‘Japan will be a friend indeed’

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City yesterday afternoon for an overnight state visit, with a pledge that Japan will be a "friend indeed" of its regional partners.

The visit is the first leg of the Japanese leader’s five-nation Southeast Asian tour.

Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., who is also foreign affairs secretary, met Koizumi at the NAIA and accompanied him to Rizal Park, where Koizumi laid a wreath at the monument of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

Ambassador to Tokyo Domingo Siazon told reporters Koizumi was expected to discuss with President Arroyo and other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) a new framework for regional cooperation.

Siazon said Japan also wants cooperation on security matters like piracy, terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in women and children, and refugees.

China’s "warming" ties with ASEAN is putting pressure on Japan to step up regional cooperation, he added.

As Koizumi was driven to Rizal Park, police and presidential guards secured the stretch of Ninoy Aquino Avenue in Parañaque City and Roxas Boulevard in Manila to prevent militant demonstrators from getting near the Japanese leader’s motorcade.

The demonstrators suddenly appeared as Koizumi’s motorcade was making a right turn toward Ninoy Aquino Avenue just outside the NAIA to bring the Prime Minister to the Rizal monument.

Militants trailed the convoy up to Airport Road as it sped past the bridge dividing Parañaque and Pasay City before turning right to Roxas Boulevard.

At Rizal Park, women in their late 70s protested, as Koizumi was laying a wreath at the Rizal monument, to denounce their alleged use as "comfort women" by Japanese troops during World War II.

The septuagenarians were from the Liga Filipina, while the other demonstrators belonged to the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Migrante International, and the Kilusang Mayo Uno.

And when Mrs. Arroyo was presenting honors to Koizumi at Malacañang, thousands of demonstrators from the Cordilleras, Pampanga, and Batangas assembled at the foot of the Chino Roces (formerly Mendiola) Bridge to protest the Japanese government’s so-called "development aggression."

Workers of Japanese firms like Toyota Motors Corp., Yokohama Tire Company, and Nissan Motors Corp. also joined the protest to denounce the alleged "anti-labor policies" of these companies.

Activists said Japan, in the guise of providing official development assistance, has exploited the country’s natural resources at the expense of the environment and residents of places near Japanese-funded projects.

In Cebu City, militants also protested in front of the Japanese Consulate, where Bayan Central Visayas, Solidarity, and the People’s Advocacy Network deplored Japanese-funded projects for dislocating some 30,000 families in Cebu and Bohol.

The demonstrators were also protesting the following Japanese-funded projects: the San Roque multi-purpose dam, the Pampanga Delta development, the Batangas City port modernization, the Cebu South reclamation, the Cebu south coastal road, and phase II of the Bohol irrigation project.

Japan is now the country’s biggest aid donor, providing the government with $ 502 million in 2000, and granted a loan package worth $377 million to finance nine projects at 2.2 percent annual interest, according to the Ibon Foundation.

Koizumi is to fly to Malaysia today, and later on to the three of eight other ASEAN members: Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. – With Romel Bagares