Duterte to Western countries: ‘Do not make us a garbage dump’

MANILA—President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday warned Western countries not to treat the Philippines as their trash bin.

"I’d like to say to the Western countries, do not make us a garbage dump," he said during the inauguration of a solar power project in Romblon.

"You might be more powerful, more and more developed and rich. But your wealth does not translate into something like making other nations . . . api-api."

The Philippines recently returned a shipload of garbage illegally exported to the country by Canada, a few years after the shipment arrived in Manila.

The Canadian waste, marked as recyclable scrap, consisted of household trash, plastic bottles and bags, newspapers and used adult diapers.

"We had that experience of Canada and the rest of the industrialized countries exporting their garbage in the guise of ‘yung magamit mo pa," he said.

"Kaya ‘yung Canada nagpadala ng basura about so many years ago at ayaw kunin. Kaya sinabi ko, 'P***** i** mo, ibubuhos ko ‘yan sa pantalan mo. Ayaw ninyong maniwala? Subukan ninyo.' "

The Philippines is one of a few Southeast Asian countries taking a stand against the practice of industrialized nations sending their waste to Asia.