Women’s groups have unveiled a new marker dedicated to Filipino comfort women on Sunday at Baclaran Church to honor “the victims of military sexual slavery and violence during the Second World War.”
The ceremony, according to Kyodo News, was led by Lila Pilipina and the Gabriela Women’s Party as well as the non-government organization Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran.
A 2-meter high bronze statue of a blindfolded woman that was to serve as centerpiece of the monument, however, went missing days before the unveiling, Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran founding president Teresita Ang-See said.
“Suddenly, when it was supposed to be put up, he (artist Jonas Roces) suddenly said that it is gone,” she said.
It was the same statue that was removed by public works officials in April from the Manila baywalk area, supposedly to give way to a drainage improvement project.
Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, for her part, said she hopes the new marker would serve as a reminder of the history of Filipino comfort women.
“Ever since our grandmothers opened up about their problem, the government has never given them a proper response,” Brosas said.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte said the comfort woman statue along Roxas Boulevard that was removed was an insult to the Japanese government that had already made reparations to the Filipino women who were forced into sexual slavery during the Second World War.
“It has created somehow a bad (impression). You can place it somewhere else…But do not use (public spaces) because that issue, insofar as I’m concerned, that issue is already finished.”
“The Japanese had paid dearly for that. The reparation started many years ago. Let us not insult them…If it is erected in a private property, fine, we will honor it and the Japanese government and people would understand that there is a democracy here and freedom of expression is very important. But do not use (public spaces)…It is not the policy of government to antagonize another nation,” the President said.
Duterte said it is difficult to continuously reminisce how Japanese soldiers treated at least 1,000 Filipino comfort women during the 1941 to 1945 wartime occupation.
In January, Japan’s Minister for Internal Affairs Seiko Noda expressed regret over the construction of the 2-meter-high bronze statue that was unveiled by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines on December 8 last year.