A pro-administration lawmaker on Saturday urged the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women to create an updated roster of surviving Filipino comfort women during the second world war in preparation for the grant of pension and other benefits being proposed in Congress.
At the same time, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte called on his fellow legislators to support the proposed measure that aims to grant pensions and health insurance coverage to these wartime victims, given that the survivors are already in their twilight years.
“We hope that we can get this proposal passed in the Congress at the soonest possible time so that these victims of World War II could at least live a little more comfortably in their remaining years. This is not about just giving them benefits, but giving them the recognition they deserve for the sufferings they have undergone during the war,” Villafuerte, vice chairman of the House committee on appropriations, said.
Among the proposals were Villafuerte’s House Bill 9046 which seeks to grant a monthly pension of P3,000 per month for each victim to be sourced from the funds of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office.
The measure also provides free full Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) coverage for Filipino comfort women.
“The bill hopes to ease their life financially and for the State toprovide for them a better situation than what they went through,” Villafuerte said.
Villafuerte’s proposal also tasks the Department of Social Welfare and Development to formulate a program for the proper counseling and guidance of comfort women, “taking into consideration not only their ordeal in the hands of the Japanese Occupational Army but more so the pain and suffering of retelling them in public.”
An initial fund of P10 million is allocated under Villafuerte’s bill for the processing of applications and payments of pensions and insurance of comfort women identified by the NCRFW, after which the costs of the pensions and insurance shall be included in the annual budgets of the PVAO and PhilHealth.
Similar bills have been filed in the House of Representatives seeking to grant pensions and other benefits for Filipino comfort women.