Mindanao folk to get medicines from Japan hospital

A Japanese hospital chain is donating medicines to residents of Mindanao communities displaced by the decades-old Muslim separatist conflict, the Philippine government said.

The vaccines and antibiotics from Tokushukai Medical Corp. arrived in Manila last month and would be used in a medical mission in Mindanao from today, said a statement from the office of Secretary Jesus Dureza, presidential adviser on the peace process.

The Japanese aid is the second announced by the government since it urged the international donor community to pour humanitarian aid into Mindanao to support its ongoing peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Last month, the United Nations’ World Food Programme announced it would launch in June a one-year, $27.2-million soup kitchen for two million residents of conflict-torn communities in Mindanao.

The medical assistance will be provided by volunteer doctors and nurses under an MILF entity, the Bangsamoro Development Agency, in the provinces of Basilan, Davao Oriental, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat and Zamboanga del Sur, the statement said.

The MILF entered into a ceasefire with the government three years ago in hopes of reaching a political settlement of the separatist movement which began in the 1970s. — AFP