PH-Japan RAA to help maintain peace in disputed waters — Bongbong Marcos

TOKYO, Japan — The Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) between Japan and the Philippines would help maintain peace in the South China Sea, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. told Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on Sunday.  

At the sidelines of the 50th Commemorative Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-Japan Friendship and Cooperation Summit, Marcos and Kishida held a bilateral meeting. 

“This reciprocal access agreement that will give us a greater capability in terms of not only security, but also in terms of disaster preparedness and alleviation, adjustment and that is something that really is very, very significant to us and will bring to us a greater capacity to maintain the peace in the South China Sea,” Marcos told Kishida. 

On top of the RAA, the President emphasized the importance of the Official Security Assistance, wherein Japan granted the Philippines a P235 million grant for a coastal radar system. 

After the bilateral meeting, two memoranda of cooperation were exchanged. 

Marcos and Kishida witnessed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between the Chinese and Philippine Coast Guards.

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PCG Commandant Ronnie Gil Latorilla Gavan and his Japanese counterpart Ishii Shohei exchanged the memoranda in front of the two leaders. While the Palace has yet to bare more details about the agreement, the exchange came amid heightened aggression from Beijing over disputed waters in the West Philippine Sea. 

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A memorandum of cooperation was also exchanged between the country’s environmental agencies with Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga and Minister of the Environment of Japan Shintaro Ito. 

The two agencies agreed to cooperate on environmental protection.