JAPANESE lawmakers were invited to come to the Philippines to personally see the positive results of the various assistance programs provided by the Japanese government to the Filipino people.

This was announced by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez as he looks forward to a possible Philippine visit of Japanese legislators which would serve to further broaden the long-standing good relations between the two countries.

During his working visit to Japan, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. has invited members of the Japanese parliament to visit the Philippines .

Marcos and his delegates including Romualdez attended the Japan-Philippines Parliamentary Friendship League (JPPFL).

“I really hope our friends from the Japanese Parliament could visit us in the Philippines as this would go a long way to further deepen the mutually-beneficial bilateral relations that the two countries have nurtured over the past decades,” Romualdez said.

“It would likewise provide a venue for us to exchange ideas on the best parliamentary practices as well as innovative approaches to the common challenges facing our respective countries amid present developments in the region and the world,” he added.

Apart from Speaker Romualdez, among the Filipino lawmakers who attended the JPPFL included former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri; Special Assistant to the President, Secretary Antonio Ernesto Lagdameo Jr.; and Senator Mark Villar.

Led by Japanese House of Representatives Chairman Moriyama Hiroshi, other Japanese lawmakers that participated in the JPPFL were Vice Chairmen Okuno Shinsuke, Takemi Keizo, and Nakagawa Masaharu.

Romualdez hopes such a visit by the Japanese lawmakers could be arranged to happen in July this year, coinciding with the celebration of the 67th anniversary of the normalization of the diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Japan.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Jester P. Manalastas