The Philippines has called for the compliance with the international law on the protection of the environment following reports Japan planned to release contaminated water into sea.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said he hopes that nations, including those behind the pollution, would follow the law's principles, and pay for the damage.
"I can only repeat the principles of International Environmental Law that I hope all countries will comply with," Roque said during a televised press briefing Thursday, April 15, referring to the set of principles that aims to curb pollution and depletion of natural resources.
"First principle is we are one ecosystem. Second principle is that we are interconnected and the third principle is that the polluter must pay," he added.
Japan earlier announced plans to dump more than a million tons of radioactive water from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean. The planned dumping of diluted water came more than a decade after the nuclear disaster.
Reports indicated the release of the water may start in two years with the entire process expected to take decades. Neighboring countries have already expressed concern over the dumping of wastewater from the nuclear power plant.