President Marcos says there is no stopping the Philippines and Japan from signing the reciprocal access agreement (RAA) that will allow both countries to send military forces to each other's territory for joint drills.

In an interview with Manila-based foreign media reporters, the President said that both sides are just ironing out the language to be used in the agreement.

"We’re working on that. Malapit na. That will be coming soon," he said on Monday, April 15.

"There aren’t really real conflicts in principle. It’s just a question of getting the language down and defining precisely how it’s going to work— the logistical systems and how that’s going to work— but it should not take very much longer," he added.

President Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio discussed this in Washington, DC, last week and during their bilateral meeting in Tokyo last December.

Philippine ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said last week that the RAA may be signed this year.

Meantime, Marcos said that advocates for Filipino comfort women who are still seeking justice and reparations have expressed concerns over the RAA. He emphasized that the agreement would not affect their call for justice.

"I cannot see how the Reciprocal Agreement would affect any of that. Essentially, it talks about that we— Japan allows us to make ports of call in Japan and vice versa," he said.

"How it will possibly affect the issue about comfort women and the allegations made against war criminals during the Second World War, I cannot see how it will bleed into that. I think it’s quite distinct and discrete in its effect," he added.

Meanwhile, Marcos explained that the RAA is not similar to the visiting forces agreement (VFA) that the Philippines has with the US.

"It’s not the same as a visiting forces agreement. We’ve had problems with that with the Americans— some American forces as we all know but it’s very, very different from what the Reciprocal Agreement will be with the Japanese," he said.

"It’s not going to be as if it’s their base and the people there— their seamen will come down and will go into the city. I don’t think that’s part of the agreement," he added.