Garbage, not terror keeps envoys away from Corregidor

The terror — of garbage, not the ideological kind — will keep away foreign diplomats from historic Corregidor island, which guards the entrance to Manila Bay.

The government has temporarily banned diplomats from visiting Corregidor pending clearing-up operations by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

The clean-up operations, however, are not connected to the terrorist threat that prompted the embassies of Canada and Australia to shut down, rather from the stinky heaps of garbage that dot the island’s coastline like a natural phenomenon.

Foreign Affairs assistant secretary for protocol office Jose Avito Zaide told Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina that they have temporarily suspended travel of the diplomatic community to Corregidor pending clean-up of the area.

Zaide said escorting diplomats to the popular destination — with garbage strewn all around — may reflect a negative image of the Philippines in the diplomatic community.

He made the remark as he requested the DILG to help in the clean-up of the island where US and Philippine soldiers made their last stand against invading Japanese Imperial Army forces in 1942.

The strategic location of Corregidor made it a formidable fortress that took several months for the Japanese to capture.

Wartime’s boon is peacetime’s bane, though, as its location has turned it into a natural depository of garbage thrown by coastal communities into the sea.

The DFA regularly escorts diplomats to the island to visit and see for themselves the ruins of war, including huge guns that have been preserved in the island.

Upon learning the sorry state of the island, Lina directed the local governments in Bataan and Cavite to help in the cleanup of accumulated garbage.

Lina said although the tourist facility is not directly under the control of local government units in the area, they are still obliged to help because the garbage originated from their localities.