WHAT could be the narrative that Canada is not verbalizing out loud? On the glaring video of tons of campaign materials left uncollected on the aftermath of the 2019 midterm elections, Canadians must be questioning this country’s leadership.

“Hey, you cannot even impose on your people to handle the trash problem.”

Do we have to use taxpayers’ money for the proper disposal of garbage left by our candidates? The Commission on Elections (Comelec) should be more serious in imposing penalties against violators—politicians who remain deaf in the repeated call for them to clean up their mess. We have yet to see a politician violator jailed for violating a Comelec directive that imposes a six-year imprisonment to anyone found guilty. How can we respect our politicians who are supposed to be role models when they themselves are apathetic to the Comelec directive?

We have a big problem over trash from our own citizens. And yet our country seems to be the favorite destination of imported trash. South Korea and Canada are compounding the garbage problem. We do not want another dreadful incident like in Payatas, where our citizens were buried alive in the landfill.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s recall of Embassy and Consulate officials in Canada must be an act of frustration since Canadian leaders have been slow in removing their trash out of our country. Will this directive though, have an adverse effect on the thousands of working visas and immigration applications filed by our fellow men?

Conversation now looms on what may be the course of action should our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) be confronted with a problem abroad? Who could our OFWs turn to with their consular needs?

China continues to bully us by undermining our sovereignity. Canada’s inaction and failure to attend a meeting that could have tackled the trash problem could be considered an arrogant stance against a nation deemed to be weaker. What we need at this point in time is a leader who can say enough is enough. We may be a Third World country, but we have our rights to shout “foul” when we are being trampled upon.

Filipinos are known to be resilient but we are also known to be submissive only up to a certain limit. We do not want to go to war over trash. We ask a certain degree of respect from foreign countries, especially from our neighbor.

Respect is earned, not imposed. Therefore, our fellow citizens should first show some respect for each other.

Collect your trash.