23 years on, Filipino comfort women continue to seek reparation

It's a race against time for Filipino comfort women, to seek justice as they are now in their 80s and 90s.

 

The friends of Maria Jacinto make it a point to visit her in Matamo, Arayat, Pampanga.

 

But on March 6, Jacinto passed away a few hours after one of their visits.

 

Jacinto, Fedencia David and five others are among the few surviving comfort women, who were forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II.

 

The women are part of Lolas Kampanyera, an organization that caters to comfort women that was founded in 2000 by socio-civic advocate Nelia Sancho. 

 

Their grave concern ow the women, who are all in their twilight years, is that they will be forgotten, that they will die without getting the justice and compensation that they yearn for.

 

“Sabi namin, kailangan ipaglaban natin dahil inosente tayo noon eh, hindi naman namin alam na ganun ang gagawin ng mga sundalong Hapon… pero iiilan na lang po kaming mga lola dahil patay na pong lahat sila eh,” David said.

 

Of the 70 founding comfort women members, only six remain. Lola Fedencia is staying in Manila while the other members live with Sancho in Roxas City, Capiz.

 

(Caption: From L-R: Loreta Mesa del Rosario, Lety de la Cruz Guinto, Lucia Luris, Fedencia David, Fausta Gomez, and Agueda Tunggal. PHOTO CREDIT: Cristina Lope Rosello )

 

“Sa Philippines, maikli ang memory dito. ‘Pag naubos na ang lola, iba na eh ‘pag wala na talaga sila lahat. Iba na kasi advocate ako, ‘di naman ako yung survivor talaga,” said Kampanyera resident psychologist Cristina Lope Rosello.

 

(Caption: Lola Fedencia David was barely a teenager when she and her grandmother were taken by Japanese troops from their barrio near Dasul, Pangasinan in 1942. They worked like slaves by day at the garrison and at night they were raped by the soldiers.)

 

If Lola Fedencia and the other comfort women are recognized, this would also bring to the surface the years of neglect that they had to endure.

 

“Ang na-reveal talaga dun (sa Thematic Apperception Tests) is parang they were divided, yung selves nila. Part of themselves were stuck in the past, in the war, tapos meron silang flashbacks in the course of any given day, they have uncontrollable flashbacks and they seem to be stuck in the past,” Rosello explained.

 

(Caption: Lola Fedencia David, Lola Amonita Balajadia, and Lola Julia Porras were three of the founding members of Lolas Kampanyeras, founded by Nelia Sancho in 2000. Most of its comfort women founders have passed away without receiving compensation or adequate care from their own families. PHOTO CREDIT: Rie Takumi)

 

After Sancho got in touch with Korean comfort women groups in 1992, a fact-finding committee of 16 Japanese lawyers was formed and they visited a barrio in Dasul, Pangasinan in 1993.

 

“Sila po mismo ang nag-interview. Mahirap po ang aming pinagdaanan kasi kukunin nila dun sa huli tapos igigitna nila. Ngayon, nililito-lito ka po ba kung totoo sinasabi mo,” she recalled as the lawyers conducted an audit of their claims.

 

Compensation was eventually given by Japan for some of their wrongdoings, but none were given to the comfort women.

 

“Hindi po namin alam (kung hinihintay kami) kasi dinedeny nga po nila eh. Ang sabi po kasi nila tapos na daw ang obligasyon nila, pero ang sagot naman namin po ang binayaran tulay na binomba, yung mga building, yun po ang binayad nila. Pero yung issue ng mga kababaihan dito po sa Pilipinas, wala pa pong binabayaran na mismong nanggagaling sa gobyerno ng Hapon,” Lola Fedencia relayed.

 

Even when some comfort women were granted reparation, Filipinos were denied of compensation. Their South Korean counterpart received one billion yen or $8.3 million in December.

 

In April 1993, eighteen comfort women from the Philippines filed a class action lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court to seek ¥360 million from the Japanese government.

 

Included in the lawsuit, the plaintiffs also called on the Japanese government to include information about comfort women in school textbooks so the younger generation would know of their plight.

 

The lawsuits were based on the provisions of the 1907 Hague Treaty protecting civilians in military-occupied territories and both Japanese and Philippine laws.

Their suits were also appealed and dismissed on 1993, 1998, and 2000. 

 

“Hindi naman po lahat binigyan eh. Marami po talagang hindi nakatanggap dun sa private fund. Kasi po nung nagiinterview po kasi ng mga Hapon, 46 plaintiff kung tawagin nila ang kanilang ininterview. Tinigilan na po nila… Yung iba, ‘di na nila na-interview,” Lola Fedencia said.

 

(Caption: Lolas Kampanyera psychologist Cristina Lope Rosello used Thematic Apperception Tests to identify lingering psychosocial issues faced by comfort women, which showed that most women had a part of themselves stuck in flashbacks in the course of any given day. PHOTO CREDIT: Rie Takumi)

 

Rosello explained that the women in comfort stations or brothels in the Philippines did not have stipends or medical check-ups like Korea's due to Japan’s war debts and the country’s status as a US colony.

 

It was a war strategy para ma-annihilate mo yung kalaban. Tapos criminal in the sense na yung conditions ng comfort stations na niloloob ng Imperial Order, hindi naman yun nasunod na eh,” she said.

 

The struggle of the Filipino comfort women is on its 23rd year, but the Lolas Kampanyera is determined to pursue seeking reparation from the Japanese government as well as to include their stories in history lessons.

 

Lola Fedencia remains confident that they will get the compensation they deserve before their time is up.

 

“Pag ‘yun po siguro binigay na nila sa amin, na humingi na po sila ng sorry, at saka ito, konting tulong para sa iyo kasi nga matatanda na po kami ngayon, ‘di na po kami makapaghanap-buhay. ‘Yun po ang aming hinihiling sa gobyerno ng Hapon,” she said. — BAP, GMA News