PH has much to gain from Duterte’s Japan trip

The country’s efforts to reconstruct war-torn Marawi and fight terrorism could get a boost when President Duterte goes to Japan for the second time later this month to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Infrastructure projects are also on the table during the Duterte-Abe meeting in Tokyo.

Takehiro Kano, minister and deputy chief of mission of the Japanese Embassy in Manila, said Japan had long supported the peace process in Mindanao and other projects on the island.

He said the siege in Marawi had an impact on the process, but Japan was willing to continue helping.

“Japan is considering the way forward, how to support the rehabilitation, reconstruction of Marawi,” Kano said in a press briefing at Malacañang.

Japan had already provided humanitarian assistance to Marawi through international organizations, he noted.

“But now, we are in a different phase. And then we are in close contact with the Philippine government, which set up the interagency task force,” he said.