The Philippine government yesterday warned of a possible diplomatic fallout with Canada if its government fails to immediately act on returning rubbish shipped to the country five years ago.
“The 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries will be put to naught if Canada will not act with dispatch and finality [to resolve] this undiplomatic episode to which we take outrage,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
“That it even considered performing such outlandish disposal of its garbage to an ally is dangerously disruptive of our bilateral relations,” he added.
More than 100 containers of waste from Canada – consisting of household trash, plastic bottles and bags, newspapers, and used adult diapers – arrived in the country in batches from 2013 to 2014. The rubbish was misdeclared as plastic scraps.
Canada had insisted then that the dumping was not supported by its government and that it was a private transaction. The Philippine government has repeatedly demanded that Canada take back the waste. While Canada has stressed that it was working to resolving the matter, no definite resolution has been forthcoming.
On Monday, President Rodrigo Duterte said he would ship the waste back to Canada even if it leads to war, stressing that he would not allow the Philippines to become a dumpsite. The Canadian Embassy in Manila said that a joint technical working group was already “examining a full spectrum of issues relating to the removal of the waste with a view to a timely resolution.”
President Rodrigo Duterte
