Japan okays P13.3M grant to 3 rural development projects

Philippines-Japan flags. INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines — Japan has agreed to fund P13.3 million worth of development projects in rural communities across the country as part of Tokyo’s Grant Assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects (GGP), according to the Japanese Embassy.

“The three projects signed today are the newest addition to the 560 grassroots projects (including the above three projects) that have already been implemented by the GGP,” the embassy’s statement on Wednesday read.

The grants, which nonprofit organizations may seek from the Embassy, were signed by Ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko on Wednesday.

“Japan believes that these projects will strengthen the friendship between Japan and the Philippines and contribute to sustaining strategic partnerships between the two countries,” the embassy added.

One of the projects is the construction of a new one-story four-classroom high school building for the Anoyon Highschool in the Municipality of Valencia, Bohol.

The project itself is worth P5.3 million and is meant to address the lack of public schools in the central Philippine region especially for those grade seven to 10.

The second project is the procurement of one new ambulance and its necessary devices for the town of Sipocot, Camarines Sur. This is worth P3 million and will accommodate approximately 200 more medical emergencies in the area annually, strengthening the municipality’s health operations.

According to the embassy’s statement, this is meant to address the current ambulance shortage in Sipocot which affects the urgency of providing medical aid. The ambulances in Sipocot currently transport patients as far as 44 kilometers from the municipal hospitals and even 120 kilometers from the state hospitals.

The last project involves the purchase of a portable chest x-ray machine to be provided to the Center for Health Solutions and Innovations Philippines and primarily used in Olongapo City.

It is meant to improve the city’s response to tuberculosis cases in which screening decreased due to hospitals being overwhelmed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The equipment is worth almost P5 million and will be used to cater to tuberculosis risk groups like the local Aeta people, the indigenous community settling in the mountains, which have very limited access to medical services in the city.