Japan pledges $480K for ARMM dev't projects

• Source:http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=2&rid=866736
• Tuesday, March 15, 2016 10:30 am

By John Unson

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Japan has pledged $480,598 to fund humanitarian development projects in conflict-affected areas of Central Mindanao in support of the peace process in the southern Philippines.

The grant capped a visit to the city by Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa, who was here for separate meetings with Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) officials and different peace advocacy organizations.

Some of the projects are to be implemented under the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD), which focuses on the rehabilitation of conflict-affected areas.

The Japanese government has been supporting peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front since the 1990s. Japan also has civilian conflict resolution experts in the International Monitoring Team, the Malaysia-led contingent that has been helping overseeing implementation of the ceasefire between the two sides since 2004.

Japan has funded socio-economic projects of the regional government through the ARMM Social Fund Project, which the World Bank also supported from the late 1990s until two years ago, when the Social Fund Project ended. Nation ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

Among the latest Japanese projects in Mindanao, implemented through the Japan International Cooperation Agency, were the study and plotting of road networks connecting all towns in ARMM’s five provinces and the distribution of road surveying equipment to the region’s Department of Public Works and Highways.

Engineer Don Arbison Loong, ARMM’s public works secretary, said the regional government is thankful to the Japanese government for its continuing peace and development initiatives in the autonomous region.