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Philippines' Duterte orders trash shipped back to Canada

The file photo shows Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte giving a speech during the Ceremonial Confirmation of the Bangsamoro Organic Law Plebescite Law Canvass Results and Oath-taking of Transition Authority at the Malacanang palace in Manila on February 22, 2019. (By AFP)

Rodrigo Duterte has ordered his government to hire a private shipping company to send 69 containers of garbage back to Canada and leave them within its territorial waters if it refuses to accept the trash, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The Philippines as an independent sovereign nation must not be treated as trash by other foreign nation," Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told a media briefing.

Canada says the waste, exported to the Philippines between 2013 and 2014, was a commercial transaction not backed by the Canadian government.

Canada has since offered to take the rubbish back and the two countries are in the process of arranging the transfer.

But Canada missed a May 15 deadline set by Manila to take back the shipment, prompting the Philippines to withdraw top diplomats from Canada last week.

"Obviously, Canada is not taking this issue nor our country seriously. The Filipino people are gravely insulted about Canada treating this country as a dump site," Panelo said.

The Canadian embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Environmental activists, belonging to the waste and pollution watch group EcoWaste coalition, protest outside the Canadian embassy in Manila on May 21, 2019, to push the government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to speed up the removal of their garbage out of Manila and Subic Ports. (Photo by AFP)

The Philippines has made several diplomatic protests to Canada since a 2016 court ruling that the garbage be returned.

The consignments were labelled as containing plastics to be recycled in the Philippines but were filled with a variety of rubbish including diapers, newspapers and water bottles.

The issue is not the only one to strain ties between the two countries.

Last year, Duterte ordered the military to cancel a $233 million deal to buy 16 helicopters from Canada, after Ottawa expressed concern they could be used to fight rebels.

(Source: Reuters)


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