It’s unthinkable to sell Philippines’ Tokyo properties

After losing World War II in 1945, Japan committed to pay reparations for the extensive damage its occupation troops afflicted on the Philippines. Manila, for example, was the most devastated city in the Pacific theater of the war.

On 9 May 1946, the Philippines and Japan signed a reparations agreement. Under the deal, the Philippines was paid specified sums of money, and acquired four pieces of valuable real estate in Japan. These properties are a lot in the very expensive Roppongi district in Tokyo (3,175 square meters); the Nampeidai property in Tokyo (2,490 square meters); commercial property in Kobe (about 765 square meters); and residential property also in Kobe.

The Philippine embassy stood on the Roppongi property until 1976 when it transferred to the Nampeidai property because of financial problems.

From 1987 to 1990, President Corazon Aquino made several quiet attempts to sell off all the four valuable pieces of real estate, ostensibly to finance her agrarian reform program.

For starters, Aquino placed a price tag of $225 million for the Roppongi lot. That was an obvious bargain, considering the ever-increasing cost of real estate in Tokyo.

Critics of Aquino noted with alarm that persons close to her were very eager to sell the properties, and suspected large commissions were to be collected.

By 1990, Aquino’s credibility was already waning. Although she pushed through with agrarian reform, Hacienda Luisita, her family’s vast sugar estate in Tarlac, was exempted from her agrarian reform program.

Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel, who had by that time ended his lopsided alliance with Aquino, saw through Aquino’s scheme and took legal action.

With the brilliant Senator Arturo Tolentino as his legal counsel, Laurel filed a suit in the Supreme Court to stop the planned sale of the Philippine properties in Japan. Surprisingly, Laurel and Tolentino were opponents in the 1986 vice presidential election.

On 25 July 1990, the Supreme Court en banc ruled in favor of Laurel by way of a decision written by Justice Hugo Gutierrez Jr.

According to the Supreme Court, the properties in Japan cannot be sold because they are of public dominion, i.e., properties of the State specifically meant for public use, as stipulated in the reparation agreement between the Philippines and Japan.

The Supreme Court added that before the properties in Japan may be sold by the Philippine government, Congress must first declare them patrimonial properties of the State, and enact legislation authorizing the sale.

Laurel’s victory in the Supreme Court effectively derailed any further attempt by the Aquino administration to dispose of the properties in Japan.

The Philippine properties in Japan made it to the news recently after President Rodrigo Duterte said he was open to the idea of selling the valuable real estate to raise funds for the government.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez and several senators are openly against the sale.

Laurel himself stated the best reason against selling off the Philippine properties in Japan. It was quoted by the Supreme Court.

According to Laurel: “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.”

Laurel stressed: “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.”

“Filipino honor and national dignity dictate that we keep our properties in Japan as memorials to the countless Filipinos who died and suffered.

“Critics

of Aquino noted with alarm that persons close to her were very eager to sell the properties, and suspected large commissions were to be collected.