Pupils at Maungib Elementary School tied strips of colored paper to a bamboo branch. It was Tanabata, the Japanese custom of writing down a wish and hanging it where the wind can find it.

By then, one wish had already been answered.

Maybe one of them wished for a classroom that would not leak.

Because, for years, the school in Pura, Tarlac, had made do with a building gnawed by termites, split by cracks, worn down by rain. Parts of the concrete floor had sunk. Toilets were scarce.

Then the Japanese Embassy turned over a new building with six classrooms, each with its own toilet.

The P4.5-million project was funded through Japan's Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects and carried out with the local government of Pura. About 100 pupils from Grades 1 to 6 are expected to use the facility.

Japanese Embassy official Mukaigawa Yurie led the turnover with Pura Mayor John Paul Balmores, local officials and school representatives.

As the top ODA donor for the Philippines, Japan has funded 569 grassroots projects in the Philippines since the program began here in 1989.