Duterte threatens Canada with war over illegal garbage

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to go to war with Canada over the long-standing issue of illegal garbage, which was shipped to Manila by a Canada-based company in 2013 and 2014.

"I'll give a warning to Canada maybe next week that they better pull that (trash) out. We'll declare war against them. We can handle them anyway," Duterte said, according to CNN.

He further warned that he'd sail to Canada to return the garbage himself, adding: "I cannot understand why they are making us a dump site...The garbage is coming home."

The private Canadian company had shipped over 100 containers to 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.

"Canada is strongly committed to collaborating with the government of the Philippines to resolve this issue and is aware of the court decision ordering the importer to ship the material back to Canada," the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines said in response to Duterte's statement, according to Sputnik.

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, the action is yet to be taken by the Canadian side.