Comfort Women advocates nanawagan na ibalik ang kanilang estatwa

HINDI  lamang ang hustisya ang isinisigaw ng mga advocate para sa comfort women ngayon, kundi maging ang panawagan ng mga ito kamakailan na ibalik ang mga nawawala o ninakaw na mga estatuwa na kumakatawan sa mga “comfort women” na biktima ng pang-aabuso ng mga sundalong Hapon ng World War II.

Sinabi ng mga advocate na ang pag-alis ng estatuwa na simbolo ng comfort women ay hindi makatarungan at nagbubura ng alaala ng isang mahalagang bahagi ng kasaysayan ng bansa.

”You know it was during the Duterte administration that my office was quite near the Comfort Women Statue. So I would pass by it and I was very delighted to see it. And then you know, in the middle of the night, it was just taken down.That was when I was an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs. I saw my colleagues say, there has been no comfort women during the Japanese occupation. And to me that was the beginning of the end…… But I felt,it was a big insult to the Comfort Women,” sinabi ni Lila Ramos Shahani ng Seattle Washington, International Expert for Women at anak ng dating Senadora Leticia Ramos Shahani.

Ayon sa kanya, senadora pa lamang ang kanyang ina ay ipinaglaban na nito ang mga comfort women. Ang estatuwa na ito ay tinanggal ng Abril 2018.

“I already knew about the heritage law. And I knew that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Public Works and Highways, they have no legal prerogative on what happened to the statue. Of course, it is not just this statue.There is another statue in Laguna, in Panay in the property of Nelia Sancho which cannot be taken down only because it is in a private property. “The law is very clear.You cannot dismantle, you cannot deface, you cannot remove, without the permission of the National Commission of the Culture and Arts. And there is no empirical data to show that NCCA was ever asked if this dismantling could have happened,” sabi ni Shahani.”There was a historical marker that was put not only indoors but designed by the National Historical Commission, right? So you take out a marker. So, in other words, what is the meaning of Philippine Law if the implementation gap is so profound?” sambit ni Shahani.

Manila city government had no business keeping the marker. And then Jonas Roces, the artist said the statue who I believe this year said the statue was stolen. What’s happening here is not just the erasure of that statue,”sabi niya. Sinabi ni Shahani na kahit sa mga aklat ay saglit lamang nabanggit ang tungkol sa Comfort Women sa mga pahina nito.Kahit umano ang Bahay na Pula sa Bulacan o red house ng Malaya lolas. Ninais niya raw umano nang siya ay nasa UNESCO pa na marinig din ang tinig ng mga Filipina comfort women nameayonon sa buong mundo, subalit mabubura umano ang mga alaalang ito sa pagkawala ng mga markers at estatuwa ng mga comfort women.”The erasure has to do with political economy. That political economy has to do with money…Where did the money from the 1951 San Francisco treaty go? We were supposed to have a huge amount of reparations money from the Japanese government…what percentage of that went to social welfare, social protection,…89.1 percent went to infrastructure, private sector, and a certain elite that could profit and benefit.You know ship building, infrastructure, but when it comes to social protection, 3 percent.” sabi ni Shahani.

Ang Malaya Lola ay ang mga comfort women na galing sa Mapaniqui at sila ang inabuso sa Bahay na Pula sa Bulacan. Hindi umano itinuring ang mga ito na comfort women dahil wala sila sa comfort women stations, subalit ang mga ito umano ay biktima rin ng pang-aabuso ng mga sundalong Hapones ng naturang digmaan.

Ang mga Filipina comfort women umano ay lumabas lang ng dekada nubenta ng may Koreanang comfort woman na nagsimulang magsalita.”The Japanese do not want to admit.They do not want to lose face.The National Historical Commission put the comfort women marker there in Roxas Boulevard. And then it was taken away by the Manila City government which has no authority to do that.

There are ways of being allies with other countries without necessarily sacrificing the poor,” sabi ni Shahani. MA. LUISA GARCIA