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MANILA, Philippines—President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief economic manager expects Japan to remain a top development partner of the Philippines in the long run and beyond the current administration as Tokyo’s financial support already exceeded its 1-trillion yen (about P440 billion) commitment to Manila made in 2017.
At the 12th meeting of the Philippines-Japan high-level joint committee on infrastructure development and economic cooperation held online on Wednesday, the two sides discussed the proposed additional 30-billion yen (over P13 billion) financing that the Japanese would extend to Filipinos for their mass vaccination program, the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement.
The second COVID-19 crisis response support loan will be a follow-through to the bigger 50-billion yen (more than P22 billion) concessional financing extended by the aid arm Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
On top of the fresh loan, the DOF said the meeting “also highlighted the achievements of the joint committee and the cooperation between Japan and the Philippines in the following areas:
- Pandemic response efforts
- Implementation of flagship infrastructure projects under the “Build, Build, Build” program
- Support for the Mindanao peace process
- Sectoral cooperation particularly in regional development, information and communication technology (ICT), and energy.
Also tackled by the committee were progress in Japanese-funded flagship infrastructure projects like:
- Metro Manila subway
- North-South commuter railway
- Metro Rail Transit line 3 (MRT-3) rehabilitation
- Dalton Pass east alignment alternative road
- Cagayan de Oro-Malaybalay section of Central Mindanao highway
- Parañaque spillway
- Urgent bridges construction project for rural development phase 2-component 1
- Davao City flood control and drainage
- Subic Bay’s regional development masterplan
- New Clark City’s smart city initiatives
In a tweet, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, as the Philippine side’s chair, thanked his Japanese counterpart Mori Masafumi, who’s the special advisor to Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Dominguez said their Japanese counterparts conveyed “strong commitment to continuing support to the Philippines’ infrastructure development, COVID-19 response, and other development initiatives.”
“Between our first meeting in 2017 and today, much has been started, achieved, and will be further continued,” Dominguez said.
“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the people and the government of Japan for being a valuable partner in our country’s growth and development as well as economic recovery,” he added.
This was “despite the challenges and inevitable delays brought by the pandemic and unforeseen natural disasters,” Dominguez told Japanese officials during their meeting.
Asked if the Japanese delegation also committed to support the next administration coming in by mid-2022, Dominguez replied: “I am confident that the commitment of Japan to partner with the Philippines in developing our economy is for the long term, as it has been in the past.”
The DOF quoted Mori as saying that despite the recent change in Japan’s leadership, Prime Minister Kishida had pledged to President Rodrigo Duterte to continue “support to the Philippine’s infrastructure development including railways, response to COVID-19, and capability enhancement for maritime law enforcement,” among other joint initiatives.
“I wish to report that Japan’s public and private financial contribution to the Philippines’ nation-building in the five years since January 2017 amounts to 1.38 trillion yen [about P610 billion], well over the 1-trillion yen mark set forth. I’d like to emphasize that the government of Japan’s commitment to the bilateral cooperation project remains unchanged under the Kishida Cabinet,” Mori said.
On top of Japan’s support to the Philippines’ COVID-19 response and the ambitious “Build, Build, Build” program, it also helped in the ongoing rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.
Jica data showed that as of end-2020, Japan’s cumulative active official development assistance (ODA) to the Philippines reached about $11 billion, accounting for the largest share—or 36.4 percent—in the country’s total portfolio.
The DOF last year said that Japan was the Philippines’ biggest source of bilateral ODA across the three most recent administrations of former presidents Gloria Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III, as well as President Duterte.