The Department of Finance (DOF) said the Philippines is set to sign an exchange of notes with Japan on projects rehabilitating war-torn Marawi City and on boosting the capabilities of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
A grant of ¥1.5-billion, or P676 million, from Japan will be given to the Department of Public Works and Highways in the form of heavy equipment and machinery to be used for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of heavily damaged Marawi City.
The equipment includes bulldozers, excavators and dump trucks.
The PCG will also be the recipient of Japanese aid in the form of equipment for the improvement of maritime safety and counterterrorism capability. The equipment includes radar systems, closed-circuit televisions and radio systems.
During the visit of President Duterte to Japan last year, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) President Shinichi Kitaoka formalized several agreements that would help improve the Philippines’s maritime-safety capability, including a deal for a ¥16.5-billion concessional loan covered by Tokyo’s official development assistance (ODA) for the acquisition of two large-scale patrol vessels
for the PCG.
The acquisition of two 94-meter large-scale patrol ships under phase two of the Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project (MSCIP) is on top of the ongoing ODA from Japan for the first phase of the project which involves the procurement of 10 units of 40-meter PCG patrol vessels.
The loan was part of Tokyo’s continuing assistance to the PCG’s MSCIP. Equivalent to P6.8 billion, the Jica loan was extended at an interest rate of between 0.01 and 0.10 percent per annum with a maturity period of 40 years, inclusive of a 10-year grace period.
As of June 2017, 5 of 10 vessels have already been delivered to the Philippines. The target completion of the delivery of all 10 vessels is on August 2018, according to the DOF.
Japan had also announced the provision of additional vessels through a ¥600 million, or P280 million, in grant for the procurement of high-speed boats and other equipment to boost the Philippines’s antiterrorism and security activities.
This grant covers the acquisition of one 20-meter high-speed vessel and 14 units of 7-meter high-speed boats.
A list of projects with estimated total cost of P315.4 billion was proposed for possible Japanese financing at a meeting between Japan and the Philippines in July in Manila.
The parties also exchanged views on the support for Mindanao and other areas of cooperation, including power and energy, anti-illegal drug measures, public safety and counterterrorism and information and communications technology.