Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said on Friday, March 10, Congress will be asked to pass a legislation that will provide reparations for the country’s “comfort women.”
“We will have to talk to Congress, to the Speaker and the Senate President about the legislation necessary to act on this matter of ‘comfort women’ kasi hindi tayo nakapag-pass ng legislation, hindi natapos ‘yung trabaho before (because we failed to pass the necessary legislation and we failed to finish the work),” Remulla told journalists.
“So, we have to continue doing the job,” he assured.
Remulla reacted to the announcement of the United Nations (UN) that its Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has issued a decision which found that the Philippine government failed to provide reparations to Filipina victims of sexual slavery perpetrated by the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II.
“We never want justice to be too late kasi kaunti na lang ang nabubuhay sa kanila (because they are only a few of them still alive),” Remulla said.
“Sana mahabol pa natin (We hope we can catch up),” he also said.
The UN announced last March 8 that the CEDAW issued the decision on the complaint filed by the 24 members of the Malaya Lolas, a non-profit organization established to provide support to sexual slavery survivors.
“The Committee (CEDAW) requested that the Philippines provide the victims full reparation, including material compensation and an official apology for the continuing discrimination,” the UN said.
The UN said the Malaya Lolas had “consistently raised their claims at the domestic level, requesting that the Government of the Philippines espouse their claims and their right to reparations against the Government of Japan.”
“Their repeated efforts, however, were dismissed by the authorities, with their last action turned down by the Supreme Court in 2014,” the UN cited.
Thus, it said, the victims brought their cases before the CEDAW in 2019 “to establish the responsibility of the State party to fulfil its commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in supporting the non-discrimination of women and girls on its territory.”