Angry Manila recalls diplomats in Canada
May 16, 2019
PHILIPPINE diplomats in Canada were recalled yesterday in protest against Ottawa’s failure to get back its garbage from Manila.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. on Thursday morning tweeted “At midnight last night, letters for the recall of our ambassador and consuls to Canada went out. They are expected here 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 added.
The Secretary said the Department of Finance informed him that Canadian representatives did not show up in a meeting with Philippine Customs officials prompting Locsin to recall the diplomats assigned in Canada.
Earlier, the Canadian Embassy promised to “resolve the issue, including taking the waste back to Canada.”
From 2013 to 2014, more than a hundred container vans from Canada arrived in batches at the Port of Manila.
Initially declared to contain only plastic scraps, it was found to have non-recyclable plastics, household wastes and used adult diapers.
Comments