Cargo ship arrives in Philippines, will transport 69 containers of garbage back to Canada

Cargo ship arrives in Philippines, will transport 69 containers of garbage back to Canada
Aaron Favila The Associated Press May 30, 2019

A cargo ship arrived in a northern Philippine port on Thursday to transport 69 containers of garbage back to Canada that officials say were shipped illegally to the Philippines, one of two Southeast Asia countries that have protested being treated like dumpsites by wealthier nations.

Administrator Wilma Eisma of Subic Bay freeport said the garbage will be loaded on the M/V Bavaria starting Thursday night and then be taken to Vancouver.

Environmental activists welcomed the development and sailed in Subic Bay on a small outrigger with a streamer reading, “Philippines: not a garbage dumping ground!”

President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened to forcibly ship back the trash, which officials said was shipped to the Philippines in 2013 to 2014 and falsely declared as recyclable plastic scraps. The Philippine government recalled its ambassador and consuls in Canada earlier this month over Ottawa’s failure to comply with a May 15 deadline to take back the waste.

“I think the message that we’re sending to the world is that we will not be a pushover and, moreover, that the president is really somebody to reckon with,” said Eisma, who was appointed by Duterte in 2016 to head the freeport northwest of Manila which used to be one of the largest American military bases outside of the U.S. mainland.