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After President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to declare war against Canada over the garbage issue, Malacanang clarified on Monday that it was just a "figure of speech."

But Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, in a press briefing, said Duterte was serious about his "ultimatum" to Canada to retrieve its tons of garbage rotting in the country.

"It's a figure of speech," he said, referring to Duterte's earlier statement that he would declare war against Canada.

Asked if the President's statement could be considered irresponsible, Panelo, who is also the chief presidential counsel, said, "how can that be irresponsible? You have dumped your garbage to our country for four years...that was an expression of outrage couched in a very strong term."

Duterte, in a speech at the opening of the Palarong Pambansa (National Sportsfest) in Davao City on Sunday, again made a fresh warning against Canada if it continues to fail in taking back its garbage.

"Tell them, I will load it next week (in a ship). If you won't accept your garbage, I will pour it on your beautiful beach. Son of a b****," he said.

"We are not a garbage dump here. The Filipinos are not scavengers," he added.

Aside from declaring war, Duterte earlier said that he would dump some of the container vans of garbage to the Canadian Embassy in Manila.

An Ontario-based company shipped to the Philippines 35 40-foot containers of misdeclated garbage in 2013.

The Pacific Center for Environmental Law and Litigation has said that the wastes were falsely declared to contain homogenous plastic scrap materials when in fact the shipments contained mixed waste, including household garbage, and since the wastes were deemed to be hazardous under Philippine law. Celerina Monte/DMS