John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono has added her voice to the growing opposition to the plan of the Arroyo government to bid out the Philippine-owned Fujimi property in Tokyo, Japan, and convert it into a commercial multi-story building.

As it turns out, the property located in Fujimi, Chiyoda-ku, one of the most upscale real estate sites in Tokyo, is Ono’s ancestral home. Her opposition to the sale of the property appeared in the pages of a newspaper published in Japan last October 31.

The building was in fact built in the 30's after the great Tokyo earthquake of 1923 that flattened the city, including historical houses like that of a former baron who was close to the Imperial Family and lived in the premises of the Imperial Palace.

The building was rebuilt in 1935 with the same foundations of the old mini-castle of Baron Yasuda, the ancestor of Ono.

Ono’s father, Eisuke Ono, was the descendant of a 9th century Emperor of Japan while her mother Isoko Yasuda Ono was the granddaughter of Zenijiro Yasuda, the founder of Yasuda Bank.

She practically grew up in the Fujimi property, saying she has only the fondest memories of her childhood there. In 1937, her father was transferred back to Japan and Ono was enrolled at Tokyo’s Gakushuin, one of the most exclusive schools in Japan, which, before World War II, was open only to the Japanese imperial family and aristocrats of the House of Peers. Her family moved to America in 1940 but went back to Japan shortly before World War II broke out.

In 1944, when Jose P. Laurel left with the Japanese Imperial Army, he bought the property from the Yasudas, who owned other properties in other parts of Japan.

The property was sequestered by the US occupation forces when Laurel was tried for treason and given to the Philippine government when the US recognized Philippines independence in 1946.

Since then, the property has been used as residence of Philippine ambassadors to Japan, who have been the envy of other Asian ambassadors who do not have such an exotic facility as their countries are not as fortunate as to have five properties given through Japanese war reparations that are even located in various parts of Tokyo and Kobe.

The first attempt to get rid of the Philippine patrimonies was in 1989 when the Aquino government tried to sell all the properties in Japan allegedly for Philippine economic recovery and then for better implementation of land reform.

In 2004, Ono expressed her disagreement to any plan to destroy her ancestral home when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo first tried to use the proceeds of the planned Build-Operate-Transfer of the property in 2004 reportedly for her election campaign then.

Last Sunday, angered by fresh attempts by the Arroyo government to dispose of another Philippine patrimony in Japan, members of the Filipino community representing various sectors of overseas Filipinos in Japan, barricaded the Philippine ambassador's residence.

The Department of Finance (DoF) had earlier issued an invitation to bid out the Fujimi property.

According to the DoF, the real estate deal could earn P3 billion for the government coffers.

The property is still listed in the government assets to be privatized despite a Malacañang denial that the deal has been shelved.

The protest emphasized Arroyo government’s “lack of any sense of history” with even Japanese nationals themselves urging the Filipinos to protest against the plan to destroy the ambassador's residence that is considered a cultural and historical heritage.