1,000 tons of waste from Canada to be shipped back on May 30–Locsin
Credit to Author: BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO| Date: Mon, 27 May 2019 17:49:55 +0000
FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Monday said all 69 container vans loaded with over 1,000 tons of garbage from Canada would be shipped back to Ottawa on May 30.
A Filipino firm imported the trash in 2013 and 2014.
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the recall of the Philippine diplomats in Canada until Ottawa retrieved all the trash it exported to Manila.
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, on May 22 announced that a contract has been awarded to Bolloré Logistics Canada “to safely bring the waste back to Canada as soon as possible.”
“All containers containing garbage cleaned and ready to go. Waiting for a couple of documents and routine permission from China for transshipment to Canada,” Locsin said on Twitter.
“(The) Departure (date for the trash) is May 30. Anybody gets in the way one way or another, I will screw you dry. Don’t provoke me,” Locsin said.
He said the public must extend their appreciation “to President (Rodrigo) Duterte for pushing the right button – believe me no one advised him – and to Canada for fully to get it done as he wanted: pronto.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) chief said that the garbage problem was “created under PNoy (former President Benigno Aquino 3rd); left to fester 4 years; solved by Duterte.”
“Also thank ICTSI’s (International Container Terminal Services) Ricky Razon for picking up our part of the tab. A cooperative effort of DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources), the Canadian Ambassador, the Canadian Foreign Minister – everyone who had nothing to do with legally letting the garbage in the first place then never lifting a finger to get it out,” Locsin said.
The Canadian embassy in the Philippines on May 23 posted in its Facebook page, the press statement of Canada’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change regarding the plan to retrieve the waste.
Canada said the firm would begin preparation for shipping in the coming days. The removal will be completed by the end of June, as the waste must be safely treated to meet Canadian safety and health requirements, it added.
Locsin had posted on Twitter pictures of “a Canadian overseeing the fumigation” of the container vans.
“Fumigation is going full speed. It will continue to be fumigated and rapidly loaded onto ship already contracted by Canada,” he said.
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