Canada ships back trash on May 30 — Palace
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Wed, 29 May 2019 12:19:53 +0000
THE trash Canada dumped on the Philippines years ago will finally be shipped back on Thursday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.
Guevarra, who is officer-in-charge while President Rodrigo Duterte is in Japan to attend the Nikkei Conference, said that the garbage, to be loaded on ships owned by three companies, was scheduled to reach Vancouver on the same day, their time.
He said the Canadian government would shoulder the cost of the shipment, estimated at P10 million.
Before Canada offered to take the trash back, Duterte ordered local shipping companies to carry the load and the cost.
About 1,000 tons of garbage, declared as scrap plastics, were sent to the Philippines from Canada in 2013 and 2014.
Garbage from 26 containers were dumped on a private landfill in Tarlac in 2015, resulting in protests from environmentalists.
Duterte repeatedly raised the issue with Canada, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who was in the country in 2017.
But despite this, Canada refused to take action, prompting Duterte to threaten the North American country with war and to dump the trash on its beaches if it would not take back the garbage by May 15.
The Philippines recalled its envoys to Canada after the deadline passed and directed all department secretaries and heads of agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations and government financial institutions to refrain from taking official trips there and “reduce official interaction with representatives of the Canadian government.” RALPH VILLANUEVA
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