The Department of Finance (DOF) is looking at the possibility of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) extending its support to the Philippines’ localized climate adaptation and mitigation projects.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez broached the idea with outgoing JICA president Shinichi Kitaoka and current JICA president Akihiko Tanaka after the recent signing of the JPY 30-billion loan agreement for the second phase of the COVID-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan (CCRESL 2) facility.
Tanaka expressed his openness to Secretary Dominguez’s proposal and said JICA would be willing to explore climate projects in the Philippines targeting specific localities and addressing specific climate change-related threats
Tanaka also reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to the Mindanao peace process, and assistance in the development of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Both the Philippines and Japan are looking forward to the implementation of the Subic Bay Regional Development Master Plan, which was finalized recently with the assistance of a JICA survey mission team.
JICA is supporting the implementation of 27 ongoing loans to the Philippines with a total commitment of $10.02 billion, of which 16 support the flagship infrastructure projects under the government’s “Build, Build, Build” program.
Japan’s financial contribution to the Philippines’ nation-building efforts under the Duterte administration has reached JPY 1.38 trillion, well over the JPY 1-trillion mark committed by then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2017.
Japan is the country’s largest provider of official development assistance (ODA) with committed loans and grants amounting to around $10.45 billion, or 38.11 percent of the country’s total ODA portfolio as of end June 2021.
