COTABATO CITY - The Japanese government has vowed to continue extending assistance in the form of soft aid packages to Maguindanao and other parts of Mindanao aimed at helping the Philippine government boost its peace and development efforts in the country's southern island.
First Secretary of the Embassy of Japan Tomonori Kikuchi said the soft aid package, like the construction and repair of school buildings that will benefit school children, is among his government's priority.
Kikuchi said Japan's commitment to extend assistance in the form of soft aid package to Maguindanao will continue under the new administration.
As this developed, the Japanese government through Kikuchi turned over a new school building and the Mother and Child Pavilion in Shariff Aguak over the weekend.
The two infrastructures were built through the ARMM Social Fund project, a development agency in the autonomous government and the Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA).
"This will usher in a good beginning for the people of Maguindanao as the facilities will address the high incidence of maternal and child mortality rates and lack of support to educational requirements of the displaced families," ARMM Social Fund Project Manager Nasser Sinarimbo said.
In a related development, Osamu Fujimura, state secretary for foreign affairs and Japan's special envoy to Manila, also assured Japan's assistance to the people of Central Mindanao.
Fujimura assured President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III that Japan, as a top donor to the Philippines, would remain committed to assisting the Philippines through the Official Development Assistance (ODA).
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He said that the Japanese government has approved a project that would provide public schools in Luzon and Visayas region with personal computers.
The project will provide some 7,750 desktop computers to at least 775 public high schools in Luzon and Visayas, allowing 170,000 students a hands-on experience with computers.
