Locsin: Deadline for Canada garbage is May 15

As far as Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin is concerned, Canada is still expected to recall several container vans of its garbage in line with the deadline set by President Rodrigo Duterte, which is on May 15.

"The deadline is May 15. Period. I don't give two f**ks what DOF (Department of Finance) says...The President expects the garbage to be seaborne by May 15. That expectation will be met or else…," Locsin said in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

The secretary was responding to an article on the statement of the department, which indicated that the country is ready to return the garbage but the Canadian government might need more time to process the recall of the trash shipments and that they "might not meet the May 15 deadline."

"However, despite the Philippine government's readiness to reexport the wastes, the Canadian government informed that it might take weeks for them to arrange the necessary documents from their end and that they might not meet the May 15 deadline," Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero was quoted as saying in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

President Duterte has called on Canada to recall its trash sent to the Philippines six years ago, or risk "war" with the Philippines.

Just last week, Duterte threatened to dump the trash on Canadian beaches should the country fail to recall containers to recall it  by next week.

The president gave Canada until May 15 to ship the garbage out of the country.

For its part, Canada earlier said it is working with the local government for a "timely resolution" to remove the shipments from Philippine lands.

The DOF had also noted that the Canadian government remains committed to recall the shipments, covering the costs and making the necessary arrangements to do so.

"To do so, we will work with the Philippine government to arrange the necessary transfer of ownership of the materials in the 69 containers to Canada, so that arrangements can be made for their return to Canada," Canada's Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Affairs Donald Bobiash and Associate Assistant Deputy Minister Helen Ryan were quoted as saying in a letter to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The DOF also said the two sides have agreed that the DENR will shoulder the costs of inspection to determine the seaworthiness of the containers of waster whereas Canada will shoulder the costs of fumigation, as well as the transfer and trucking services. — BAP, GMA News