Locsin rejects proposal to sell Philippine properties in Japan

September 29, 2020

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. on Tuesday rejected anew a proposal to sell Philippine properties in Japan “for any reason” and suggested that assets of the Department of Health should be the ones be sold for its “lousy response” to coronavirus pandemic.

“I will never agree to the sale of our properties in Japan for any reason. Sell the properties of the departments of budget, treasury, health above all for its lousy response to COVID,” Locsin said in a Twitter post.

“Sell the properties of our line departments. Many idle ones,” he added in another tweet.

In particular, Locsin proposed that the San Lazaro Hospital and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine be sold and “rob PhilHealth some more instead” to fund the programs of the DOH.

“I don’t mean the secretaries. The properties are idle. Imagine selling our Japan properties to fund the programs of DOH? Rob PhilHealth some more instead. They’re good at that. Sell San Lazaro. Sell RITM,” he said.

Earlier, the DFA rejected any proposal to sell the Philippines’ four real estate properties in Japan the country acquired as part of World War II reparations.

The Philippine government acquired the four properties in Tokyo and Kobe under the war reparation agreement with Japan on May 9, 1956.

Of the four properties, the Roppongi property in Tokyo is considered one of the most expensive piece of real estate in the Japanese capital.

There were several attempts in the past to auction off the 3,179 square-meter Philippine property on 306 Roppongi St. 5-Chome Minato-ku, Tokyo either by sale or long-term lease. DMS