Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has called the inclusion of the Philippines in the list of eight countries responsible for 63.6 percent of ocean trash as “shameful” but questioned whether there are nations not included because they exported their garbage. A Bloomberg article reported that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Egypt and Malaysia dispose of a high amount of plastic waste to oceans in comparison with other countries. “That we’re on this list is truly something to be ashamed about. But, are other countries not on the list because they export their garbage to these countries? Well, we returned some of those back to sender,” Locsin tweeted on Saturday.

Lee-Brago, P. (2019, July 15). Locsin questions list of ocean-polluting countries. The Philippine Star, p. 2.