THE issue on “imported garbage” says a lot about the quality of public governance in our country.
The Duterte Administration deserves to be commended for its decisive action on the matter of imported garbage from Canada. Such action is an illustration of one positive quality of the current governance in the country.
Indeed, as the dumping of foreign garbage in our country is, at the very least, an insult to the Filipino people, the series of recent actions made by the Duterte Administration are clearly intended to serve the interests of the Filipino people.
The recall of the Philippine Ambassador to Canada was, in itself, a very strong action from President Rodrigo Duterte. This action was done after Canada failed to meet the May 15, 2019 deadline set by the Philippines. It clearly sends the message that the Philippines needs to be treated well by allied countries. Furthermore, such action tells Canada, and the rest of the world for that matter, that the treatment we deserve calls for resolution of issues through actions and not just words.
It should be recalled that no less than the Canadian Prime Minister committed to have the garbage shipped back to Canada. As words without the necessary actions mean nothing, the recall of the Philippine Ambassador to Canada illustrates the strong will of the current Administration in serving the interest of the Philippines and the Filipinos.
The next action of the Duterte Administration – the shipping back of the garbage to Canada within this week at the expense of the Philippine government – is another illustration of the kind of governance we should have in our country.
With such action, the Duterte Administration effectively dismissed the plan of the Canadian government to ship back the garbage at its expense by the end of June 2019.
The decision of the Duterte Administration clearly sends the message that while the Philippines is not as rich as Canada, we will not let the terms of the serving of the Filipino public interests be dictated by or, at the very least, be in conformity with the terms of a foreign country that, in the first place, violated such public interests,
The cost of shipping the garbage back to Canada is not an issue here because the dignity of the Philippines and the Filipino people has no price tag.
(To be continued)
