For Canada, is the Philippines merely a garbage dump?
Last June, Pope Francis offered his thoughts on the environment in an encyclical titled “Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home”.
But “Laudato Si” was more than just a position on climate change. Its core concern was justice based on interconnectedness and interdependence: “[H]uman life is grounded on three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with neighbour and with the earth itself.”
Pope Francis says these intertwined relationships should be exercised with “intelligent respect and recognition of inherent value of the other human beings”; “the laws of nature and the delicate equilibria existing between the creatures of this world”; [with the utmost] duty to protect the earth and to ensure its fruitfulness [not just for today but] for coming generations”.
Now contrast that with the actions of Canada in 2013 when it dumped 50 industrial containers of trash and hazardous materials in the Philippines
In that act or policy, there was neither intelligence, respect, mutuality, nor responsibility for a common good, nor a recognition of our common future.
We call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reflect on the change he seeks to bring and the global leadership he aspires to regain for Canada. Restore the dignity Canada lost when it refused to honour its international obligations. Affirm the dignity of Filipinos by taking back the waste. Let our two nations move forward from this experience with intelligent respect and recognition of human dignity, the laws of nature and the duty to protect our common home against environmental degradation from chemicals and wastes for coming generations.
Bong Cunanan, Richard Gutierrez
BAN Toxics! (Independent Asian Environmental watchdog)
(From the Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN)
