“For the longest time, Japan has been more of a big brother to the Philippines… Japan earnestly took parts in various programs to support the Philippine government’s effort in upholding national safety,” said Ano.

“This act of generosity also represent a soon and vital step towards the improvement on the Philippines’ disaster response management which will be design around the calamity response model of Japan. The world leader on readiness,” he said.

After the turnover of keys to the officials, the BFP also handed a token of appreciation to Haneda before conducting an inspection of the donated vehicles.

In an interview with BFP spokesman, Chief Inspector Jude Delos Reyes, the donated vehicles will help those areas without fire stations and firetrucks.

“It can really help a lot especially since we lack of fire trucks. It will be distributed to those areas without fire stations so that their scope will widen,” Delos Reyes said.

Since 2014, the BFP has received a total of 76 emergency vehicles from Japan of which 37 were donated to the Visayas and 17 in Mindanao. Ella Dionisio/DMS