She stands tall and dignified, but she is blindfolded and veiled, her back to the bay. A tragic figure, she is a reminder of a past that was almost forgotten, had not historians and women’s rights advocates unearthed and publicized the institutionalized rape and bondage of Filipino women by the Japanese invaders during World War II.
The bronze statue by Jonas Roces depicts the plight of some 1,000 Filipino women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese imperial forces during the Second World War. Known as “comfort women,” the general public became aware of them only in the early 1990s when historians and women’s groups put it on the national agenda.
Attempts to get justice for the comfort women, especially those who were still alive, have come to naught. While the Japanese government has acknowledged its military’s role in the sexual abuse of women in areas they occupied during the war, the government itself has yet to apologize and compensate the victims.
When the monument to the comfort women initiated by Tulay Foundation and supported by the National Historical Commission was unveiled on Roxas Boulevard in December last year, it didn’t take long for the Japanese Embassy to express its discomfort about its existence. While Malacañang has wisely declared a hands-off policy on the issue, Foreign Secretary Alan Cayetano has made noises about how the statue is “bringing up things that have already been settled” and putting our good relations with Tokyo at stake. A committee has been organized to study and make recommendations on the issue.
To this, the feisty Teresita Ang See of Tulay Foundation issued a stinging reply. “We have long forgiven Japan for the tragedy it caused us — our country and our people — during World War II. But it does not mean we should just forget the atrocities and crimes visited upon us during the Japanese occupation. Since the unveiling of the comfort woman statue at Roxas Blvd. last Dec. 8, we are still waiting for our government’s categorical statement in support of the statue and definite assurance that they will let the statue stand. It is the wiser and more prudent stand. In fact, there is no other stand that our government can take. We urge our government to uphold the dignity of the Filipino people and not to make our country the laughing stock of the world. Let us hold our head up high and not shame our people…
“We have not asked Japan to remove the shrines for Japanese soldiers in our land — the kamikaze shrine in Mabalacat, Pampanga; memorial shrines in Corregidor, in Lumban, Laguna, in Muntinlupa and elsewhere. No threats of unfriendly relations, economic sanction, pullout of ambassadors, abrogation of sister city agreement budged Korea, San Francisco, Sydney and others. Not one country in the world succumbed to Japan’s unreasonable demand to have their statues removed. We can do no less. We are at par with these countries as we stand secure in upholding the truth and honoring our past.
Show to Japan that we have pride, too, and we will not be subservient to any promises of economic gains at the expense of forgetting history and denying justice to victims. China and Korea continue to be Japan’s major trade partners despite thorns in their relations. The atrocities, persecutions, massacres, and other war crimes Japan committed during the war are facts. The rape and bondage of our women are facts. These we cannot and should not deny.”
Ang See argues that “the comfort woman statue at Roxas Blvd. stands with dignity, not anger, to remind humanity that violence against women is unacceptable at any time and under any circumstances. It also serves to remember the women who suffered and to pay tribute to their courage and resilience. Many of them brought the dark secret of their past to their graves. But those who are still living are still waiting for Japan’s admission of and apology for the crime against them.
“The blindfolded comfort woman pleads for justice, recognition and reparation. We cannot shame the comfort women all over again by disrespecting a statue built to honor and remember them. We treasure our right to remember our history and pay long overdue respect to the comfort women who suffered degrading inhumanity. No one should take this away. The presence of the statue is a revelation of our true history, our nation’s acknowledgment that the ordeal of the comfort women happened.
Remembering our past history helps build our nation and forgetting it dooms us to a doubtful future.”
Uncomfortable as the memory may be, the comfort women are a part of our history. The least we can do to honor their sacrifice is to keep the statue erected in their honor standing!