By Charmaine A. Tadalan, Reporter

THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday directed recalled ambassadors and consuls to return to Canada following the shipment of the waste containers.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. earlier recalled those officials after the Canadian government failed to meet the May 15 deadline on the shipment set by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

“To our recalled posts, get your flights back. Thanks and sorry for the trouble you went through to drive home a point,” Secretary Locsin said in a social media post, Friday.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma reported the waste containers, which were loaded on MV Bavaria beginning Thursday afternoon, have been pulled out of the port, Friday.

“Finally, the containers of garbage transported from Canada and stored at the Subic Bay Freeport for several years now have been pulled out as of today, May 31, 2019,” Lawyer Eisma said in a statement, issued in her official Facebook page.

“A total of 69 garbage-laden containers — 67 of which have been in Subic for the past few years, and 2 recently brought in from Manila — were loaded onto MV Bavaria, a Liberian-flagged container ship commissioned to transport the containers back to Canada.”

The DFA reported the shipment was accomplished in cooperation with the Department of Transportation, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Embassy of Canada in the Philippines, and the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI).

Mr. Locsin said the ICTSI waived all costs on land, while the Canadian government shouldered the shipment cost, amounting to P10 million.

This development resulted from President Duterte’s threat to wage war against Canada if the waste containers, which had been in the country for six years, remain in the Philippines.

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