Philippines ‘comfort women’ demand apology during Japan foreign minister visit

An advocacy group representing Filipino victims of wartime sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers will renew its decades-old demand for a formal state apology and reparations as Japan’s foreign minister visits the Philippines this week. The group, Lila Pilipina (League of Filipino Grandmothers), said it plans to press its appeal during the visit of Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, who is set to arrive on Thursday. “We demand a formal public apology and reparation based on the apology,” said Sharon Cabusao-Silva, a spokeswoman for the group. However, analysts say Japan’s long-held position makes new reparations unlikely. Tokyo maintains that all wartime claims were settled through post-war treaties, including the Philippines-Japan Reparations Agreement of 1956, and that Manila has waived all further claims on behalf of its citizens. In the 1990s, Japan established the Asian Women’s Fund to provide “atonement payments” funded by private donations to “comfort women”, as the sex slaves were known, rather than from state coffers. Many Filipino survivors rejected the payments, with advocates arguing the initiative lacked official acknowledgement of Japan’s legal responsibility. “Even by the Japanese government’s own admission, it was not the official compensation,” Silva said. “The funds came from Japanese citizens and private corporations.” However, she acknowledged that some members of her group had accepted payments from the fund out of economic necessity. Of the more than 170 “comfort women” that Lila Pilipina has documented, only six are still alive. A closed case? The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has not confirmed whether the issue will be raised in Motegi’s talks with Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro. The officials are expected to focus on regional security and Japan’s expanding role as a development and defence partner during their talks. Edmund Tayao, a law professor at the San Beda Graduate School of Law in Manila, said the Philippine government would not prevent “any group” from raising the issue of reparations. “But they will also not support it,” he said. Japan is the Philippines’ largest source of official development help, providing about US$13.23 billion in 2024 – roughly one-third of the total. These funds have been used to finance flagship infrastructure projects, including the Metro Manila Subway, North-South Commuter Railway and Davao City Bypass. Their policy is simply to ignore it Sharon Cabusao-Silva, Lila Pilipina spokeswoman Silva said this financial support had dissuaded Philippine governments “past and present” from raising the reparations issue with Japan. “They cannot be relied upon to take up the case,” she said. “Their policy is simply to ignore it.” Legal experts note that Tokyo considers the matter closed and is unlikely to want to revisit it. “For the Japanese, that has always been a sensitive subject,” Tayao said. The Philippine government had also waived its right to raise the issue, said Aldrin Alba of the Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists think tank. However, Alba noted that a United Nations women’s rights committee had previously ruled the Philippines violated victims’ rights by failing to provide reparations or recognition. Survivors of wartime sexual slavery could seek to enforce that decision in Philippine courts, he said. Diane Desierto, a Filipino legal professor who served as co-counsel in that ruling, said there was “hesitation” in applying the ruling as it could open the “floodgates of litigation” for other wartime-era claims “long deemed settled”. Japan’s stance on the issue has wavered over the decades. Initial apologies in the 1990s gave way to denials under former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who maintained that there was no proof of sexual coercion. More recently, a Japanese diplomat visiting Manila in 2024 expressed “deep remorse” for the suffering inflicted on Filipino women during the war. “The dignity and honour of those former comfort women was injured,” Japanese foreign ministry official Kaneko Mariko reportedly said in an interview. “The government of Japan has been extending, expressing apologies and deep remorse for those actions during the war.”

Philippines ‘comfort women’ demand apology during Japan foreign minister visit

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Analysts say Manila is unlikely to back the surviving victims of sex slavery, fearing it could jeopardise billions in infrastructure funding

Analysts say Manila is unlikely to back the surviving victims of sex slavery, fearing it could jeopardise billions in infrastructure funding