Sentimental Japanese war vets to invest $100 M in Bataan

A group of Japanese war veterans wants to invest at least $100 million in Bataan, scene of one of the bloodiest battles in World War II, "for sentimental reasons."

Chairman Felicito Payumo of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, a three-term congressman from Bataan, met representatives of the group and their local guide at the SBMA recently and vowed to provide assistance to their "mission."

Payumo said the infusion of the huge investment would help ease the economic crunch currently being suffered by the country. Toshifumi Negishi, coordinator of the Japanese Garden for Peace, the association of Japanese survivors of the war in the Philippines, said the veterans want to help develop Bataan province which was devastated during World War II.

"Most of the Japanese survivors are now very old. The youngest among them is 79 years old, and they want to leave something meaningful to the next generation," Negishi said.

Negishi, an executive of a Japan-based trading firm Japan Central Corp., said that their company chairman, Tadayoshi Kojo, is most desirous of pushing through with the planned investment in Bataan.

He said that Kojo, 86, was a colonel in the Japanese Imperial Army and was a veteran of the Bataan campaigns.

"The Japanese Garden for Peace has $200 million, at least $100 million of which will be invested in Bataan," Negishi said.

Their local guide, Willy Chiu, said the group was offered 2.5 hectares in Corregidor, but they considered the area "too small."

"We need at least 200 hectares, preferably in Mariveles, Corregidor and Mt. Samat," he said. "Bataan is a very memorable place for the survivors."

Negishi said that the war veterans want a place where they and their relatives could contemplate or relax and have fun.

"We intend to build a memorabilia for peace, a hotel, a golf course, possibly a shooting range and other recreational facilities," he added.

Payumo said he would use his contacts in Bataan to identify possible investment sites for the Japanese Garden for Peace. He lauded the group for taking the initiative to invest in Bataan without any prodding from the Philippine government.