Twenty Filipinos will leave for Japan this August to pursue their Master’s degrees in premier Japanese universities under the Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship by Japanese Grant Aid or the JDS Project.

This grant aid aims to share Japan’s technology, knowledge, long history of development experience and others to young government professionals of partner countries such as the Philippines who will spearhead their countries towards high quality socio-economic growth and prosperity. To date, there are 419 Filipino scholars under the JDS Project.

With the year 2022 marking the 20th anniversary year of the JDS Project’s implementation in the Philippines, the 20th batch is composed of multi-sectoral government staff with high potential coming from various national government agencies.

Among them are National Tax Research Center, Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, and the Department of Transportation.

Since its inception, Filipinos have had 99.2 percent completion rate of their successful studies in Japan and have returned to the Philippines with new knowledge and advanced technical skills, and gaining promotion and key policy leadership positions in their respective fields.

They also function as the robust bridges for much closer ties between two nations to deepen mutual understanding and respect.

Nikko Macalintal, a stellar Batch 17 JDS Scholar from the Department of Agriculture said, “The JDS program is one of the most competitive programs for career-development in the government service. My experience and knowledge gained from this program will allow me to make quality outputs for the development of my sector. I can also say that I am now more confident to handle bigger responsibilities as I am more equipped and prepared because of this JICA program.”

“JICA has been collaborating with the Philippines’ ‘self-help efforts’ through wide-range development projects. Together we have built roads & bridges, railways, sea & airports, irrigation facilities, but we believe that a nation’s true wealth lies in its people.” said JICA Philippines Chief Representative Sakamoto Takema during the send-off ceremony on August 5 held at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence.

The Ambassador of Japan to the Philippines, Koshikawa Kazuhiko also said in a statement, "I can confirm that we consider cooperation in human resource development to be our top priority. We believe that people-to-people exchange is at the very core of Japan and the Philippines’ bilateral relations." JICA Philippines