SUBIC BAY, Philippines – The arrival on Thursday at Subic in Zambales of a vessel sent to pick up containers with garbage from Canada has put an end to a five-year to-and-fro that frayed the long-standing bilateral relations between the Philippines and Canada.
MV Bavaria, a Liberian-flagged container vessel, docked at the New Container Terminal-1 in the Subic Bay Freeport on Thursday afternoon to pick up 69 container vans loaded with garbage from Canada.
The ship was set to sail for Canada via Kaoshiung early Friday, March 31.
The journey to Vancouver was expected to take 20 long days — but a short journey, compared to the saga that marred relations between the two countries, with the tensions capped by Manila’s pullout of its top diplomats from Ottawa.
Over the past five years, Canada had insisted on playing it by the book, saying the government could not intervene because the export of the garbage was a purely commercial transaction between private parties.
While wowing Filipinos with his charm during the 2015 Apec meetings in Manila, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had sidestepped the garbage question.
President Duterte, however, decided last month enough was enough, and gave Canada an ultimatum to take out its garbage, or he would commission a ship to bring the containers back to Canada.
Last week, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. ordered the recall of Manila’s ambassador and several key officials from the Philippine Embassy in Canada, signalling the seriousness of Manila’s intent.