Filipinos in Japan Protest Against Midnight Bidding of Fujimi Property

Protest Against Midnight Bidding of Philippine Property in Japan Hits Arroyo and Bidders

Around thirty Filipinos barricaded the gate of Philippine ambassadors house in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward denouncing the Arroyo administration plan to demolish the historical site and replace with a 21-story building. The protest action sends signal to both Arroyo administration and the bidders to keep off with shared historical and cultural rights of Filipinos and Japanese. 

The prepared press statement of the Save Fujimi Network stated, “Today we are putting our symbolic barricade to signal the start of protest movement and legal action against Arroyo and private company bidders in the act of stealing the shared cultural and historical rights of Filipino and Japanese people. This property should be preserved as a reminder to the Filipinos people who are unaware of how much we have lost and have been cheated out of deceptive 50 years Built Operate Transfer scheme used in developing the Roppongi property. We believe our people are being subjected once again to the same deception in a desperate move by the Arroyo government, which is expiring in 6-month s time, to capitalize on the Fujimi property."

Yuko Takei, one of the protest organizers, said, "In the Roponggi property, out of the whole block, only a little percentage has been allotted to house the Philippine Embassy. And in the Philippine Embassy, very little or around 10,500 Filipinos per square meter is provided for consular service use."  Takei also noted, "In the highly secretive Fujimi development deal between Arroyo government and bidders, as usual, we suspect that there is the no entry for Filipinos, the rightful owners of the property, except the Philippine ambassador and their guests, provision in the development deal.”  

According to Cesar Santoyo, the Coordinator of Save Fujimi Network, the Philippine government neglected totally to give support to almost 200,000 Filipinos living in Japan, including around 170,000 Filipino mothers of Japanese-Filipino children who live in Japan permanently. Santoyo  noted, "There are in fact more than 300,000 Japanese-Filipino children majority of whom are now in their late teens and early twenties."

"These numbers of ignored people are enough to engage Arroyo and the private bidders in legal suits in courts of law, parliaments, as well as on streets where they can voice out aloud the protest once the Fujimi development plan pushed through,” added Anakbayan-Japan Chairperson, Anglique Shimo, a Japanese-Filipino who said that she and her group would not stop their protests until legislative measure could be in place to protect Philippine properties in Japan. 

The sentiment was shared by another protester, Josie Aranjuez Nistal, President of Samahang Filipino, a member organization of the protest network.  Nistal said that Arroyo should not dispose Philippine properties.   Like the other members of her group, she vowed to continue joining the protests "until the Philippine government stop depriving Filipinos their right to have a say in any transaction, especially regarding Philippine patrimonies, that they do." 

The protesters dispersed after two hour, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. under heavy police security.

 

The New Nikkeijin

Yesterday, September 24, 2009, I attended a conference on the Japanese-Filipino children, mostly born out of wedlock and are now being recognized as Japanese nationals if their births are acknowledged legally by their Japanese fathers or mothers. It was sponsored by the International Organization for Migration

I feel sorry for those kids, who are now being called by another nomenclature that will in no way erase the stigma of their being born out of wedlock for instance, or their mothers having worked in bars and clubs in Japan and getting pregnant by some Japanese men.

They were called "Japino" when some Japanese lawyers started taking up their causes initiated by some overstaying Filipino women, who wanted to have the permit to work and stay in Japan permanently using their children as leverage, and worse, even take advantage of the welfare granted to single parents as stipulated by some Child Welfare Law.

The kids are now being called "Shin Nikkeijin"(New People of Japanese descent) to kind of differentiate them from Brazilians, Peruvians, etc. of Japanese ancestry, who flocked suddenly into Japan in the early 90's, and their repatriation paid for by the Japanese government when they could not adjust well to life in Japan.

The Shin Nekkeijin, on the other hand, are told that they cannot expect the same kind of benefit with agencies supposed to take charge of their cases still trying to cope with the new Supreme Court ruling on them.

At least, one of the kids, Angelique Shimo, has the mind to protest against this new term applicable to them that will definitely not improve the tarnished image projected by yellow journalism which called their mothers "Japayuki." The only beneficiaries whatsoever by this new name will be those people buttering their breads with this issue, which is in fact a consequence of the neglect of the Marcos administration to stop the deployment of the so-called "Japayukis" in the 70's and 80's, the naivette of Mrs. Cory Aquino in making it a moneymaking business for her government, and the people,who were/are nowhere nearer to finding solutions to the problems on hand then and now.