Senator says kamikaze pilot statue in Mabalacat should be removed
By Robina Asido
CANDABA, Pampanga -- Senator Risa Hontiveros said the kamikaze pilot statue in Mabalacat town should be removed and burned as she vows to search for the comfort women statue along Roxas Boulevard that went missing in 2019.
"I am not aware that there are Kamikaze pilot statues... please give me a list of its locations, it should be removed and thrown into the fire," the senator said as she visited the members of 'Malaya Lolas', a group of survivors of sexual slavery during World War Two in Barangay Mapaniqui on Wednesday.
"I was surprised to hear that there is a kamikaze memorial here in the Philippines so I really listened with all my ears and heart to the call of Malaya Lolas to remove the statue," she added.
The statue was built in October 2004 to mark establishment of an aerial kamikaze squadron, which flew from Mabalacat East Airfield, which sank an escort carrier and damaged other American warships, its website said.
When asked if she also considered calling the Japan Embassy to voluntarily remove the kamikaze pilot statue, Hontiveros said that "could come as a second step."
"I think the first step is for the Philippine government and we the Filipino public to take action about the proper memorialization and the removal of any even more hurtful painful other memorialization to the Malaya Lolas, for those who are still living and the memory of those who have already died fighting for justice then a second step will be calling on the other government to take proper actions," she said.
During her visit in Mapaniqui, Hontiveros met the 15 out of the 18 living members of the Malaya Lolas. The group's president Marie Quilantang, 88, and vice president Pilar Galang, 88, offered a song that describes their struggles and horrible experience from the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
After meeting them, Hontiveros proceed to the the Bahay na Pula in San Ildefonso, Bulacan which was used by the Japanese soldiers.
Hontiveros expressed her commitment to search for the missing comfort women statue and to preserve the "Bahay na Pula".
"Very soon I will be calling on the Philippine government and the public, all of us Filipinos to undertake a search, a thoroughgoing, a serious search to find that statue," she said.
"It's more than life size, the tarpaulin alone of that statue is eight feet tall so how could it just disappear into thin air let's find that statue let reinstate it in the proper place where it should serve as a memorial to what was done to the Malaya Lolas and their valiant struggles since then," she added.
Hontiveros said inquiry on the controversial disappearance of the comfort women statue might be included in hearing Senate Resolution No. 539 she filed last year.
She noted that the resolution was filed to ensure just reparations are given to Filipino comfort women and their families after the Philippines was called out by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
"It might not even require a separate resolution for a separate investigation it could be part of the hearing of my proposed Senate resolution for the Philippine government to now finally comply with its treaty obligations under the CEDAW especially that the Malaya Lolas already won a favorable resolution from the UN CEDAW. And part of that resolution is precisely the memorialization of what was done to them and that missing statue precisely is already a very concrete memorial to their struggle," she said.
With the appointment of the new Education Secretary Senator Sonny Angara, Hontiveros expressed optimism that the history of comfort women will be included in the school curriculum.
"As the newly appointed secretary of education considering that he has been a very active participant in the Education Commission 2 or the EdCom 2 moving forward it would be fantastic," she said.
"Sec. Sonny could proactively push the teaching of the history of the Malaya Lolas at all levels of basic education we could make a similar call to the leadership of the commission on higher education for the tertiary level that in obedience to the UN CEDAW resolution this now be done," she added. DMS
