COTABATO CITY -- The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today began providing thousands of displaced people in Mindanao with vital rice rations thanks to a large donation from the Government of Japan.

At a ceremony in Maguindanao, the Ambassador of Japan to the Philippines, HE Makoto Katsura, and representatives from Philippine government and WFP witnessed the first distributions of rice purchased with the Japanese donation of 455 million Philippine pesos (860 million Japanese yen) to assist people affected by conflict and internal displacement in Mindanao.

“WFP is extremely grateful to the Government of Japan for its generous donation used to purchase 8, 160 metric tons of rice,” said Stephen Anderson, WFP Country Director in the Philippines. “This rice is being distributed to needy displaced families and will also play a critical role in complementing longer-term food security initiatives in Mindanao, thus building the stake of conflict affected population in the peace process.”

Japan is one of the largest donors to WFP’s operations in the Philippines and has made significant contributions since 2006 totalling 577.5 million Philippine pesos (1.1 billion Japanese yen).

To date in 2009, Japan is the third largest donor to WFP globally with a total contribution of US$190.7 million.

WFP, which returned to the Philippines in 2006, supports the government-led response for relief and recovery to contribute to a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Mindanao by addressing the food security needs of vulnerable people in conflict-affected areas.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency and the UN’s frontline agency for hunger solutions. In 2009, WFP aims to feed 108 million people in 74 countries.

WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see:
http://www.wfp.org/english/?n=999.

For more information please contact:
Mae Chatto, WFP/Manila
Tel: +6-32-7502561 local 2410,
Cell: +639178809368
email: mae.chatto@wfp.org

Yuko Yasuda, WFP/Yokohama
Tel: +81-45-221-2510 ex. 5364