Remaining comfort women hoping next president to pay more attention to their plight
By Robina Asido
Less than 20 remaining Filipino comfort women are hoping that the next president will pay more attention to their fight for justice, claiming that the administration has allegedly neglected their rights.
"It was almost impossible to fight for the rights of the comfort women under the present dispensation because it was not sympathetic in fact it even kowtowed to the demands to the demands of the Japanese government to have the two comfort women statues removed and for no reason at all," Sharon Cabusao, executive director of Lila Pilipina, a non-government organization said in a forum in Quezon City.
Asked how many of the comfort women are remaining, Cabusao said in a private Facebook message : ''There are less than 20 survivors with two more awaiting verification.''
''But most of them are in their nineties.. most of them have varying medical conditions. Some of them are bed ridden. Only a few are physical active,'' she added at the forum.
She added that some are ''losing memory of the war.'' ''But if you ask them, they are still very committed to fight for justice,'' she said.
President Rodrigo Duterte made a statement following the removal of the comfort women statue depicting Japanese sex slaves during the World War II along Roxas Boulevard where it was erected in 2018.
Duterte said in a 2018 news report that ''if there is what you would call a memorial for an injustice committed at one time, it's all right.'' He added: ''But if is erected in a private property, fine. We will honor it."
"At the time, that the statue was removed, Lila Pilipina said that having the comfort women statue is very basic to exercise the freedom of expression and the freedom of information of the Filipino people," Cabusao said.
As the group marks the 30th anniversary when Maria Rosa Henson, the first Filipino comfort woman who told her story on September 18, 1992, Cabusao said the Lila Pilipina is planning to submit a petition letter to the next president of the Philippines hoping the government will heed the call for justice for the comfort women.
The letter includes the demand for "an official public apology from the Japanese government based on genuine atonement over its wartime crimes" as they claimed that "the private apology extended by then Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi has not had the power of an official policy as no concrete legislation nor proclamations have been issued that would make it an obligation for the Japanese government to officially recognized and compensate" the comfort women for the damage inflicted to their lives, future and properties.
The group also demanded for historical inclusion, adding that the subject discussing "Japanese wartime military sex slavery" should be taught in schools and included in history textbooks.
The petition letter added that " while justice may seem impossible with the continued refusal of Japan to acknowledge its wartime crimes", it is within the power of the Philippine government to make a concrete legislation compelling Japan to acknowledge its crimes.
As the group lost their hope with the current administration, Estelita Dy, 92, one of the comfort women who was present during the event in Quezon City, called for the Japanese government to understand them and help them attain justice.
"We are still fighting because we want justice for what happened to us. We are calling the Japanese government to help us for the violence they did in the Philippines. We are not your enemies why we were victimized," she said.
"I believe the Japanese government will give us justice because they will understand our situation especially here in the Philippines where our government does not help us, that is why we continue to fight until we get justice,"she added.
Despite her age, Dy can recall the violence she experienced during the World War II where she and other Filipino comfort women were illegaly locked up for two weeks in a Japanese garrison in Talisay, Negros Occidental.
Dy said she was 14 years old when it happened.
"We will never forget when we were raped by the Japanese and we were not able to study, we were ashamed that our neighboors would know that we were raped by the Japanese," she said.
Aside from Lila Pilipina, the event was also supported by members of the Gantala Press, Tangol Kasaysayan, PAMANA and Gabriela. DMS
