Duterte 'upset' by Canada's response on trash row

Referring to the consignment of illegal Canadian trash which has been in the Philippines for years now, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to dump the garbage in Canadian waters if Ottawa refuses to take it back.

A Spokesperson for Duterte said that the "uncompromising" leader is "upset" by Ottawa's "inordinate delay" in receiving the waste and missing an agreed deadline of May 15, according to Russian media outlet RT.

Mlla is willing to cover the expense to ship the waste through a private shipping company, the Spokesman Salvador Panelo added.

"Obviously, Canada is not taking this issue nor our country seriously," he said. He accused Canada of insulting Filipinos by treating their country as a "dumping ground".

The Spokesman further threatened that if Canada didn't take the waste back, Philippines would dump the trash around 12 nautical miles from Canada's shoreline.

"The Philippines is an independent sovereign nation (and) must not be treated like trash by other foreign nations. We hope this message resonates well with other countries of the world," he said.

A private Canadian company had shipped over 100 containers to the Philippines way back in 2013 and 2014, which contained around 2,450 tonnes of garbage.

Philippines authorities have alleged that the containers were wrongly marked as plastics meant for recycling, while in reality, they contain used adult diapers, kitchen, and hazardous waste.

In 2016, a Filipino court had ordered that half the containers must be shipped back to Canada, as per local legislation. Justin Trudeau, Canada's Prime Minister, however, argued that laws in his country forbade them from doing so.

Although Canada has amended its regulations ever since, action is yet to be taken by the Canadian side.

( With inputs from ANI )