Marcos, Kishida to tackle WPS

ISSUES concerning the West Philippine Sea (WPS) will be discussed when President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. meets with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida today, November 3.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) on Thursday said the two leaders «are expected to discuss the two countries' multifaceted and dynamic cooperation on political and security cooperation» as well as Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the Philippines.

Kishida will arrive in Manila for a two-day official visit.

The high-level meeting comes amid heightening tensions in the WPS between the Philippines and China. In the latest incident last month, a Chinese coast guard ship deliberately collided with a Filipino motorboat on a resupply mission to the Ayungin Shoal.

Japan, along with the United States, is one of the country's allies which have been vocal in backing the Philippines' 2016 arbitral victory and have repeatedly called on China to comply with the tribunal's ruling.

Tokyo has also expressed willingness to conduct joint maritime patrols with the Philippines in the contested waterway.

Marcos and Kishida «will also exchange views on major regional, international, and United Nations issues affecting the region and the world,» the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said earlier.

The President had an official visit to Japan last February that resulted in the sealing of $13 billion worth of agreements.

The last time he and Kishida met was on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Indonesia last September.

Sponsor

Meanwhile, Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel said Japan could be tapped as a «fallback» sponsor of the construction of the Mindanao Railway Project (MRP) after the Philippines backed out from its negotiations with China.

Pimentel said that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) may be the «best recourse» to fund the megaproject as it has been helping the Department of Transportation in modeling the 30-year railway masterplan for Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon).

«JICA is already providing us the extremely low-interest official development assistance (ODA)