MANILA, Philippines -- The toxic cargo of endosulfan recovered from the sunken MV Princess of the Stars would be stored and processed for shipping in Canlubang, Laguna, Transportation and Communications Undersecretary Elena Bautista said Tuesday night.

In a dinner with Philippine Daily Inquirer editors and reporters, Bautista said the shipment was supposed to stay at the Batangas port.

“But it’s already congested there. So we will bring it to Canlubang,” Bautista said, adding she was expecting the toxic cargo to leave Batangas by Friday.

In Canlubang, Bautista said the shipment, some 402 barrels, would be processed and repacked for shipping out of the country. Earlier reports said the government would ship the cargo to Israel via Singapore.

On Wednesday, Judge Antonio Eugenio of the Manila RTC Branch 24 ordered that the retrieved drums of endosulfan be immediately delivered to the Presidential Task Force on the Retrieval of Toxic Substances headed by Bautista after photographs have been taken and submitted to the court.

The shipment was recovered by a salvage company from the ship that sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon last June at the height of Typhoon Frank. Out of the more than 800 passengers and crew on board the ship, only 32 survived. More than 200 bodies have been recovered and about 500 victims are still missing. Most of the bodies are believed to be trapped inside the ship’s wreckage.

The recovery operations started last September 27 and was finished October 5 involving members of the Philippine Coast Guard and salvage companies Titan Maritime and Harbor Star.

Meanwhile, Bautista said a small shipment of pesticides from Bayer was scheduled to be recovered sometime on Wednesday.

“These are just bottles or liters only,” she said. With a report from Tina G. Santos, Philippine Daily Inquirer