Philippines gives Canada one week to take garbage back or they will 'declare war'
Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte threatens to 'declare war' against Canada if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fails to remove tons of trash previously shipped to Manila.
Canada has agreed to pay to re-export the waste it shipped to the Philippines back home, but "bureaucratic red tape" is slowing down the process, according to Filipino officials.
The North American country said they'd pay to return their trash, but "the Canadian government has slowed down the process," the Philippine Department of Finance said in a news release on Sunday.
The Philippines set a deadline of May 15 and prepared the trash for shipment by that date. The Canadian government, however, "informed that it might take weeks for them to arrange the necessary documents from their end" that would hinder them from meeting the upcoming deadline, Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said.
Between 2013 and 2014, Canada shipped more than 100 containers of household trash, including plastic bottles and bags, newspapers and used adult diapers to the Philippines. Officials have said the shipments of waste were misdeclared by a private firm as recyclable plastic scraps.
State officials said that the Asian nation is "prepared to return 69 container vans" of the garbage that was discarded in the Philippines.
According to the Department of Finance, Canada’s Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Affairs Donald Bobiash sent a letter dated April 24 that confirmed the Great White North would pay for the costs "and make necessary arrangements to bring the waste materials" back to Canada.
A Global Affairs Canada spokesperson confirmed to CTV News that Canada agreed to cover the costs, but would not discuss other information.
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Teddy Locsin Jr., the Filipino Secretary of Foreign Affairs, tweeted on Tuesday that Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte "expects the garbage to be seaborne by May 15. That expectation will be met or else..."
Duterte recently threatened to "declare war" against Canada if they failed to remove the garbage, and also threatened to throw it on Canada's beaches. A spokesperson for the president said the comments from Duterte were "figures of speech" and an "expression of outrage."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.