Authorities load Canadian trash on ship for re-exportation; media coverage barred

More than 1,000 tons of Canadian trash in Subic were already being loaded on the foreign ship M/V Bavaria on Thursday night for "re-exportation."

According to a report by Jun Veneracion in GMA News TV's State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, the cargo ship arrived at the New Container Terminal at 3 p.m.

It had to unload the commercial cargoes at the terminal first before the 69 containers of Canadian trash can be stacked in it.

The media, however, was not allowed by the Department of Foreign Affairs to document the event inside the terminal.

"Huwag po tayong mag-alala. The process is very transparent. Ang Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has a documentation team inside the terminal," .Wilma Eisma, chairperson and administrator of the SBMA, said.

The journalists did their best to get footage from afar.

As  the M/V Bavaria approached the terminal, some environmental activists boarded a small boat while carrying a banner displaying that the "Philippines is not a dump site."

Security personnel prevented the protesters from coming near the terminal.

The ship which will carry tons of garbage that were illegally exported to the Philippines in batches in 2013 and 2014 will leave for Vancouver, Canada at 5 a.m. on Friday.

It will take 21 days before the Canadian trash can reach its land of origin.

The Canadian government shouldered the re-exportation of the tons of trash after President Rodrigo Duterte took a strong position against the presence of such shipments.

This was not the first time that tons of illegally imported trash were shipped back to its country of origin as over 50 containers of garbage were also returned by the Philippines to South Korea earlier this year. —Dona Magsino/LDF, GMA News