Canada disappointed by PHL decision to recall ambassador in garbage dispute

Canada's foreign ministry said it was "disappointed" by the Philippines' decision to withdraw its top diplomats after Ottawa missed a deadline to take back 69 shipping containers full of trash, but said it would continue to engage to resolve the issue.

"Canada has repeatedly conveyed to the Philippines government its commitment to promptly ship and dispose of the Canadian waste in the Philippines," the statement said. "We remain committed to finalizing these arrangements for the return of the waste to Canada."

The containers of waste from Canada were impounded by Philippine customs authorities in 2013 and left to rot in a landfill in Tarlac.

Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Canada with war and said he would personally escort the waste containers by sea back to Canada.

"We shall maintain a diminished diplomatic presence in Canada until its garbage is ship-bound there," Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said on Twitter on Thursday after the May 15 deadline expired. 

Legal barriers

Manila had conveyed its objection to the shipment to the Canadian government through diplomatic notes, but Canada has refused to take action, insisting it was not backed by its government and that it was a private transaction.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in 2017 that “legal barriers” prevented their government from taking them back.

“It is now theoretically possible to get it back but there are still a number of questions around: who will pay for, where the financial responsibility is, where the consequence are,” Trudeau had said at a news conference in Manila.

In its previous diplomatic notes, the Philippines urged the Canadian government to assist with the re-exportation of the containers.

The Philippines also called on Canada to “re-visit” its domestic regulations on the illegal export of waste to other countries and reminded it of its commitments under international treaties, specifically the Basel Convention.

The convention prevents the movement of hazardous waste between nations, specifically its transfer from developed to least developed states. — Reuters/ GMA News