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Palace: Canada to shoulder expenses for shipping out trash


Canada has committed to pay for the expenses in repatriating the tons of garbage that were illegally sent to the Philippines several years ago, Malacañang said Tuesday.

The issue of Canadian garbage was tackled during the monthly Cabinet meeting on Monday that was presided by President Rodrigo Duterte, according to his spokesperson Salvador Panelo.

“On the issue of garbage from Canada, the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources noted that the Canadian government is committed to shoulder all the expenses to ship out all the 69 waste containers,” Panelo said in a statement.

“The President is firm that we are not garbage collectors, thus he ordered that the Philippines will no longer accept any waste from any country,” he added.

Duterte said on April 23 that he will declare war against Canada if it refused to take back the tons of garbage that were shipped to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014.

Panelo later said Duterte’s threat was just a figure of speech although he reiterated that Canada should retrieve its trash or else the Philippines will send them back.

The Canadian Embassy in Manila previously said that a joint technical working group, consisting of officials from both countries, is “examining the full spectrum of issues related to the removal of the waste with a view to a timely resolution.”

Canada did not say when it will take back the trash but Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said on May 1 that the waste “will be on ship in 15 days.” —KG, GMA News

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