Palace: Duterte had nothing to do with comfort woman statue, won’t act on it

A 7-foot bronze statue was unveiled on Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Friday, Dec. 8, 2017, in remembrance of the estimated 1,000 Filipinas who were conscripted into sexual slavery in Japanese-run “comfort stations,” during World War II. Photo: Danny Pata

It was not President Rodrigo Duterte who ordered the installation of a seven-foot bronze statue of a comfort woman along Roxas Boulevard in Manila, Malacañang stressed on Thursday.

At a briefing in the Palace, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque refused to say how Duterte responded when Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda expressed regret over the statue during a meeting with the President on Tuesday.

Roque was at the courtesy call along with Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar and Department of Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr.

“Not everything that goes on closed doors bilateral talks can be reported upon or commented upon,” Roque told reporters at the briefing.

Reuters reported that in a comment on her ministry's website, Noda said, "I spoke frankly to the president and I believe he understood."

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte welcomes Japan Minister of Internal Affairs and Communication Seiko Noda in Malacañang Palace on January 9, 2017. Also in the photo are Communications Secretary Martin Andanar and presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. Yancy Lim/Presidential Photo

Roque said that the statue will not affect the ties between the two countries.

“I don’t think it is really a diplomatic issue. No, because our ties with Japan remain very strong. We have every reason to be optimistic, that bilateral relations with Japan would become even stronger,” he said.

Reuters also reported that a spokesperson from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was "extremely regrettable" that such statues have been erected in the Philippines and elsewhere.

Roque urged the reporters to address their questions to the concerned offices such as the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the local government of the City of Manila.

“That should be addressed to the NHCP. It’s not something that the President will act on himself… We didn’t erect the statue, so it’s not a presidential project, so to speak,” he said.

“Si Erap Estrada ang tanungin nyo. Eh sila ang tanungin natin… It’s Erap Estrada’s call,” he added after the briefing, referring to former President and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

The statue of a woman was commissioned by the Tulay Foundation, a Chinese-Filipino organization, according to a report in The Philippine Star.

Manila city administrator Erickson Alcovendaz said in the same report that the Department of Foreign Affairs had asked for information about the statue in a letter from DFA Assistant Secretary Millicent Cruz-Paredes to Estrada on December 12.

“[T]he department requests for background information regarding the monument, including the process of erecting such monuments, and the circumstances that led to the erection of the comfort woman statue,” the letter read in part.

Past projects irrelevant

Roque, a human rights lawyer, pointed out to Gabriela Women’s Party that he is now the presidential spokesperson after the group challenged him to speak up on the issue of comfort women.

“I’m presidential spokesperson now; my past involvements have become irrelevant. The President did not erect that statue. It’s up to the people who erected the statue to do anything they want with it,” he said. — BM, GMA News