Japan extends $5-M grant for BARMM

The Bangsamoro Government Center in Cotabato City. (Photo from the Facebook page of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao)

MANILA, Philippines — The Japanese government is providing a grant aid worth $5 million for the management and reduction of private small arms and light weapons (SALWs) in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Japanese Ambassador Koshikawa Kazuhiko and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative Dr. Selva Ramachandran signed and exchanged notes for the project which seeks to accelerate the decommissioning and normalization aspects of the Mindanao Peace Process.

The UNDP will implement the project across the targeted vulnerable communities, consisting of over 6,000 residents, to address the issue of sporadic conflicts caused by the use of private SALWs.

“As this project will be a big step, as the first large-scale and comprehensive project to tackle the issue of private SALWs, I am grateful that Japan can support it,” Koshikawa said in a statement.

To date, over $500 million in projects have been undertaken under the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development.

—TINA G. SANTOS

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