Saying that “the ball is in the Philippines’ court,” Japan has revealed
that its plan to provide the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) with 12 brand new
patrol boats had yet to officially take off.
In a text message to the
Philippine Daily Inquirer, the Japanese Embassy-attached Japan Information and
Culture centre (JICC) said over the weekend that “the status (of the aid
programme) has not changed.”
“It remains a plan since we have
not yet received any official request from the Philippine side,” said the JICC,
which added, “Please contact the Department of Transportation and
Communications, the PCG or the National Economic and Development Authority for
updates.”
Contacted shortly before he was
named interior secretary by President Benigno Aquino, then Transportation
Secretary Manuel Roxas said: “We, the DOTC, and the Coast Guard are working
with the Japanese government and with the Department of Foreign Affairs on
this.”
“I understand the DFA is already
requesting formally (for the boats),” Roxas had told the Inquirer.
For its part, the DFA said “the
plan of Japan to provide patrol boats to our Coast Guard has already been
approved by the Neda.”
“We will formally inform the
Japanese authorities as soon as possible,” said Raul Hernandez, the DFA
spokesperson.
Minister Shinsuke Shimizu, head
of the Japanese Embassy’s chancery, said in an earlier interview that unlike
the decades-old and stripped-down ships the Philippines has been getting from
the United States, the patrol boats the PCG will get from Japan will be brand
new.
Japan, he said, “has yet to
decide which of the vessels will be built and transferred to the Philippine
government on official development assistance or grants.”
He pointed out that “since 1990,
Japan has been helping the Coast Guard in its capacity-building programme.”
Fourteen years ago, Tokyo gave
Manila a marine accident response and buoy tender ship that the agency named
the BRP Corregidor.
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