Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
His Excellency Chief Justice Reynato Puno,
His Excellency Former Chief Justice Andres Narvasa,
His Excellency Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban,
Honorable Chancellor of the Philippine Judicial Academy Adolfo Azcuna,
Founding Chancellor Emeritus of the Philippine Judicial Academy, Justice Ameurfina Herrera,
Honorable Mayor of Tagaytay City Abraham Tolentino,
Distinguished guests,
L adies and gentlemen:
It is a great honor for me to join you in this inauguration ceremony of the Philippine Judicial Academy Training Center. It was a week before Christmas in 2005 that the Government of Japan approved the 300-Million-Peso ODA grant for the construction of the PHILJA Training Center. The funding came from the Counter-value Fund of Japan's Non-Project Grant Aid.
I understand that the origin of the project goes back to the initiative of former Chief Justice Narvasa during whose term the Philippine Government, under the leadership of then President Ramos, turned over a recreation club in Tagaytay to the Supreme Court for the use of a judicial academy.
Former Chief Justice Davide and Former Chief Justice Panganiban took over the initiative to improve the capacity of PHILJA in providing legal education and tirelessly promoted the project to construct the Training Center. Finally, I am very pleased to see the construction of the building completed under the leadership of Chief Justice Puno.
By financing the construction of the PHILJA Training Center, the Government of Japan manifests its support to the efforts by the Philippine Government to strengthen the function of its judicial branch through judicial reform in the area of human resources development.
More specifically, the PHILJA Training Center, equipped with the sufficient support facilities, will enhance the function of the judicial branch by training tens of thousands of justices, judges, court personnel and lawyers all over the country. In addition, the entire Filipino people will also benefit from a more efficient administration of justice. Furthermore, the Training Center is now an additional landmark of Tagaytay and is expected to generate new job opportunities.
In closing, I wish to express my deep appreciation to everyone involved in this project, and also my sincere hope that the PHILJA Training Center will become another symbol of the cooperative ties between Japan and the Philippines which will further nurture the strategic partnership of the two countries.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Embassy of Japan in the Philippines