Comfort women seek apology from Osaka mayor

MANILA, Philippines - A group of women who served as “comfort women” to the Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines during the second world war yesterday demanded an apology from the Japanese government over the statement of the mayor of Osaka justifying their ordeal.

The Malaya Lolas, a group of about 70 comfort women from Candaba, Pampanga, protested the pronouncement of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto that the Filipino women served a “necessary” role in keeping their troops in check.

The group, through their lawyer Harry Roque Jr., called on the government to file a diplomatic protest against the Japanese government and demand an apology.

“The statement is crass, obscene, and is an attempt to justify a criminal act under international law. Instead of justifying this war crime, the Japanese government should publicly apologize for this systematic criminal act and pay reparations to their victims,” the group said in a statement.

Roque, who represented the Malaya Lolas in a bid in the Supreme Court (SC) to compel the Philippine government to support their demands for official apology and other reparations from the Japanese government, said they are also studying further legal options against Hashimoto and the Japanese government over this issue.

“Specifically, rape and all forms of degrading and humiliating treatment committed in the context of an armed conflict – have always been illegal under customary international law and under the Geneva Conventions,” he explained.

Citing the articles of state responsibility, Roque said that since an elected official of Japan made the statement, their government should likewise be made responsible.

The group issued the statement in reaction to Mayor Hashimoto’s reported statement that “soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam which was provided by the comfort women system.”

The Philippines also called on Japan to be guided by the Japanese government’s apologies for sex slavery during World War II.

“The Philippine government has always urged Japanese authorities to be more circumspect in their public statements relating to this issue, as they strike at the core of the feelings and sensitivities of those who experienced great suffering during World War II,” Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement.

The Philippines reiterated the importance of Japan adhering to the language and tone of the Kono Statement of 1993 and of former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s 2002 letter to Filipina comfort women.

Hernandez quoted Koizumi’s letter, saying “the issue of comfort women, with an involvement of the Japanese military authorities at that time, was a grave affront to the honor and dignity of large numbers of women.”

“As Prime Minister of Japan, I thus extend anew my most sincere apologies and remorse to all the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women. We must not evade the weight of the past, nor should we evade our responsibilities for the future,” Koizumi’s letter read.

The Gabriela party-list called on the DFA to declare Hashimoto persona non grata for his statements.

“How can you justify rape, molestation and sexual abuse as a necessary act? Rape and sexual slavery are heinous crimes. Hashimoto’s statement is like rubbing salt to the wounds left by the Second World War on women, not just in the Philippines but in Korea, China, Taiwan and Indonesia,” Gabriela party-list Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said.

“For years women made into sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army have been demanding official recognition, apology and compensation from the Japanese government to no avail,” she said.

The Gabriela Women’s Party, Ilagan said, has been supporting the calls of Filipino comfort women led by organization Lila Pilipina for recognition, apology and compensation from the Japanese government.

The party-list group has filed various resolutions in previous Congress to bolster the demands of Filipinas abused, molested and systematically made into sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.  – With Pia Lee-Brago, Paolo Romero