The Philippines and Japan will focus on increasing defense and humanitarian assistance as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya met in Tokyo on Thursday.

Arsenio Andolong Department of National Defense Public Affairs Service chief said Friday: "Lorenzana’s official visit to Tokyo is the latest manifestation of the continued robust relations between the Philippines and Japan."

"Both sides welcomed increasing cooperation at all levels across major services and agreed to deepen exchanges in the areas of humanitarian assistance and disaster response between ground forces, ship repair and maintenance between maritime forces, and professional airmanship between air forces," he said.

"They also agreed to bolster cooperation in terms of capacity building, as well as defense industry and logistics," he added.

“As Japan pioneers the Reiwa era, Secretary Lorenzana reaffirmed the Department of National Defense (DND)’s commitment to contributing in strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries towards advancing shared principles of peace, security, and growth through the implementation of the 2015 Memorandum on Defense Cooperation and Exchanges,” added Andolong.

He said Lorenzana also expressed “appreciation for the turnover of five TC-90 aircraft and UH-1H spare parts and maintenance equipment to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF)’s.”

“At the multilateral level, both defense chiefs attached great importance to pursuing practical cooperation through the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-Plus framework, which is the highest defense consultative and cooperative mechanism between ASEAN and eight (8) of its Dialogue Partners,” Andolong noted.

Andolong said Lorenzana welcomed the visit of JS Izuno, Japan Self-Defense Force's largest destroyer, in the Philippines in July.

“Secretary Lorenzana welcomed the goodwill visit of JSDF’s largest destroyer, JS Izumo, in July 2019 and looked forward to the DND’s hosting of the 6th Philippines-Japan Vice Ministers’ Defense Dialogue this year,” he said. Robina Asido/DMS