94-year-old comfort woman passes away: Lila Pilipina
One of the surviving Filipina comfort women died at the age of 94 on Sunday, Lila Pilipina announced on Monday.
An organization supporting the cause of the victims of sexual slavery during the Second World War said Estelita Dy was in the care of her daughters in their home in Malabon when she died due to stroke.
"Lola Estelita served as the voice of the survivors, ardently speaking out against wars of occupation even as her health turned even more frail," the group said.
"Lola Estelita was a true warrior for peace, an inspiration for many women in the country and in Japan. Her message often centered around the need for vigilance among young people, who will be most affected by imperialist wars," it added.
As the justice for the Filipina comfort women remains elusive, the Lila Pilipina remembers Dy saying that she "actually do not expect to see justice" in her lifetime noting that "what is more important to me is that young people do not experience wars of occupation, like we did."
Dy was 14 years old when she was allegedly locked up and repeatedly raped by Japanese soldiers for two weeks.
"We will never forget when we were raped by the Japanese and we were not able to study, we were ashamed that our neighbors would know that we were raped by the Japanese," she told Daily Manila Shimbun in an interview in 2022.
Lila Pilipina Director Sharon Cabusao-Silva did say how many are surviving World War II comfort women, but she noted that the comfort women under their organization are now less than ten from 174 a few years ago.
Silva said the last comfort woman who died before Dy is Fedencia David. Robina Asido/DMS
