Japanese firm offers P5M for ‘Pablo’ victims

Homeless flood survivors walk toward the gymnasium in the southern Philippine township of New Bataan in Compostela province on December 5, 2012 after the strongest typhoon Bopha pounded the island on Tuesday, leaving several deaths and and missing. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — A leading Japanese trading company has joined the international community in offering aid to the Philippines by giving P5 million in assistance to the victims of Typhoon “Pablo” (international name: Bopha), the worst storm to hit the country this year.

In his report to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel Lopez said that representatives of the Marubeni Corporation had expressed their intent to offer the donation.

In a statement, the DFA noted that former Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Makoto Katsura, in his capacity as Corporate Advisor to Marubeni Corporation, expressed his company’s sympathy for the tragic loss that occurred in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

It quoted Katsura as saying that of the P5 million, P 2.5 million would be given to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), while another P2.5 million to be donated through the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo.

Marubeni, a company involved in diverse business interests which include chemicals, energy, and finance, has business presence in at least 70 countries.

In the Philippines, Marubeni has projects in the fields of power or energy, transportation, real estate, water, and trading, among others, the DFA said.

The DFA said that the Philippines had so far received a total of P 665,832,787.39 in financial assistance from the international community, aid agencies, various groups and individuals, and that material donations continued to arrive.

Latest reports noted that the death toll from Pablo, which battered Visayas and Mindanao in early December, rose to 1,046, while 841 remained missing.

The NDRRMC also said that damages from the onslaught of the typhoon was pegged at P24 billion,  and that P16 billion were damages from agriculture.