Japan Emperor invited to visit PH

TOKYO—President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed his invitation to Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to visit Manila during his joint press conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday.

During the Royal Audience, the President conveyed the affection and admiration of the Filipino people to the Emperor and Empress, including the estimated 300,000 Filipinos who consider Japan their second home.

The President's parents, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. and former First Lady Imelda Marcos, were warmly welcomed by the Imperial Couple as they landed in Japan for their first official visit back in 1966.

President Marcos is in Japan for an

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Development and Economic Cooperation toward the Philippines’ attainment of UMIC status and beyond.

The President said he and the Japanese leader had a "deeply engaging bilateral meeting" covering the full range of Philippines-Japan bilateral relations.

"And after our meeting, I can confidently say that our Strategic Partnership is stronger than ever as we navigate, together, the rough waters buffeting our region,” the President said.

"The future of our relationship remains full of promise, as we continue to deepen and expand our engagements across a wide range of mutually beneficial cooperation,” Mr. Marcos added.

Kishida also expressed Japan’s intention to contribute to the development of quality transport infrastructure in the PH in light of the “Build, Better, More” program of the Marcos administration, as well as equitable regional development in the Philippines, including Mindanao.

The Japanese premier also expressed support for the President’s priority agenda to maintain the competitiveness of Philippine agriculture and to achieve food security, while increasing farm productivity, efficiency, and farmers’ income.

The two leaders welcomed the signing of a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) that provides a framework for agricultural cooperation, such as the establishment of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, exchanges on agricultural and rural development policies, cooperation in resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems, smart technology, and strengthening food value chain, among others.

"Philippines is Japan’s neighbor across the ocean and is a strategic partner sharing fundamental values. Today,

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From A1 countries to deploy troops on each other’s territory for training and other operations.

Japan, which invaded and occupied the Philippines during World War II, has recently signed similar pacts with Britain and Australia.

Mr. Marcos and PM Kishida are not expected to complete negotiations on the RAA deal immediately, but they will likely agree to measures aimed at

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Authority, which said the country’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in December 2022, significantly lower than the 6.6 percent registered a year ago. The latest jobless rate, however, was slightly higher compared to the alltime low of 4.2 percent in November 2022 as job losses were recorded in the agriculture sector due to recent weather disturbances, the PSA said.

The Fourth Quarter 2022 Social Weather Survey was conducted from December 10-14, 2022 using faceto-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide.

The SWS poll also found that 11.8% of Filipino families, or an estimated 3 million, experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

Adult joblessness rose to 21.3% in December from 18.6% in October and 20.8% in June, the pollster reported.

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From A1 the recent spillover to mammals needs to be monitored closely.”

“For the moment, WHO assesses the risk to humans as ‘low’ since H5N1 first emerged in 1996, we have only seen rare and non-sustained transmission of H5N1 to and between humans,” he said.

According to a report by AgenceFrance Presse, the spillover of the highly transmissible virus common among wild official working visit, where at least seven key agreements were signed on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, infrastructure, agriculture and digital cooperation. discussion was held with President Marcos on bilateral cooperation on economy, security anddefense, and people-to-people exchange, and deepening of cooperation in wide-ranging areas were strongly affirmed," PM Kishida said. speeding up military deployments for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Mr. Marcos also invited Prime Minister Kishida for a return visit to Manila in the soonest date as possible. The President earlier secured billions of pesos worth of investment pledges from Japanese companies engaged in semi-conductors, electronics and wiring harness (see story on A1 – Editors).

At a roundtable with Japanese semiconductor and electronics companies, the President said the Philippines aspires to become “hubs of excellence” for sectors in which it has a natural competitive advantage.

“We want the country to attain the status as a regional hub for printers, wiring harnesses, and other electronic goods,” the President said.

“We consider your operations significant. You are a prime generator of jobs. You provide support for sectors critical to industrial development and you carry with you the promise to create value through innovation in global manufacturing around the world,” Marcos said.

He said the country’s base of engineers, strong workforce, entrenched network of leading Japanese companies, and demonstrated history of success in the information technology services sectors offered the promise of future expansion.

“With the automotive industry moving toward electric vehicles and autonomous driving and the printer industry facing challenges related to digitalization and automation, we hope to see you recruit our talented human resources in your R&D activities,” he said.

Among those present in the meeting were top executives of Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Ltd.; Yazaki Corp.; Yokowo Manufacturing of the Philippines; Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.; Brother Industries, Ltd.; IBIDEN Co., Ltd.; Seiko Epson Corp.; NIDECSHIMPO Corp.; and TDK Corp.

In 2021, the Philippines was the fourth largest exporter of wiring harnesses in the world after Mexico, China, and Romania.

The leaders also welcomed the signing of the terms of reference concerning Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) activities of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) in the Philippines.

This aims to simplify the procedures for visits to the Philippines by the JSDF, as one of the efforts to enhance and facilitate cooperation on HADR.

The President and Prime Minister birds and domestic poultry was reported in the United Kingdom, United States, and France.

The percentage stayed highest in Metro Manila at 24.8%, followed by Balance Luzon at 23.1%, the Visayas at 18.6%, and Mindanao at 18.1%.

This brought the area averages for 2022 to 25.8% in Metro Manila, 23.8% in Balance Luzon, 17.0% in the Visayas, and 19.0% in Mindanao.

It was an improvement compared to 2021, whereas the annual average joblessness fell from 35.0% in Metro Manila, 27.8% in Balance Luzon, and 22.5% in the Visayas, but stayed at 19.0% in Mindanao.

Joblessness stayed higher among women at 29.7% than men at 15.2%. The resulting average in 2022 was 30.3% among women and 15.5% among men.

Moreover, the joblessness rate also remained highest among the youngest age group.

“As of December 2022, adult joblessness was highest among the 18-to24-year-olds at 46.7%, followed by the 25-to-34-year-olds at 25.1%, the 35-to-44year-olds at 20.6%, and those 45 years old and above at 12.7%,” it added.

However, Ecuador reported South America's first case of the A(H5) bird flu virus in a human last month — a nineyear-old girl who was in contact with backyard poultry. WHO said the case is “rare” and it has not since received any similar reports of infection.

The Department of Health is closely monitoring developments of the H5N1 avian influenza.

Based on the latest statistics published by Japan’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ) as of June 2022, there is an estimated population of 297,262 Filipinos living in Japan, making Filipinos Japan’s fourth-largest foreign community. Of the estimated number of overseas Filipinos in Japan, 226,057 or 76percent are permanent residents, special permanent residents, spouse/child of Japanese, spouse/child of permanent resident, and long-term residents.

The two leaders concluded their first bilateral meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo, with Prime Minister Kishida saying the deals "confirm the broadening and deepening of the bilateral relations that will indicate the direction for our shared future.” also agreed to continue to consider ways to "further advance defense cooperation including through frameworks that will enhance and facilitate education and training exchanges as well as reciprocal visits of defense and military officials."

The Philippines is also one of the lowest cost producers of wiring harnesses in the world, based on exported value and quantity.

This trend has been building over a 20year period where wiring harness exports from 2001 to 2021 grew at a steady pace of 9 percent a year.

In his speech before the Japanese companies, the President said his administration was speeding up an already “robust and aggressive” infrastructure buildup.

The President assured Japanese investors that the government will try to address the problems of logistics, which they mentioned during previous meetings.

The President also underscored the need to pursue an investment-led export growth strategy for the country's economic agenda.

"Just like Japan, we want to strengthen and empower our small and medium-sized enterprises so they can transform into true engines of growth,” he said. “They are the heart of our communities. And most importantly, we intend to grow the position of the country as an industrial and service hub in the region through the establishment of anchor locators such as yourselves, who we hope will stimulate development to attract tier 1 to tier 3 suppliers," President Marcos said.

"This will help us create an efficient and expansive supply chain. Wehave listened to your concerns and your issues, and we intend to respond to these challenges with a whole-of-government approach," he said.

On Wednesday night, the President underscored the need for the Philippines and Japan to “revitalize” business partnerships that were made somewhat “dormant” by the COVID-19 pandemic, saying this would contribute to the growth of both their economies.

He made this remark during a dinner meeting with executives of Mitsui & Co.

Mr. Marcos referred to Japan’s useful defense equipment transfer program and the potential for deepening collaboration, joint work, and interoperability.

The two leaders also welcomed the progress of bilateral defense exchanges such as through the Vice Minister's

2 injured...

From A1 the embassy has successfully begun its initial mission to the affected provinces in southeast Turkey, in coordination with Turkish authorities,” the embassy said, in a statement.

“The ambassador is personally leading the embassy team to meet with as many Filipinos as able and practicable, subject to the conditions of surrounding infrastructure and ongoing local operations”, it added.

Thankful that two injured Filipinos have been recovered, the embassy said that it “continuously receives a steady stream of confirmed and unconfirmed reports of Filipinos experiencing varying degrees of distress.”

“We are thankful that a number of our kababayan (countrymen) are safe and we will not give up hope for those that cannot yet be contacted.

The embassy will act swiftly and decisively for all confirmed reports”, the

At the sidelines of the launch of new facilities at the Philippine Orthopedic Center Thursday, DOH officer in charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire said the agency is preparing for the possible health event.

“If you remember, reports like this have emerged in other parts of the world where H5N1 is being watched. So, last year we convened the Interagency Committee on Environmental Health, which is part of our strengthened surveillance efforts,” she said.

Since late 2021, Europe has been gripped by its worst-ever outbreak of

Mr. Marcos described Japan as a "trusted friend and a solid and steadfast partner in our quest for peace and for progress.”

"We share common principles of democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law," the President pointed out.

"In July, we will celebrate the 67th anniversary of the normalization of our diplomatic relations. Our partnership continues to be among the Philippines’ most resilient and dynamic in the region,” the Philippine leader added. The seven agreements cover various areas of mutual cooperationincluding humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, infrastructure, agriculture, and digital cooperation. Vince Lopez (See full story online at manilastandard.net) and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC) just after his arrival in Tokyo.

On its official Facebook account, state-run Radio Television Malacañang (RTVM) showed video footage of Marcos along with Mitsui and MPIC executives like Mitsui & Co. chief executive officer Kenichi Hori and MPIC chairperson Manny Pangilinan.

“The partnership between not only Mitsui but the whole of Japan andthe Philippines has been a long-standing one. We can point to so manyof the developments that happened in the Philippines with the assistance of the different Japanese funding agencies and our governmentto-government (G2G) arrangements and commercial arrangements, and these have been to the benefit of both our countries,” Marcos said.

He pointed out that the partnerships need to be revitalized after being “somewhat dormant” during the lockdowns of the pandemic.

Aside from Pangilinan, other business leaders who are part of the country’s delegation were also present like San Miguel Corp.’s Ramon Ang and Ayala Corp’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala.

Marcos is on a five-day official trip to Japan to strengthen Manila and Tokyo’s collaboration in a wide range of areas, including agriculture, renewable energy, digital transformation, defense and infrastructure.

Marcos was accompanied by First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos along with several key government officials including Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, House Speaker Martin Romualdez and former president and now Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In his departure before leaving Manila, Marcos said he will be cultivating collaboration in areas “where future synergies and complementary interests converge with those of Japan.” (See full story online at manilastandard.net)

Defense Dialogue in December 2022, Staff Talks in July 2022, and the JapanPhilippines Military-to-Military Meeting in October 2022.

The President also welcomed Japan’s intention to establish a new cooperation framework for the benefit of the armed forces and other related organizations of recipient countries for the purpose of deepening security cooperation.

Mr. Marcos also invited PM Kishida for a return visit to Manila in the soonest date as possible. (See full story online at manilastandard.net) statement said.

The team has already met with Filipinos from the cities of Adana and Iskenderun, the latter being one of the most devastated areas in Turkey’s Hatay Province.

They distributed relief goods, including food, blankets, water, and cash.

By working with the Filipino community, the embassy said it was able to send a team to rescue four Filipinos from Adana to the safer city of Mersin.

“We are continuing to utilize our invaluable network of Filipino community leaders from across the country to get in touch with those in need . .

. We deeply appreciate the relief goods that continue to be provided through generosity of our Filipino brethren in Turkey,” it added.

The Philippine contingent deployed to help victims of the Feb. 6 magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey arrived in Istanbul on Thursday noon. (See full story online at manilastandard.net) bird flu, with North and South America also experiencing severe noutbreaks.

This has led to the culling of tens of millions of domestic poultry worldwide, many with the H5N1 strain of the virus. The global outbreak is also responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of wild birds.

The recent detection of the disease in several mammals, including foxes, otters, minks, sea lions and even grizzly bears, has sparked growing concern that humans could be more at risk. Willie Casas (See full story online at manilastandard.net)