‘Comfort Women’ in the Philippines Seek Justice As Time Runs Out

An aunt eventually sat Nenita down and explained that Crisanta had, as a 17-year-old, been a sex slave during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II, one of tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of “comfort women” across Asia who were kidnapped and repeatedly raped by imperial soldiers.

“When I learned about my mother’s ordeal, I wanted to fight back, I wanted to avenge her,” said Nenita, 66, one of six children Crisanta had as she tried to restart her life after the war. Her first husband had been murdered by Japanese soldiers as they swept across the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia before their defeat in August 1945. “I didn’t know where Japan is, I just know that they ruined my mother’s life.”

Critics say Japan’s failure to fully atone for wartime sex slavery is a recurring source of diplomatic tensions between South Korea, the Philippines, China and countries like the United States and Germany that support the cause of comfort women. Tokyo has also been accused of deflecting any criticism on the issue through a steady flow of development funds to governments.

Nenita’s long journey to help her mother hold Japan accountable started one day years ago when she heard a call out on the radio for women who were sexually abused during the war. It took a long time to convince her mother to share her story for documentation to help aid any legal fight.

After battling multiple illnesses, Crisanta died at 79 years old in 2000, without receiving an official apology or any reparations from the Japanese government. 

But her daughter’s mission continued. She now volunteers at Lila Pilipina, an organization demanding justice for comfort women survivors. At Lila Pilipina, they are fondly called “lola” (Filipino for grandmother) after Maria Rosa Luna Herson, who at 65 years old became the first woman from the Philippines to recount her ordeal as a Japanese sex slave. 

The organization calls on the Japanese government to compensate the women, provide a direct formal apology to them and their families, and include their story in official history books.  

But time is running out.

Today, there are only 13 surviving comfort women under the care of the Manila-based organization, and many of them are in very poor health because of their advanced age. Weak and bed-ridden, their memories are starting to fade, making documentation difficult, especially as COVID-19 risks prevent in-person interviews.

Hopes were briefly raised earlier this year when a South Korean court ordered the Japanese government to compensate 12 comfort women in a landmark move to legally hold Tokyo responsible for the wartime atrocities. Japan was angered by the court decision, calling it “extremely regrettable and utterly unacceptable,” and asked the South Korean government to immediately reject the ruling. 

It has pointed to a “final and irreversible resolution” on the issue dating back to December 2015 that resulted in Tokyo claiming responsibility, apologizing to the women in South Korea and promising to set up an $8.3 million fund to assist the elderly victims. 

Tokyo is insisting that the agreement has closed the chapter. But Seoul maintains that while the two governments have reached a settlement, individual citizens have the right to seek redress.

Starting in the 1930s and lasting until the end of World War II, up to 400,000 women were pressed into 2,000 “comfort stations” across Korea, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Crisanta was from Sorsogon, a province in the eastern Philippines that faces the vast Pacific Ocean. Her life changed overnight when the Japanese invaded in December 1941.

She fell into the hands of Japanese soldiers. Her husband had tried to persuade them not to take their crops, but he was beheaded right in front of Crisanta, who immediately passed out. 

She woke up in a garrison along with other women who were locked up and raped by Japanese soldiers. She was able to escape the horrors after three months and reunite with her remaining family. Nenita was born after her mother remarried and tried to forget the past.

That past was kept secret for a long time, just like many other survivors who did not come out over shame and fear of judgment in the conservative, Catholic-majority country. It was a daunting task for Nenita to convince her family to let Crisanta tell her story.

Sharon Cabusao-Silva, who has been working at Lila Pilipina for more than a decade, hopes the South Korean court decision will set a precedent for state and international courts to rule favorably for victims against the Japanese government.

“It’s time for them to atone for their sins,” Cabusao-Silva told VICE World News. “I do hope that Japan will finally respect this decision and will come to the negotiating table with the South Korean people and government, and finally accept its responsibility.”

The Japanese embassy in the Philippines did not immediately return requests for comment, but previous attempts to press cases were thrown out by Japanese courts. Today, plaintiffs are studying legal options to try again, even as the pandemic adds more delays and fears that they won’t live to see justice done.

“Our lolas are old and dying. We are just trying to survive this pandemic. When it is over, we will all come out and fight again,” Cabusao-Silva said. 

Cabusao-Silva envies the drive and passion of the South Korean people to fight for their “halmoni” (Korean for grandmother) and credited the liberal government for the recent court ruling. 

In South Korea, the issue is a source of national importance, but it has not gained the same level of attention in the Philippines, which has avoided damaging ties with Japan, a major development donor.

Former Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the Philippines in 2016 but made no official apology or mention of the comfort women, to the dismay of those who went out to protest during the visit. 

In April 2018, the Philippine government removed a comfort woman statue made just four months after it was erected in front of the Japanese embassy in Manila. The statue was returned to the artist and it is not on view in public. 

Another similar statue donated by South Korean officials and placed in a town outside Manila was also removed.

“This is the kind of government we have. It does not even respect the right of the people to remember history,” Cabusao-Silva said.

For Nenita, she will continue her work at Lila Pilipina, visiting and documenting the sickly remaining survivors, while hoping that the government will finally heed their calls for justice. 

“Perhaps it’s not yet the time, but someday, somehow my mother will receive justice,” Nenita said.