PRIVATIZATION | Lawmaker opposes sale of Japan properties to raise funds

October 16, 2020 , 02:15 PM

(October 16, 2020) – The government should privatize military golf courses to raise funds for the cash-trapped medical insurance, a lawmaker said on Friday, opposing the sale of several properties in Japan.

Albay Congressman Edcel Lagman has questioned President Rodrigo Duterte’s proposal to sell the country’s four properties in Japan to prevent the state-run medical insurance agency from going bankrupt as well as augment the country’s pandemic response, and to defray benefits for Filipino veterans.

“Why do we have to sell real estate in Japan to pay for our veterans’ pension benefits when we can secure funds from domestic sources?” Lagman asked during a budget deliberation for the foreign affairs department.

He said under the 2021 General Appropriations Bill, some 12.8 billion pesos was allocated for veterans’ pension.

“If necessary, the government must sell the military golf courses in Camp General Aguinaldo, Villamor Airbase, and the Veterans Memorial Medical Center which can fetch no less than 150 billion pesos in order to help defray the pension benefits for our veterans,” Lagman suggested.

The lawmaker also doubted selling the Japan properties for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth), which is being investigated for corruption and irregularities.

Lagman also noted that the Philippines already secured some 9 billion US dollars in foreign borrowings and 1.8 trillion pesos for domestic loans in its COVID-19 response.

“There is neither rhyme nor reason for Congress to enact a law authorizing the disposition and sale of these memorials,” Lagman said.

“I certainly agree with the reasons but not the means,” said fellow Albay Representative Joey Salceda, who stood as sponsor for the foreign affairs department.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. also said he opposed the sale.

In 1956, Japan ceded to the Philippines four real estate properties as part of war damages from World War II.

These are the Roppongi and Nampedai properties in Tokyo, as well as two commercial and residential parcels of land in Kobe.

Lagman insisted that these should not be sold, citing a Supreme Court decision in 1990.

The high court ruled in favor of former vice president Salvador Laurel to stop the government’s sale of the Roppongi property, as they were considered under public dominion with no law authorizing its conveyance.

Lagman reiterated Laurel’s statement in the en banc decision:

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

“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.”

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