PHL comfort women ask govt to file protest over Japan mayor's 'obscene' remark

A group of Filipino women who were abused by Japanese soldiers in World War II on Wednesday asked the government to file a diplomatic protest over a Japanese mayor's "obscene" remark about comfort women.

In a statement, Center for International Law chairman Harry Roque Jr., a legal counsel for the Filipino comfort women collectively known as the Malaya Lolas, deplored a recent statement made by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto that the "comfort women system" was "necessary" to keep soldiers motivated.

"The statement is crass, obscene, and is an attempt to justify a criminal act under international law," said Roque, a law professor at the University of the Philippines and an expert in international law.

"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," Roque said.

Roque described Hashimoto's remark as a "criminal statement."

In his controversial statement, Hashimoto said soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam that was provided by the comfort women system.

"When soldiers risk their lives under a hail of bullets, and you want to give them a rest somewhere, it is clear that you need a comfort women system," said the Japanese mayor.

There are at least 200,000 women who were made to serve in these comfort stations in Korea, China and the Philippines.

Roque said instead of "justifying this war crime" of abusing comfort women, the Japanese government should publicly apologize and pay reparations to the victims.

The Malaya Lolas had asked the Supreme Court to compel Philippine government to have Tokyo apologize to them and provide compensation  for being victims of sexual slavery by Japanese occupation forces during World War II.

The court, however, denied their request on April 28, 2010.

The women later appealed the decision by filing a motion for reconsideration in June 2010. The women later filed a supplemental motion alleging that the case's ponente Associate Justice Mariano Del Castillo's ponencia contains plagiarized portions.

The plagiarism accusation led to an internal probe by the SC of Del Castillo. In a 25-page ruling promulgated on October 12, 2011, the court junked the petition alleging that Del Castillo lifted portions of his ruling from foreign sources without the proper attribution. — Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News