Secretary Locsin, Japanese Ambassador Haneda Exchange Notes On Cebu Waste Treatment Project, ASEAN-Japan Tech Cooperation Agreement

(DFA-OSCR photos by Nilo Palaya)

PASAY CITY 23 July 2019 — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr., and Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda exchanged notes on key projects on the Philippines and ASEAN in simple rites on 23 July 2019 at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The two officials exchanged notes on the official development assistance (ODA)-supported Project on the Septage Management of Metro Cebu Water District, as well as on the regime of Privileges and Immunities for the ASEAN-Japan Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

“In a Joint Press Event with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, President Duterte paid high compliments to Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA), called it the “gold standard” by which the Philippines reckons its development cooperation with other partners.  None will dispute the tribute. Whether in terms of Japan’s reliability as a partner for bridging gaps in our infrastructure investment and financing needs, concessionality of terms, or the quality and impact of resulting projects, Japanese ODA is unrivalled. Visible signs of the Philippines-Japan development partnership dot our cityscapes and the countryside,” Secretary Locsin said in his remarks during the event.

Benefiting from a Japanese grant of up to ¥2.052 billion, the Project on the Septage Management of Metro Cebu Water District will reduce water pollution and waste and improve waste disposal in Compostela, Liloan, Conslacion, Mandaue City, Cebu City and Talisay City, by putting in place large-scale waste treatment technology such as septic tank sludge treatment facilities, and the procurement of vacuum trucks.

The project is in consonance with the 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan’s Water Quality Management objective.

Meanwhile, the TCA sets out the legal framework for the provision by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) of direct assistance to ASEAN as an international organization, as opposed to assistance extended to individual ASEAN Member States. 

The Exchange of Notes on the Privileges and Immunities of the Technical Cooperation Agreement between ASEAN and Japan between Secretary Locsin and Ambassador Haneda confirms the agreement by the two governments to have the privileges and immunities provisions of the counterpart bilateral agreement, the Philippines-Japan Agreement of Technical Cooperation (ATC) of 2006, apply to the Philippines’ implementation of the ASEAN-Japan TCA. These privileges and immunities will apply chiefly to technical experts dispatched in connection with assistance projects.

The exchanges of notes were witnessed by officials of the Metro Cebu Water District, the DFA and the Japanese Embassy. END