Japan studying other forms of assistance, said Lorenzana

October 24, 2017

CLARK, Pampanga -- Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Japan Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera is studying other possible assistance  it may provide to the Philippines. “We are still looking at other assistance that they (Japan) could provide us, since according to the defense minister he is just new. He will study more (on how)...they can help us,” Lorenzana said, referring to his bilateral meeting with Onodera last Monday. “We talked about possible assistance that they could give us in our fight against terrorism,” he added. Lorenzana said during their meeting he also expressed gratitude to the assistance by the Japanese government not only for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) but also to other government agencies. “I thanked him. I thanked the Japanese government for giving us the five TC90’s. The Beechcraft are actually surveillance planes. They are not yet operational because we still lack the electronic equipment that goes with the airplane but once it is installed they can be used to patrol our air spaces in the WPS ( West Philippine Sea), Benham Rise, Sulu Sea,” Lorenzana said. “And I thanked him for the assistance that the Government of Japan has been giving us: the official development assistance (of) JICA ( Japan International Cooperation Agency). There are a lot of JICA projects in the Philippines,” he added. Lorenzana said the TC90 aircraft that it leased to the Philippine can also be used in the military's anti-terrorism and anti-piracy operations. It can be recalled that TC90 aircraft have been delivered on March 27, 2017. Capt. Lued Lincuna, Philippine Navy spokesman, said three more units of  TC90 aircraft are expected to arrive within the last quarter or the first quarter of 2018. Robina Asido/DMS