Hon. Pablo Ortega

Mayor of San Fernando

 

Mr. Crispulo Bautista

Regional Technical Director, Department of Agriculture, Region Field Office I

 

Mr. Rommel Herrera

Department of Finance

 

Mr. Rene Venturina

President of the Danat Fertilizer Corporation

 

Mr. Kevin Fitzgerald

Crown Agents

 

Distinguished officials of the Philippine Government and local government,

 

Distinguished guests,

 

Dear Farmer-beneficiaries in La Union Province,

 

L adies and Gentlemen:

 

Magandang Umaga po!

 

It is a great pleasure for me to participate in the turnover ceremony of fertilizers procured by the Philippine Government with the assistance of Japan's 8 th Non-Project Grant Aid to the Philippines.

 

With great efforts by the Department of Finance, Department of Agriculture, especially its National Agriculture and Fishery Council, the Crown Agents, and other related agencies, this time, the Philippine Government has procured approximately 42,000 metric tons of fertilizers in total under the 8 th Non-Project Grant Aid. As the fertilizers were imported to the Philippines by six (6) shipments, I am pleased to turn over the last shipment of 7,000 metric tons of fertilizes today. I hope that the fertilizers will help farmers improve the productivity for the next planting season.

 

Japan has provided the Philippine Government so far with the 8 batches of the Non-Project Grant Aid amounting to a total value of approximately 8.0 Billion Pesos. This has been used for the procurement of commodities such as fertilizers like this time, soybean meal, or fuel oil, contributing to improvement of the economic stability and development of the Philippines.

 

In addition, the Counter-value Fund accumulated by the Philippine Government through selling these commodities has assisted the country to support various kinds of socio-economic development projects. For example, the Philippine Government is implementing a project to distribute personal computers to public high schools nationwide, and the project to construct the Philippine Judicial Academy Development Center of the Supreme Court in Tagaytay, which was inaugurated in May this year, just to name but a few.

 

By selling the 42,000 metric tons of fertilizers, the Philippine Government will be able to establish a substantial amount of Counter-value Fund which, we believe, will help implement new projects to promote the welfare of the Filipino people.

 

In closing, I would like to express my sincere hope that Japan's assistance through the Non-Project Grant Aid will serve as another bridge that will further strengthen the cooperative ties and add to the fostering of the strategic partnership between the two countries towards the future.

 

Thank you very much for your attention.