Duterte says comfort women issue is over

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, in his speech upon his arrival at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City at dawn of April 29, 2018,  RENE LUMAWAG/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

Following the criticisms that were thrown to the government for the removal of the seven-foot bronze statue depicting a blindfolded Filipina dubbed as the ‘comfort women,’ the President commented that the issue is already over as it will only bring back pain.

“We can place it somewhere else if somewhere else. If you want to place it in a private property, fine, but do not use – because that issue, in so far as I am concerned, tapos na iyan (that is over),” President Rodrigo Roa Duterte said in his speech in Davao City on April 29, Sunday.

“The Japanese has paid dearly for that. Iyong (The) reparation started many years ago. Huwag na lang natin insultuhin [ang Japan] (Let us not insult Japan)… it is not the policy of [the] government to antagonize other nations,” he further defended.

According to Duterte, bringing up the victimization of the comfort women during the Japanese colonization will only bring back pain.

“Masakit kasi na ulit-ulitin (It is just really painful whenever it is brought up again and again) and you start to imagine how they were treated badly,” Duterte continued.

While this was the Chief Executive’s stand, a political analyst that this move actually took away the dignity of the victims.

“There’s a little bit dignity in memorializing it, and we take it away from them,” Atty. Tony La Viña said in an interview with ANC on Sunday.

He said that he does not understand the reason of the removal, because it seemed like the government was “hiding” the erection of the monument, ashamed of its memorialization.

“We should not be. We should not shame ourselves. We should not shame the comfort women,” he added.

La Viña said that this removal is the “biggest insult” the victims could ever receive.

While the President touched Japan in his defense to the removal, different government institutions related to the statue’s removal like the Public Works Department and the Manila City Hall said that the statue was only removed because of drainage works.

In January, Kyodo News reported that Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda expressed disappointment on the statue.

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

The “Filipino Comfort Women” statue was unveiled on Roxas Boulevard baywalk just a few kilometers from the Japanese embassy, 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.