Sale of Tokyo property criminal

Two years ago, we wrote an article about the government’s plan to lease our country’s properties in Tokyo for 50 years – a stupid and foolhardy move since, as Joker Arroyo had pointed out then, a 50-year lease is as good as a sale. Today, there are renewed attempts to get rid of the country’s property located in the upscale Fujimi district in Tokyo where the Philippine Ambassador to Japan resides. It’s upsetting how government seems to have forgotten the historical significance of our patrimonial properties, paid for with “blood money” since these were acquired under the 1956 Reparations Agreement with the government of Japan as payment for the suffering and the loss of lives of Filipinos during World War II.

In 1990 during the time of then president Cory Aquino, government already tried to sell off the Roppongi property – something which was vehemently opposed by the late vice president Doy Laurel. At the time, there was very strong public opposition against the attempt, accompanied by demands to disclose the proceedings and explain why the bidding process was not made transparent to Filipinos.

In his petition, vice president Laurel argued that, “The Roppongi property is not just like any piece of property. It was given to the Filipino people in reparation for the lives and blood of Filipinos who died and suffered during the Japanese military occupation, for the suffering of widows and orphans who lost their loved ones and kindred, for the homes and other properties lost by countless Filipinos during the war. The Tokyo properties are a monument to the bravery and sacrifice of the Filipino people in the face of an invader; like the monuments of Rizal, Quezon, and other Filipino heroes, we do not expect economic or financial benefits from them.

“But who would think of selling these monuments? Filipino honor and national dignity dictate that we keep our properties in Japan as memorials to the countless Filipinos who died and suffered. Even if we should become paupers we should not think of selling them. For it would be as if we sold the lives and blood and tears of our countrymen.”

This argument obviously carried weight, for in the very well-penned decision by then Supreme Court Associate Justice Hugo Gutierrez Jr., he upheld the Laurel petition to stop the sale of the 3,197-square meter Roppongi property of the Philippines, making the Feb. 20, 1990 TRO permanent.

It’s sad how over the years, many of the country’s assets abroad have been dissipated, like in 1986 when Tony Gonzales, who was then Tourism Secretary, hastily sold the country’s Union Square property in San Francisco for a measly $2 million. Today, we can’t even think of buying it back because the value for the same kind of property has skyrocketed to over $200 million. Obviously, we have not learned from the past.

Since the Department of Finance’s issuance of an invitation to bid on the Fujimi property, protests have been mounting particularly in Japan, with Filipino and Japanese groups joining hands to denounce the move as criminal – “an act of stealing the shared cultural and historical rights of Filipino and Japanese people.” Filipinos also protested against the neglect of the Philippine government to the plight of over 200,000 Filipinos living in Japan.

While Philippine Ambassador to Japan Jun Siazon had previously opposed moves to dispose of our patrimonial properties in Tokyo, it appears he may have changed his mind and is even “bent on favoring a close relative or friends of his wife’s clan in Japan,” as some news reports mentioned. Ambassador Siazon is married to Kazuko (nicknamed Kay), a Japanese who used to work with the United Nations.

This fact seems to disturb people like Banat party list representative Salvador Britanico who expressed concerns that the foreign spouses of Philippine ambassadors might sway them into making decisions that would favor the host country. Siazon is one of the ambassadors currently serving in their spouses’ countries. And as Britanico said, “…the wife might have undue influence especially if the Ambassador is USM, and I’m not talking about US Marines. USM means ‘under the saya ni misis’.” (In Japanese, “takusa,” which means “takut sa asawa.”)

Perhaps it’s time for Ambassador Siazon to retire. He has been our Ambassador to Japan since 2001. When an Ambassador has been serving in one place for too long, sometimes he begins to think the embassy is his own private property and becomes “too familiar” with his post – forgetting that he’s supposed to uphold the interest of his country, and not of the host nation.

Clearly, the Japanese property issue is more than just about dollars and cents. As SC Associate Justice Gutierrez reiterated in his 1990 decision, “…the Roppongi property is valuable not so much because of the inflated prices fetched by real property in Tokyo but more so because of its symbolic value to all Filipinos...” Let’s not forget that the Fujimi property is owned by the Filipino people, and any attempt to dispose of it must be done under full public scrutiny and with concurrence of this country’s constituents. 

Our patrimonial properties in Japan are priceless, whose real value cannot be quantified, since they were paid for by the blood of Filipinos. Even assuming that the proceeds will cover part of the country’s budget deficit (but everybody knows it will only benefit a few) – whichever which way you look at it, selling these properties is simply downright criminal.

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