DFA chief Locsin says recalled PHL diplomats to return to Canada


Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. On Friday ordered top Filipino diplomats to return to their posts after tons of Canadian waste were shipped back to Canada.
Manila's ambassador to Ottawa and consuls were recalled this month over Canada's failure to heed a government deadline on May 15 to take back the garbage, which has rotted in Philippine ports for several years and has sparked diplomatic protests.


"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 Twitter.
The garbage issue had been the most intense diplomatic conflict between the two countries in recent years.
On Friday, 69 containers of trash from Subic Bay, Olongapo in Zambales were loaded overnight on the container ship M/V Bavaria, which will transport it to the Canadian port city of Vancouver.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier threatened to ship back the waste through a private company and will leave it within Canadian territorial waters if it will refuse to receive the garbage. — RSJ, GMA News

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