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Agence France-Presse

The Philippines has recalled its ambassador to Canada, Manila’s foreign minister said on Thursday, in an escalation of a festering diplomatic row over tonnes of trash shipped to the Southeast Asian nation.
Ties have been deteriorating since a Canadian company sent around 100 shipping containers that included rotting rubbish wrongly labelled as recyclables to Philippine ports in 2013 and 2014.
Manila set a May 15 deadline for Canada to take the rotting trash back, after President Rodrigo Duterte berated Ottawa over the issue last month.
Canada has since said it is working to arrange for the containers’ return but has not said when exactly that might happen.
Five years on, Canada’s dumped garbage still causing a stink in Philippines
Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said letters recalling the ambassador and consuls to Canada have been sent and the diplomats would be in Manila “in a day or so”.
“Canada missed the May 15 deadline. And we shall maintain a diminished diplomatic presence in Canada until its garbage is ship-bound there,” Locsin wrote on Twitter.

Canada’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The garbage has strained ties between the two nations, which were already tested after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s questioned Duterte’s deadly drug crackdown.
Rodrigo Duterte threatens ‘war’ over waste dispute
Duterte bristles at any international criticism of his signature policy, which has seen police kill thousands of alleged addicts and pushers since 2016.
Last year Duterte cancelled the Philippine military’s US$235 million contract to buy 16 military helicopters from a Canada-based manufacturer after Ottawa put the deal under review because of the president’s human rights record.




During a speech in April, Duterte threatened to unilaterally ship the garbage back to Canada, saying “let’s fight Canada. I will declare war against them.”
Duterte frequently uses coarse language and hyperbole in speeches about opponents.
Following the comments, Canada offered to repatriate the waste and the Philippines said Ottawa would shoulder the expense of disposal. Manila’s Bureau of Customs said last week the Philippines was ready to send back the waste but Canada needed several more weeks to prepare documentation.
Some 69 shipping containers of trash remain after 34 others have already been disposed of in the Philippines, the finance ministry said.



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The Philippines

Philippines recalls ambassador to Canada as diplomatic rift over dumped rubbish deepens

Environmental activists rallying outside the Philippine Senate to demand containers filled with household rubbish be shipped back to Canada. Photo: AFP

epa07535543 Demonstrators hold placards and an image of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a protest at the Canadian Embassy in Makati, south of Manila, Philippines, 29 April 2019. The protest led by the Eco Wast Coalition group demanded the return of Canada's overstaying waste in the country one week after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte issued an ultimatum to the Canadian government. EPA-EFE/MARK R. CRISTINO

Ambassador Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. 9/26/2018 Photo: RTVM

Five years on, Canada’s dumped garbage is still causing a big stink in the Philippines

The Canadian rubbish had been falsely labelled as plastics for recycling. Photo: Alamy

epa05032478 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a press conference during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Manila, Philippines, 19 November 2015. The APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting runs from 18 to 19 November in Manila. US President Barack Obama on 18 November called for the swift implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), calling it the 'most progressive trade deal ever.' The TPP members cover about 40 per cent of the world's economies, and consist of Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the United States, Vietnam, Chile, Brunei, Singapore and New Zealand. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO

A protest held in Manila calls on Canada to repatriate its rubbish. Photo: Twitter

‘I’ll sail to Canada and dump their garbage there’: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatens ‘war’ over waste dispute

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival at Davao international airport in September. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 07, 2019 (FILES) In this file photo taken on March 07, 2019 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the media at the national press gallery in Ottawa, Ontario. - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on April 5, 2019, warned of the risk of interference by Russia in Canadian parliamentary elections scheduled for this fall. "We've seen over the past number of years an increase in the interference or the implication of foreign actors in democratic processes," Trudeau told a news conference in Toronto. (Photo by Lars Hagberg / AFP)

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Asia

Southeast Asia

A Canadian company sent about 100 shipping containers that included rotting rubbish wrongly labelled as recyclables to Philippine ports in 2013 and 2014
Canada has since said it is working to arrange for the containers’ return but has not said when exactly that might happen


A Canadian company sent about 100 shipping containers that included rotting rubbish wrongly labelled as recyclables to Philippine ports in 2013 and 2014


Canada

Diplomacy

Environment