed by the Austrian Embassy and signed by Bank Austria and the Philippine
Department of Finance, provided for a repayment scheme of 24 equal
semi-annual installments with an interest rate of four percent every
year beginning 2002 until 2014. The annual debt payment for the project
is roughly US$2 million per year.
However, the
incinerators brought to the Philippines in 1997 by the Austrian
supplier, Vamed Engineering, were substandard, not even measuring up to
the emission levels the supplier guaranteed. A subsequent comprehensive
emission test conducted by the DOH and the World Health Organization
showed that the incinerators emitted unconscionable amounts of
pollutants, with dioxin and furan emissions, in one case, exceeding the
Philippine environmental standards by eight hundred seventy times.
In 2003, all 26
incinerators were mothballed to comply with the provision of the
Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 banning the use of medical waste
incinerators. Despite this, the Philippine government continues to pay
US$2 million (PhP100 million) a year to the Austrian government for the
medical waste project. Payments for the incinerator loan this year
account for 25 percent of the Department of Health's budget on
addressing backlog in infrastructure, and are almost equal to what it
will spend for all local health programs and the prevention of emerging
diseases.
Two to three poor
Filipino patients share one hospital bed in many of the government
hospitals, seven out of 10 Filipinos die especially in the rural areas
without seeing a doctor or a health worker. The annual PhP100 million
debt service could have been used to reduce child mortality, avert
maternal deaths and combat TB, malaria and other diseases; expand other
health programs; purchase medicines and hospital beds; hire additional
health workers; or, ecologically process or treat infectious or
pathological waste without incineration.
We, the undersigned,
appeal to the sense of justice of the government and people of the Republic of Austria to cancel its ATS199.86
million loan for the Austrian Medical Waste Project in the Philippines .
We also urge the
Austrian government to return, in any way possible, to the Filipino
people the cumulative total payments made by the Philippine government
so far, notwithstanding other dues that may be
accorded to the Filipino people in relation to damages.
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