Part of the Canadian trash that officials say was illegally shipped to Manila years ago ended up in a landfill in Capas, Tarlac province, in this July 2, 2015, photo. (Photo from Metro Clark Waste Management Corp.)
MANILA, Philippines — The garbage illegally dumped in the Philippines will be shipped back to Canada as soon as all the garbage containers have been fumigated, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.
In a tweet on Saturday, Locsin posted photos of the containers, noting that 20 containers had already been disinfected.
“20 fumigated, 40 GARBAGE containers plus to go. Now joint US-Philippine ops will shut down Subic and stop fumigation. Hey! Fumigators are not getting in your way,” Locsin wrote in a tweet on Saturday.
Locsin also urged the Department of National Defense and United States Embassy in the Philippines to continue the operations in Subic and not stop the fumigation process.
20 fumigated, 40 GARBAGE containers plus to go. Now joint US-Philippine ops will shut down Subic and stop fumigation. Hey! Fumigators are not getting in your way. Appealing to both to let fumigation continue. @USEmbassyPH @dndphl. pic.twitter.com/EaYzrfjuvM
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) May 24, 2019
On April 23, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to forcibly return the garbage back to Canada if Canadian officials would not take their trash back on May 15.
READ: WHAT WENT BEFORE: Canadian trash shipment
However, the Candian government failed to meet the deadline and notified the Philippines that it would take the trash by the end of June.
READ: Canadian gov’t vows to repatriate garbage by June
Duterte then rejected the offer and ordered the trash to be shipped back immediately. He also said the Philippines would shoulder the cost.
READ: Palace rejects Canada offer to ship back trash by end June
More than 100 containers of household garbage arrived in Manila from Ottawa, Canada between 2013 and 2014.
Gov’t not comatose
Meanwhile, following the shipment of garbage to the Philippines from Australia, Locsin assured the public that the government was not “comatose” as it would not repeat the same mistakes it did in the case of the Canadian trash.
“Another one but this time we won’t drop the ball as we did with the Canadian shipment which Canada agreed to take back but we never got back to it on that. Things are different now; government is not comatose,” Locsin said in another tweet.
Another one but this time we won't drop the ball as we did with the Canadian shipment which Canada agreed to take back but we never got back to it on that. Things are different now; government is not comatose. https://t.co/koStTjozMn
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) May 24, 2019
The Foreign Affairs chief was referring to containers with garbage from Australia that were put on hold in Mindanao Container Terminal in Misamis Oriental.
Malacañang vowed that it would send the garbage back to Australia.
READ: Australia trash ‘offends’ Philippines
(Editor: Alexander T. Magno)