Liputan6.com, Manila – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the hiring of a private shipping company to send 69 containers of waste to Canada.
Duterte threatened to leave the containers in Canadian waters if the country did not take back the waste sent to the Philippines.
“The Philippines, as a sovereign and independent country, should not be treated like trash by other foreign countries,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo was quoted as saying by The Guardian on Thursday (5/22/2019).
In response to this, Canada said the waste exported to the Philippines between 2013 and 2014 was a commercial transaction carried out without government approval.
So far, the Canadian government has agreed to take back the waste, the two countries are in the process of organizing their return. However, Canada did not meet the deadline set by the Philippines, May 15, to remove the shipment of waste.
As a warning, the Philippine government withdrew all of the country’s top diplomats from Canada last week.
“Clearly, Canada is not taking this issue or our country seriously. The Filipino people are deeply insulted by the fact that Canada is treating this country like a dump,” Panelo said.
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