By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | Philippine News Agency
MANILA — After the departure of Canadian wastes from the port of Subic on Friday morning, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has withdrawn his order for the recall of the Filipino ambassador and consuls to Canada.
“To our recalled posts, get your flights back. Thanks and sorry for the trouble you went through to drive home a point,” Locsin said on his official Twitter account.
From 2013 to 2014, a Canadian company, Chronic Inc., exported containers labeled as recyclable plastics to two importers in the Philippines. It was later found out that these contained non-recyclable plastics, household wastes and used adult diapers.
Late in April, President Rodrigo R. Duterte gave Ottawa an ultimatum to take back its trash.
On May 16, letters for the recall of ranking Filipino envoys in Canada were issued after Ottawa missed the supposed deadline set by the government in pulling out their waste.
On Friday morning, the containers of garbage stored at the Subic Bay Freeport for several years have been finally pulled out and are now on a return voyage to Canada.
A total of 69 garbage-laden containers, 67 of which have been stored in Subic and two recently brought in from Manila, were loaded onto the commissioned container ship, MV Bavaria, according to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairperson Wilma Eisma.
