Japan boosts PH maritime patrol
President Aquino opens state visit, meets with Emperor Akihito today
TOKYO, Japan — The Philippines will get 10 new patrol boats from Japan through its Official Development Assistance (ODA) program and the signing of the deed of donation will be witnessed by President Aquino here tomorrow.
Aquino arrived here yesterday for a four-day state visit that will include meetings with Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko today and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a summit conference tomorrow.
The donation of boats will be made through a tie-up between the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Japan Marine United Corp. for the
Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project (MSCIP).
Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel Lopez said the 10 patrol boats will be turned over by Japan to the Philippines through the ODA facility.
The patrol boats will be used to monitor the country’s coastlines as well as for disaster response and relief, Lopez said.
No word was made if the boats will also be used to patrol the disputed South China Sea, parts of which are being claimed by the Philippines and by China whose massive reclamation project has drawn protests from several Southeast Asian countries, Japan, and the United States.
Delivery of boats
The first of the ten maritime patrol vessels to be constructed by a private Japanese ship building marine engineering and service company for the use of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is scheduled to be delivered by next year.
Japan Embassy Minister for Economic Affairs Hiroyuki Uchida said in Manila that the business construction contract to build the patrol vessels was entered into by the DOTC for the Coast Guard and Japan Marine United (JMU) under the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) yen loan agreement with the Philippine government.
Uchida said it will take two to three years to deliver all ten vessels, part of a security agreement signed in Tokyo earlier this year which also include regular defense talks, exchanges of senior officials, and planned joint naval exercises.
Security talks
Security issues will be among the major topics on the agenda of President Aquino and Prime Minister Abe when they meet tomorrow.
Aquino outlined his schedule during a predeparture speech but only briefly mentioned the South China issue. Instead he concentrated on the various economic packages he intends to bring home to benefit the Philippines economically and socially.
He said that the Philippines’ partnership with Japan included the two countries’ mutual adherence to the rule of law in resolving territorial disputes.
State visitor status
Today when he meets the Emperor and Empress, Aquino will be accorded a 21-gun salute and feted with an evening Imperial banquet.
Aquino was here in 2014 and this will be his last visit here as president, an occasion that is not lost on Philippine Embassy officials here who said it was an honor for the President to be granted state visitor status in Japan as many other heads of state have been waiting for years to get the same invitation.
The visit also affirms the special relationship between the two countries, upgraded from bilateral to strategic partners in recent years, a mutually beneficial relationship that has gone a long way since the enmity of World War II.
Aquino was invited last year by their Majesties and it was quickly accepted. It will mark the second time that an Aquino has been granted state visitor status here. His mother Cory was here on a state visit in 1986 shortly after she became President.
Scheduled speeches
Before leaving Manila, Aquino’s departure speech centered on his scheduled meetings with heads of various economic groups and business leaders in Japan and with the Filipino community whom he extolled as the country’s best ambassadors in this country.
He will speak before the National Diet of Japan and at the Nikkei conference on the future of Asia.
In his speech at the joint session of the Japanese Diet in this afternoon, Aquino is expected to inform his audience on the economic progress of the Philippines and the positive investing climate.
Soon after he arrived yesterday, he held two meetings with executives of Marubeni and Kirin Holdings, witnessed the signing of an agreement with the Japan External Trade Organization, then met with officials of popular apparel brand Uniqlo.
PNoy’s budget
Malacañang has allocated 34.6 million for the President’s state visit to Japan.
It said the amount covers expenses for transportation, accommodation, food, equipment and other requirements of the Chief Executive and his 60-member delegation.
Among the President’s official delegation include Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory Domingo, Transportation and Communications Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Presidential Management Staff chief Julia Andrea Abad, Foreign Affairs undersecretary Laura Del Rosario, and Presidential Protocol chief Celia Anna Feria. (With reports from Roy C. Mabasa and Madel R. Sabater-Namit)