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‘Declare war’: Filipino President Duterte gives Canada one week to take trash back

'Declare war': Filipino President Duterte gives Canada one week to take trash back | iNFOnews.ca
Filipino environmental activists wear a mock container vans filled with garbage to symbolize the 50 containers of waste that were shipped from Canada to the Philippines two years ago, as they hold a protest outside the Canadian embassy at the financial district of Makati, south of Manila, Philippines on May 7, 2015. The Canadian refuse rotting in the Philippines will likely find its way back across the Pacific Ocean in the very near future. A Canadian official speaking on background told the Canadian Press today there are "meaningful conversations" taking place between officials in both countries with the likely result being that Canada brings the containers home. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Aaron Favila THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Aaron Favila

OTTAWA – The president of the Philippines says if Canada doesn't take back tonnes of trash within the next week he will "declare war" and ship the containers back himself.

Filipino media outlets are reporting that Rodrigo Duterte made threats Tuesday about dozens of shipping containers filled with Canadian household and electronic garbage that has been rotting in a port near Manila for nearly six years.

More than 100 of the containers were shipped to Manila by a Canadian company in 2013 and 2014, improperly labelled as plastics for recycling.

Customs inspectors discovered they actually contained garbage, including soiled adult diapers and kitchen trash.

Canada has been trying for nearly six years to convince the Philippines to dispose of the garbage there even though a Filipino court ordered the trash returned to Canada in 2016.

Last week a British Columbia lawyer said in a legal brief that Canada is in violation of the international Basel Convention, which forbids developed nations from sending their toxic or hazardous waste to developing nations without informed consent.

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Marshall Jones

News is best when it's local, relevant, timely and interesting. That's our focus every day.

We are on the ground in Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Kamloops to bring you the stories that matter most.

Marshall may call West Kelowna home, but after 16 years in local news and 14 in the Okanagan, he knows better than to tell readers in other communities what is "news' to them. He relies on resident reporters to reflect their own community priorities and needs. As the newsroom leader, his job is making those reporters better, ensuring accuracy, fairness and meeting the highest standards of journalism.

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