BOC has until May 15 to return Canada trash

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has until May 15 to ship Canadian garbage back to its country of origin.

BOC spokesman Erastus Sandino Austria yesterday said they received orders from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III to return the containers of trash back to Canada by May 15.

Austria added they are in the process of making arrangements for the containers of waste, consisting of household trash, diapers, electronic garbage and non-recyclable waste, to be returned to Canada.

“We are doing everything now to make this possible,” the BOC official said.

The Department of Finance gave the order to the BOC after President Duterte said he would declare “war” on Canada if it would not take back its garbage.

The Canadian government responded by saying that it is working to resolve the issue, as the shipment was a contract between private parties.

A total of 103 containers of garbage arrived in several batches at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) from 2013 to 2014.

Out of the 103 containers, it was reported that trash from 34 have been buried in a landfill in Tarlac. The rest of the containers filled with garbage are temporarily stored at the Port of Subic and the MICP.

In earlier news reports, in one of the batches of garbage that consisted of 50 containers, the shipment was reportedly misdeclared to contain homogenous plastic scraps, or one kind of plastic, that was later found to be filled with heterogenous or an assortment of scrap plastic materials.

The shipment was consigned to Chronic Plastics, a company based in Valenzuela City, while the shipper was listed as Chronic Inc. in Ontario.

‘Figure of speech’

Meanwhile, Malacañang yesterday sought to downplay Duterte’s statement that he was ready to declare war on Canada over the garbage sent to the Philippines, saying it was just a “figure of speech.”

Last week, Duterte ordered the BOC to return to Canada the garbage shipped to the Philippines six years ago, saying he was ready to declare war on Ottawa if the issue is not acted upon.

The President continued his tirades against the Canadian government last Sunday as he threatened to dump garbage on a Canadian beach if the waste is not returned to Ottawa this week.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte’s statements about waging war and throwing garbage on a beach should not be taken literally, but his demand to send the trash back to Canada was serious.

“It was just a figure of speech. But the trash should be returned,” Panelo said in a press briefing.

Asked if he thought it irresponsible of Duterte to deliver the remarks, Panelo replied: “No, why would it be irresponsible. If the garbage has been in the country for years, would you not deliver such statement?”

“That’s an expression of outrage, couched in a very strong term,” he added.

Panelo could not say what triggered Duterte’s tirades against Canada but claimed that the issue really made him angry. Panelo said the waste has been in the Philippines for years but nothing was done to send them back to Canada.

“I don’t think any country would want to trigger another world war because all of us will be annihilated. It will lead to a nuclear war. Diplomatic negotiations can resolve whatever conflict,” he said.

Despite the President’s tough talk, Panelo said the decades-old ties between the Philippines and Canada would not be severed because of the garbage controversy.

“I said it would be disruptive. I did not say it would be severed. It will be an irritant,” the spokesman added. – With Alexis Romero