DFA: 'Comfort women’ issue not on agenda of Marcos' Japan visit

Members of the Lila Pilipina lay flowers at the pedestal of a statue depicting a Filipino ‘comfort woman’ to mark the 30th anniversary of the ‘Flowers for Lolas’ campaign in Baclaran, Parañaque yesterday. The statue, shown in a tarpaulin beside the pedestal, remains missing after it was stolen from artist Jonas Roces’ studio in 2019. The statue was installed along the Baywalk in Manila in 2017 but was removed months later for a drainage improvement project.

Krizjohn Rosales

MANILA, Philippines — Compensation for "comfort women" — who were forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines – is not among discussion points that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will bring up during his official working visit to Japan.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the issues had already been settled upon the signing of the 1956 Reparations Agreement with Japan, when it provided the Philippines around $550 million worth of goods and services. 

"We will not stop the victims (from demanding that) — because this is an atrocious violence against women during the war — but, as far as government is concerned, we’ve already signed that reparations agreement with Japan in 1956," Nathaniel Imperial, assistant secretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs at the DFA, said in a media briefing on Wednesday. 

Full Story: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/02/01/2241819/dfa-comfort-women-issue-not-agenda-marcos-japan-visit