MANILA (3rd UPDATE) - The Philippines on Thursday prepared to return to Canada an illegal trash shipment that has strained ties between the two countries, as the ship tasked to transport the rubbish arrived at Subic Bay, officials said.

Over 60 containers of toxic waste will be loaded to the ship starting 5 p.m. Thursday and will leave the port by 12 midnight Friday, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told ABS-CBN News.

Canada will shoulder the estimated P10-million shipment cost, he said.

Justice Sec Menardo Guevarra, OIC of Exec Dept, shares video clip of the first Canadian trash to be loaded to a vessel and shipped back to Canada.

video courtesy: SBMA pic.twitter.com/GihYTcTPuO

— Mike Navallo (@mikenavallo) May 30, 2019

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Thursday night shared clips of the containers being loaded onto the ships.

pic.twitter.com/m4yoeN4KYm

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) May 30, 2019

pic.twitter.com/4iIoVlByNa

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) May 30, 2019

Canadian official Mucci monitoring. pic.twitter.com/z0kwWnnXRj

— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) May 30, 2019

President Rodrigo Duterte in April said he wanted the trash shipment returned to Canada and warned that the issue might spark a "war."

• Duterte threatens ‘war’ vs Canada over trash shipment
• PH rejects Canada's move to take back trash by end June

Earlier this month, the Philippines recalled its representatives to Canada and banned officials from traveling there after it missed a May 15 deadline to retrieve the garbage.

• Palace stops gov't trips to Canada over trash row

Malacañang, meanwhile, welcomed the looming return of the trash shipment to Canada and expressed hopes that Philippine-Canadian ties would normalize.

"Hopefully ganun kasi that triggered the disruptive relations," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo told reporters in Japan, where the president is on a working visit.

Apart from the garbage row, ties between Ottawa and Manila also soured after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2017 raised concerns over Duterte's drug war.

Last year, Duterte cancelled a $233-million military chopper deal with Canada.

• Duterte says insulted by Trudeau's move to raise human rights

-with a report from Pia Gutierrez, ABS-CBN News