A group of Japanese experts, with representatives of the National Museum of the Philippines ( NMP), is set to start Wednesday investigation or data gathering regarding the remains of the Japanese soldiers who perished in the Philippines during World War II.

The data gathering will initially be conducted in Luzon, including Metro Manila, the NMP said.

In Metro Manila, NMP said there are bones, which are in their custody, to be reviewed.

After data gathering, there will be verification of data. Asked if there will be repatriation of bones to Japan after verification, NMP said they would not allow it.

This was after the project was suspended in 2010 due to the alleged looting of bones in sacred burial places of some indigenous peoples and public cemeteries and passed them off as the remains of the Japanese soldiers.

Last May, the Philippines and Japan concluded an agreement to cooperate in the humanitarian repatriation of the remains of World War II Japanese soldiers in the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato signed the Memorandum of Cooperation in Tokyo, while Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano affixed his signature in Manila, it said. The memorandum was dated May 8, 2018.

An estimated 518,000 Japanese soldiers perished in the Philippines during WWII.

The Philippines, under President Carlos Garcia, allowed Japan to undertake recovery missions in the country for humanitarian reasons beginning in 1958.

Since then, the remains of roughly 100,000 soldiers have been returned to Japan, the DFA said. Celerina Monte/DMS