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Friday, March 29, 2024

China aid crucial to battle for Marawi

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 President Rodrigo Duterte has thanked China for its “crucial help” to the Philippines during the rebellion in Marawi City.

Duterte met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Crowne Plaza Da Nang before his departure to Manila following the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders Meeting in Vietnam.

“First of all, let me thank you for your crucial help in our fight in Marawi a few weeks ago,” Duterte said in his opening statement.

“We badly needed help and it was China who first came to our aid,” he said. “For that, we are very, very thankful to you. As you say, we value your friendship more than anything else… I said I gave you my word that we can be your true friends.”

Meanwhile, the Philippine and Japanese governments are expected to sign the exchange of notes on projects intended for rehabilitating Marawi City and strengthening the maritime safety capability of the Philippine Coast Guard, the Finance Department said over the weekend.

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In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III during a recent executive committee meeting, the DoF fs International Finance Group said a grant of 1.5-billion yen (around P676 million) from the Embassy of Japan will be given to the Department of Public Works and Highways in the form of heavy equipment and machineries to be used for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of heavily damaged Marawi City.

The equipment includes bulldozers, excavators and dump trucks, the IFG said. 

The Philippine Coast Guard will also receive Japanese aid in the form of equipment for the improvement of its maritime safety and counterterrorism capability, the IFG told Dominguez. These include radar systems, closed circuit televisions, and radio systems, it said.

Duterte noted that the arms provided by China were very crucial, adding that one of the Filipino snipers killed terrorist Isnilon Hapilon using a Chinese-made sniper rifle.

“I will congratulate your guys here who make the firearms—very good, very accurate. And I’m happy to have received them for my country,” he said.

Duterte led the handover of the military aid package from China intended for the counter-terrorism efforts in Marawi City. Among the weapons given by China were TY-85 7.62 mm sniper rifles, CS/LR4A high precision rifles, and CQ-A5 5.56 automatic rifles. China also donated ammunition.

In the visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Japan last year, Dominguez and Japan International Cooperation Agency president Shinichi Kitaoka formalized several agreements that would help improve the Philippines f maritime safety capability, including a deal for a 16.5-billion-yen concessional loan covered by Tokyo fs Official Development Assistance for the acquisition of two large-scale patrol vessels for the coast guard.

The loan was part of Tokyo fs continuing assistance to the coast guard fs Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project.

 ‘‘Equivalent to P6.8 billion, this Jica loan was extended at an interest rate of between 0.01 [consulting component] and 0.10 [non-consulting component] percent per annum with a maturity period of 40  years, inclusive of a 10-year grace period,” the department said.

The acquisition of two 94-meter large-scale patrol ships under Phase Two of the MSCIP is on top of the ongoing official development assistance from Japan for the first phase of the project, which involves the procurement of 10 units of 40-meter PCG patrol vessels.

As of June 2017, five out of 10 vessels have already been delivered to the Philippines. The targeted completion of the delivery of all the 10 vessels is in August 2018.

Besides the loan agreement, Japan had also announced the provision of additional vessels for the coast guard through a JPY600 million grant (about P280 million) for the procurement of high-speed boats and other equipment to boost the Philippines’ anti-terrorism and security activities.

This grant covers the acquisition of one 20-meter high-speed vessel and 14 units of 7-meter high speed boats.

In a high-level infrastructure cooperation meeting between Japan and the Philippines held last July in Manila, a list of projects with an estimated total cost of P315.4 billion were pipelined for possible Japanese financing.

Both sides 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.

The Japanese delegation also extended their condolences to the families of those who killed in the ongoing Marawi crisis and expressed their support for the Philippines’ needs for reconstruction and efforts against terrorism.

It also expressed hope that normalcy in Marawi would be restored as soon as possible and reiterated its readiness to provide the necessary assistance for the quick recovery of the city in particular, and development of Mindanao in general.

Later at the third high-level infrastructure cooperation meeting held in Tokyo,  the Philippines and Japan agreed to further streamline their respective approval processes and introduce new measures to put on the fast lane the implementation of big-ticket projects presented by Manila to Tokyo for possible financing.

Both panels agreed these steps were necessary “for more efficient decision making, and swift execution such as in project preparation and formulation, due diligence, procurement process and project implementation including land acquisition and resettlement.’’

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