THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) order to recall top Philippine embassy officials in Canada was done to force the Canadian government to make good on its promise to ship back as soon as possible the 69 containers containing misdeclared garbage, Malacanang said on Thursday.
While the delay was attributed to the processing of some documents, Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo expressed the Palace’s displeasure after Canada failed to meet the May 15 deadline of the Philippine government.
“The order of the recall is to persuade them to make it fast. The more the delay, the more personnel will be coming back,” said Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo in a briefing on Thursday.
The Palace statement came a day after Malacanang said the President can tolerate a slight delay for maybe about 1 to 3 weeks.
However, Panelo reiterated on Thursday its earlier threat that it will not hesitate to cut ties with Canada over the garbage row.
“That recall shows that we are very serious in asking them to get back their garbage. Otherwise, we’re gonna sever relations with them,” Panelo said.
Although Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. this month accused a Department of Finance (DOF) functionary of trying to delay the shipping out of the garbage, Panelo said it was Canada that should be blamed for the delay.
Nonetheless, Panelo said the Overseas Filipino Workers have nothing to worry about as the government will always be looking out for their interest.
“I don’t think there will be a problem with that because those who are there are legal and they (Canada) also need our overseas [workers],” he said.
“It goes without saying we’re always protective of the overseas workers,” he added.
The Canadian government earlier made a commitment to shoulder expenses to ship out all the 69 waste containers dumped in the country five years ago in what was described as a purely private transactions between Canadian and Filipino businessmen.
Manila has already filed diplomatic protests with Ottawa several times to get back their shipload of garbage since the waste was discovered to contain diapers and other useless and health-threatening trash, and not simply electronic refuse.
The Canadian government has since said they had no hand in the shipment as it was a commercial transaction.
Last month, the President ordered the DOF to return the hazardous waste back to Canada immediately or else he would do it himself.