COTABATO CITY (Zamboanga Journal / 22 Mar) Tokyo has approved a ¥140 Million ($1.2 Million) comprehensive food assistance package for poor and conflict-affected areas in Mindanao, boosting its peace building efforts in the strife-torn region, south of Manila, the Japanese Embassy said Wednesday.
The funding would go to the United Nation's World Food Programme Emergency Operations Project for Mindanao, it said.
"The Government of Japan approved a grant aid in support of UN-WFP's comprehensive food assistance package for poverty stricken and food insecure communities in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao," it said in a statement.
Manila tapped the World Food Programme to provide the required assistance to rebel returnees or returning internally displaced persons, and to contribute to the expansion of food-based, safety-net programs in Mindanao, particularly in the five-province Muslim autonomous region, the poorest in the Philippines.
Tokyo said it responded to Manila's appeal to fund the project in Mindanao, which is considered the country's food basket, but the region is also a hotbed of insurgency.
Three decades of strife has undermined its economic growth that resulted to extreme poverty particularly for the civilians displaced by the armed conflict between security forces and communist insurgents and Moro rebels.
The one-year implementation of the World Food Programme operation is expected to benefit more than 2 million people living in conflict areas. And the other components of the operation include support to school children and their families through the food for education program; support to mother-child nutrition program and livelihood trainings.
Zamzamin Ampatuan, Secretary of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), praised Japan for the aid, saying, the food assistance program would help many people in poverty-stricken and conflict areas in Mindanao.
"We welcome Japan's assistance and this will surely help many poor Filipino families in areas of conflict in Mindanao, and we also appeal for other donor countries to help us continue this food assistance program," Ampatuan told the Zamboanga Journal.
But Ampatuan said the direct intervention of the World Food Programme symbolizes a stark situation of hunger in Mindanao, where 8 of the country's top 20 most poverty-stricken provinces are situated. Three of the eight provinces, he said, belong to the Muslim autonomous region -- Sulu, Basilan and Maguindanao.
"That is the real situation in Mindanao. There is hunger in many areas that the situation requires direct intervention from the World Food Programme and other donor countries, such as Japan, to alleviate poverty and hunger.
He said President Gloria Arroyo also presented a detailed program in 2002 to fight poverty under the so-called Kapit-bisig Laban sa Kahirapan or Kalahi, a convergence strategy where programs of various government agencies work together to systematically address poverty problems in the country.
"The government continue to work so hard to address this growing problems of poverty and hunger. We have sustainable programs to address these differect concerns, like animal dispersal, backyard farming, and others projects. Citizens should also do their share by helping themselves," he said.
In 2002, Prime Minister Koizumi also approved a $400-Million Support Package for Peace and Stability in Mindanao in support to Japan's task in pursuing peace and development in this region.
Last year, Japan also provided another 200 million Yen (US$ 1.81 million) for the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization Project's Emergency Rehabilitation of Agri-Based Livelihood for Underprivileged Farmers and Returning Internally Displaced People in Mindanao.
Funding of the WFP Mindanao Emergency Operations Project reaffirms Japan’s continuous efforts to contribute to the Philippine's food security and poverty reduction program as well as stabilizing the political and economic situation of the region.
Minister Eiichi Oshima, Japan's deputy ambassador to Manila, signed early this year a grant worth more than P600,000 to finance the construction of a potable water system in Masbate province under Tokyo's Official Development Assistance (ODA).
The project, part of Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP), is expected to benefit some 600 people in the village of Ki-Buaya.
Japan in 1989 also launched in the Philippines the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GAGP) for the purpose of reducing poverty and helping various communities engaged in grassroots activities.
Since then more than 300 small-scale grassroots projects had been implemented in the country, including a social rehabilitation center built in 2003 in Basilan island worth US$90,740 as part of Tokyo's commitment to support the Philippine government's efforts in promoting peace and development in Mindanao.
But Japan also expressed concern about the safety of its citizens and aid workers in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
Yoshihisa Ishikawa, First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy, said Tokyo was concerned about the safety of its nationals in Mindanao. "Generally, Japan is concerned, of course, with the safety of its citizens and aid workers in Mindanao, but this won't affect our humanitarian assistance to Mindanao," he said during his visit here in January.
Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped a Japanese tourist Senichi Takayama and shot dead his Filipino companion in 1997 in the southern resort town of Glan near Sarangani province.
In 1998, suspected Abu Sayyaf members threatened to kidnap Japanese air workers in Zamboanga City. And in January 2003, unidentified gunmen barged into the house of a 48-year old Japanese trader Hazumitsu Hashiba in Lanuza town in Surigao del Sur province and kidnapped him.
Japan is one of the Philippines' biggest aid donors and has funded many humanitarian projects as far as Tawi-Tawi and Basilan islands, both strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf group.
Japan in 1989 also launched in the Philippines the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GAGP) for the purpose of reducing poverty and helping various communities engaged in grassroots activities.
Since then more than 300 small-scale grassroots projects had been implemented in the country, including a social rehabilitation center built in 2003 in Basilan island worth US$90,740 as part of Tokyo's commitment to support the Philippine government's efforts in promoting peace and development in Mindanao.
But Japan also expressed concern about the safety of its citizens and aid workers in the southern Philippines, where security forces are battling members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group.
Yoshihisa Ishikawa, First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy, said Tokyo was concerned about the safety of its nationals in Mindanao. "Generally, Japan is concerned, of course, with the safety of its citizens and aid workers in Mindanao, but this won't affect our humanitarian assistance to Mindanao," he said during his visit here in January.
Abu Sayyaf gunmen kidnapped a Japanese tourist Senichi Takayama and shot dead his Filipino companion in 1997 in the southern resort town of Glan near Sarangani province.
In 1998, suspected Abu Sayyaf members threatened to kidnap Japanese air workers in Zamboanga City. And in January 2003, unidentified gunmen barged into the house of a 48-year old Japanese trader Hazumitsu Hashiba in Lanuza town in Surigao del Sur province and kidnapped him.
Japan is one of the Philippines' biggest aid donors and has funded many humanitarian projects as far as Tawi-Tawi and Basilan islands, both strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf group.
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