...the aid recipient becomes the donor

PH donating $1M to Japan

By RAYMUND F. ANTONIO

September 26, 2011

Manila Bulletin

SENDAI, Japan – They’ve been the Philippines’ biggest investor and source of funds and grants for countryside development to alleviate poverty.

President Aquino returned the favor to the Japanese people for their support through these years as he pledged Monday to donate $1 million for the restoration of Ishinomaki City in the Miyagi prefecture.
“This is the pledge of assistance from our people and the government,” said Aquino.

The President made the pledge in a simple ceremony with city hall officials led by Ishinomaki Mayor Hiroshi Kameyama.

The Ishinomaki city hall was damaged during quake that hit Japan last March 11. City officials are temporarily staying in a mall located in the city.

This city lost 3,097 lives, three of them Filipino workers, with around 2,770 others still missing.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the donation will come from the President’s Social Fund and it will be handed over to Japanese officials soon.

Kameyama welcomed the donation, grateful with the gesture of support.

Ishinomaki was one of the worst hit by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake last March 11, with the port city almost leveled to the ground by the 10-meter tsunami that followed.

In the coastal port of Ayukawa and the district Kadonowaki, both in Miyagi, eight out of 10 houses were destroyed, while almost 50 percent of the city was inundated by the tsunami.

Among those that did not escape the devastation was one elementary school, Okawa Elementary, where the President offered flowers in memory 74 of 108 students and 10 of 13 teachers and staff killed.

At the height of rescue operations, the Philippine government sent relief goods and items such as blankets and bottled water and doctors to help treat the injured and those traumatized.

“We are prepared to assist to the level we are able to,” said Aquino.

Aquino also took the opportunity to thank the Japanese local officials for their help and assistance to the Filipinos in Ishinomaki who were affected by the earthquake and the tsunami.

The President then separately visited the Kadonawaki Junior High School Evacuation Center and Catholic Church Kindergarten Building, both in Ishinomaki City where he met with the Filipino community.

In his speech, he highlighted the improvement in the country’s economy, with 7.6 percent increase in gross domestic product last year.

“The rating agencies have upgraded us, saying it is worthwhile to invest in the Philippines. These are four rating agencies and one of these was the Japan credit rating agency. They are saying we’ve made improvements and these results in lower interests on our loans,” said Aquino.

Some members of the Filipino community who have made the Miyagi prefecture their second home lost their properties, while others lost their families.

The Japanese government extended assistance to the victims by providing them with homes complete with furniture and other household equipment.

It is a special relationship that has been tested in the best and the worst of times, built of long-standing friendship and mutual cooperation.

Japan has been the single biggest source of official development assistance – soft loans to finance countryside development – and the biggest foreign direct investors to the Philippines.

This year, Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas said the country remains recipient of $3 billion in ODA despite the tsunami that hit Japan’s coastal areas.

Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel Lopez has informed the President that it would be a generous gesture to continue sending medical doctors and psychologists to help the survivors cope and deal with the trauma.

“I have recommended with the President if we could continue sending doctors and psychologists not only to help our countrymen staying in Miyagi but also the Japanese people,” Lopez said