Palace washes hands on comfort woman statue controversy

FILE: Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque

Malacañang on Thursday distanced itself from the comfort woman statue that supposedly made a Japanese official who visited call it “regrettable.”

According to Kyodo News, Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda was disappointed with the comfort woman statue.

“It’s regrettable for this kind of statue to suddenly appear,” Noda was reported telling President Rodrigo Duterte during her courtesy call.

Meanwhile, the Palace chose to emphasize that the Philippines and Japan have “very strong bilateral ties” and was optimistic that it will become stronger.

“It’s not something the President will act on himself. We didn’t erect the statue so it’s not a presidential project, so to speak,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said.

However, the statue has the seal of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) which is under the Office of the President. When pointed out by the media, Roque simply said that questions should be asked to the NHCP.

NHCP collaborated with Lila Pilipina in conceptualizing the statue, which now wears a Filipiniana clothing and is blindfolded.

The seven-feet bronze artwork dubbed as “Filipino Comfort Women” was unveiled on Roxas Boulevard baywalk just a few kilometers from the Japanese embassy to raise awareness on their ‘victimization’ during the Japanese colonization. It was sculpted by Jonas Roces, 40, and was erected on December 8 last year.

The words “This monument is a reminder of the Filipino women who were victims of abuses during the occupation of the Japanese forces from 1942-1945. It took a while before they came out into the open to tell their stories” was engraved on the statue.

Lila Pilipina and Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers) both documented stories of comfort women and demanded from the Japanese government an official apology, compensation, and historical texts about comfort women on Japanese textbooks.

Back in December last year, the Palace already revealed its neutrality on the issue in a press briefing, after saying that the government has “no official position” on the matter.

“The fact that the statue was unveiled – well, is a fact. It was not stopped by the government. So for all intents and purposes, there is a statue allowed to be erected in memory of the comfort women,” Roque had said.

“It does not support, it does not oppose. It has no position currently,” he added.

(Read: PH has no official stand on comfort women issue—Palace)