Ogata meets with Philippine NGO leaders

   On May 11, Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo in the Diet met Ana Maria Nemenzo, president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, a Philippine citizen’s organization, who is in Japan to attend NGO meetings held in Kyoto in connection with the Asia Development Bank annual meeting.

   Nemenzo explained about the seriousness of developing countries’ foreign debt problems in which debt repayment accounts for a large part of their budgets, further squeezing the budgets for living conditions such as health, welfare, and food.

   She outlined the international campaign calling for an auditing of the debt and the writing-off of unjustifiable debt.

   Ogata and Nemenzo also discussed the politically-motivated abductions and killings that have occurred in the Philippines as well as the general situation in the country where a general election will take place on May 14.

   Nemenzo’s husband, Fransisco Nemenzo (former president of the University of the Philippines) attended the 21st JCP Congress in 1997 as well as JCP’s Akahata Festival.

   Lidy Nacpil, international coordinator of Jubilee South that is a network of organizations across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and Morihara Kimitoshi, JCP International Bureau deputy director, also attended the meeting.

- Akahata, May 12, 2007