Japan releases P23.5 billion loan for Philippine COVID-19 plan

MANILA, Philippines — The Japanese government released yesterday the 50 billion yen (P23.5 billion) emergency loan to the Philippines to be used for pandemic response, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) said.

“On Aug. 14, the Japan International Cooperation Agency made the disbursement to the Philippine government following its request this week of 50 billion Japanese yen under the COVID-19 Crisis Response Emergency Support Loan to immediately help the Philippines deal with the pandemic,” the agency said in a statement.

The COVID-19 Crisis Emergency Response Support Loan, as a general budgetary support co-financed with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), was designed to strengthen the country’s pandemic response programs and stimulate economic activity.

The Philippines was the first aid recipient under JICA’s new special facility called “Emergency Support Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) Loan for COVID-19.”

“The trusted partnership between the two countries allowed both governments to respond to the crisis in a ‘fast and sure’ manner,” JICA said.

Aside from this emergency loan, JICA announced last month that two government-run health institutions at the forefront of the pandemic response will receive additional laboratory equipment and supplies for COVID-19 testing as grants.

The additional support to the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) and San Lazaro Hospital will boost the testing capacity of the two facilities and ensure quality of test results.

The new equipment and supplies – details of which were withheld while procurement is in progress – are targeted for turnover in September.

RITM and San Lazaro Hospital have been institutional partners of JICA in addressing public health challenges since the 1960s.

Its cooperation with the Philippines on addressing public health issues began in the 1960s at the height of the cholera outbreak when a Philippine-Japan Joint Commission on Cholera Research led to the establishment of a research institute for infectious diseases.

Through this cooperation, the Department of Health (DOH) established the RITM through a grant from JICA.

JICA said it has also been working with San Lazaro Hospital on the use of Japanese technology for rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis.