Law group laments continued snub of Filipino comfort women

A lawyers' group representing Filipino comfort women in pushing for reparations and an apology from Japan lamented the continued lack of attention the Filipino victims have been getting even after Japan apologized to South Koreans.

The Center for International Law lamented how the Japanese government has finally agreed to apologize to South Korean comfort women but not for Filipino comfort women.

"Are Filipinas raped and ravaged by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II any less human than their South Korean counterparts?" CenterLaw said in a statement.

In a landmark deal last December, Japanese and South Korean officials said after a meeting in Seoul that the "comfort women" issue would be "finally and irreversibly resolved" if all conditions were met.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to take the opportunity to boost bilateral ties following the agreement, in which Japan made an apology and promised about one billion yen ($8.3 million) for a fund to help former "comfort women."

CenterLaw said Japan's agreement with South Korea made the "insult against Filipinas who suffered the same fate sharper and deeper."

The group criticized the Aquino administration's continued refusal to abide by its obligation under international law to provide an effective remedy against its own citizens who had been brutalized by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

"The Filipino Comfort Women are dying one by one. Each day that they are ignored by their own government, any hope of official acknowledgment and reparations grows dimmer as the shadows of old age and mortality cast a dark pall on them," it said.

CenterLaw said the Japanese government's recent aide to the Philippines like patrol boats and soft loans for various infrastructure projects would not erase Japan's responsibility over sexual abuses by its soldiers during World War II.

In August 2014, the Supreme Court ruled with finality to deny a request of the Malaya Lolas to demand an apology and compensation from Japan for the sexual abuses they suffered during World War II.

In the April 28, 2010 ruling penned by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, the high court denied the comfort women's request to compel the 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 women later appealed the decision by filing a motion for reconsideration in June 2010.

In July 2013, the women filed a supplemental motion alleging that Del Castillo's ponencia contains plagiarized portions. The plagiarism accusation led to an internal probe by the SC.

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 proper attribution.

The court's decision was based on the investigation made by the court's own Ethics and Ethical Standards Committee.

In April 2012, the comfort women, represented by lawyer Harry Roque, asked the high court to take into consideration an August 2011 ruling by a Korean court when deciding on their petition.

The Korean court ruled that blocking the release of compensation by the Japanese government for Korean comfort women was an "infringement of fundamental dignity and value of human beings," according to the petition of the Filipino comfort women. —NB, GMA News