Ambassadorial residence
to give way to Fujimi lease
The government has rejected calls from cultural conservationists to spare the country’s ambassadorial residence in the Fujimi property in Japan from being torn down and replaced with a multi-story modern structure.
Finance Undersecretary Estela Sales said residence will be torn down as part of the leasing deal government will forge with the winning developer.
"The space for development would become so small if it would not be torn down," Sales, who heads the legal and revenue operations unit of the DOF, said in an interview.
She said unless the government or its authorized selling agent, the Department of Finance (DOF), is legally restrained from proceeding with the project, it will have no recourse but to continue with the project.
"But there are no such restraints," Sales said.
Sales clarified that the DOF is undertaking a lease auction and not an outright sale.
"It’s not a sale, it’s a lease (and) it’s allowed under the law," she said.
Finance Undersecretary Crisanta Legaspi, DOF’s point person for privatization, said at least three Japan-based companies have expressed interest in the property. Legaspi said the winning bidder will be announced December 2.
The finance officials doubted if more interested bidders would come in before the December 2 deadline. The first pre-qualifying deadline expired last November 16.
The government expects to get P3 billion to P5 billion in proceeds from a 50-year lease agreement with the winning bidder.
The deal calls for the construction of a 20-story commercial-office building.
The property, measuring 4,361 square meters, is located at Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, one of the most upscale sites in Tokyo.
A broad Japan-based coalition of cultural activists has asked the Senate to stop the bidding, citing the residence’s rich cultural and heritage value.
It also expressed that proceeds would go to corrupt pockets.
The Save Fujimi Property International Network said the Senate committee on foreign relations of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago should help preserve the last remaining "cultural and historical" treasure of Filipinos and Japanese people.
"We are outraged by this move of the Arroyo government. We demand the total scrapping of the invitation to bid issued by the Philippine Department of Finance and we are advising interested bidders to withdraw their bid," the Save Fujimi Network said in a letter dated November 2.
The group said the Fujimi property is home to the historic building that is as among the most grandest ambassadorial homes in Southeast Asia.
The group said the Fujimi property, built during the Tokugawa era, was purchased in 1944 by the Philippine government.
The group said the timing of the Fujimi sale is "highly suspect" given the presidential elections in May 2010."
Early last month, a group composed of former Filipino ambassadors and diplomats who served in Japan also expressed opposition to the sale.
One of the group’s convenors is former Ambassador to Japan Alfonso Yuchengco.
The Fujimi property is part of the three-item privatization package that government hopes to sell this year to realize its privatization goal of P30 billion.
Also included in this year’s auction list are the 120-hectare Food Terminals Inc. property in Taguig for at least P10 billion to P15 billion and the government’s stake in PNOC-Exploration Corp. for P11 billion.- Dennis Gadil
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