WWII FILIPINA SURVIVORS OF JAPANESE SEX SLAVERY SYSTEM APPEAL FOR ENDORSEMENT OF HOUSE AND SENATE BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS

By Natalie Kaye Ganipis

Manila, January 30, 2008 – In a press briefing at Kape Tasyo in Anonas, QC on Wednesday, former “comfort women,” who are now grandmothers or lolas forced into sexual slavery as young girls in military-run brothels and garrisons of the Japanese in WWII, bid Filipino solons to back house bills tabled in the senate and congress supporting their call for Japan to officially apologize and provide legal reparations to them.

The briefing was facilitated by the Lolas Kampanyera WWII “Comfort Women” Survivors’ Organization with the support of Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child and the Asian Women Human Rights Council – Manila Secretariat headed by Nelia Sancho as national coordinator.

The distress call from the former comfort women victim organization came strong again after first – world countries such as the U.S., Canada and the European Union successively recognized the merits of the victims’ claim for justice and adopted resolutions in their parliaments to urge Japan to fully settle its legal and moral obligation to the victims.

Following the international clamor caused by a comment from former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe denying any evidence that Japan was involved in the coercion of many young girls in WWII to serve sex to their soldiers, the U.S representatives in July 2007 voted for the adoption of U.S. House Resolution 121 which called for Japan to officially redress and apologize to the women who were victimized by their so-called “comfort women” system. It was voted favorably with only 2 dissenting votes.

The success of HR 121 in the U.S. sparked similar legislations in other countries. A similar motion on the subject of the comfort women was unanimously passed by the Dutch parliament on November 8, 2007. Motion 291 of the Canadian Parliament, authored by MP Olivia Chow, was likewise adopted unanimously on November 29, 2007. The European Union also condemned Japan for its actions against comfort women in a resolution that they unanimously voted for last December 13, 2007.

Lolas Kampanyera representatives were invited to the U.S., Canada and EU to provide live testimonies and help lobby for the passage of said motions.

On the home front, many resolutions were submitted in the upper and lower house of the Philippine legislature since 1993. Although none were passed to this date, the Lolas Kampanyera hopes that Filipino senators and representatives will be joining the U.S., EU, Canada and the international community in urging Japan to own up to its responsibilities to the comfort women.

The Lolas Kampanyera is geared to strengthen its campaign in the Senate and Batasan as sessions open this month. They will join other comfort women groups and supporting organizations in order to convince solons that the Philippines as a state is ready to defend the rights and interest of its own citizens.

House Resolution 124, House Bill 1136, Senate Resolution 50 and Senate Bill 765, all currently pending in the House and Senate committees on foreign affairs and women, respectively, are yet to see some action in the 14^th congress.

Lolas and supporters believe that by sponsoring or backing resolutions and bills in support of comfort women, responsible legislators in the Philippine senate and congress are looking after their own citizens, Filipinas who were grossly violated mostly as minors during WWII.

On the other hand, it will also give Japan the opportunity to honorably correct any blunders in their history and earn them the respect of the international community.

In the same event, the book “Justice with Healing – An Anthology of Narratives of the Lolas Kampanyera Survivors of WWII Japanese Military Sexual Slavery in the Philippines” published by the Lolas Kampanyera in September 2007 was introduced as a tool to educate the public on the gripping true stories of the Filipina sex slavery victims during Japan’s occupation of the Philippines; and show why there is really a need for this part of history to be corrected.