By Chino S. Leyco The Duterte administration has started selling its yen-denominated bonds with four tenors, the Bureau of the Treasury announced on Tuesday. National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon said the government is marketing up to $1-billion Samurai bonds across tenors of three-, five-, seven-, and 10-years. But De Leon clarified the four tenors were just “initial guidance” for the Philippines’ return to the Japanese debt market. This bond sale is the second consecutive year that the government borrowed in yen after its successful return to the Japanese market in August 2018. The Duterte administration sold 154.2 billion yen from the sale of multi-tranche “Samurai bonds,” equivalent of $1.39 billion, in August last year. Manila’s offering in 2018 marked the Philippines’ return to the Samurai market after an eight-year break, and the first time in nearly two-decades that it has issued yen-denominated notes on a stand-alone basis. Last year’s Samurai bond was “well received” by a good mix of institutional and regional investors, mostly were new to Philippine credit. They include asset managers, life insurers, trust banks and specialist banks, regional accounts including shinkin banks, non-Japanese accounts and corporates. The government sold 40.8 billion yen in 10-year bonds, 6.2 billion yen in five-year notes and 107.2 billion yen in three-year IOUs. Manila’s Samurai bond coupon was set at 0.38 percent, 0.54 percent, and 0.99 percent for the three-, five, and 10-year tranches, respectively.