Outcry for Justice

Outcry for Justice

During the World War II, Philippines is one of the countries that are colonized by Japanese empire. Japan’s eagerness to acquire lands in Asia brought chaos to number of nations including Philippines. One of the tragic incidents of Japanese colonization to our country is the numerous sexual abuse of Japanese military forces to Filipinas which is termed as “comfort women.” Comfort women are those whom are sexually abused by the Japanese military forces during the colonization of Japan in our country in World War II. Last December 2015, Japanese government offered an apology and compensation of 1 billion yen for the Korean-comfort women. An estimated number of 200,000 sex slaves came from Korea, but some historians said that 1,000 women whom are also made as sex slaves came from the Philippines. Filipina-comfort women now seek justice to Japanese empire. An organization was made, formed by the Filipina-comfort women during World War II called LILA Filipina.

The reparation and apology made by the Japan government to Korean-comfort women seems unfair to Filipina victims of sexual abuse. The deal made between Japan and Korea was an insult to Filipina-comfort women. They were sexually abused, harassed and disrespected by the Japanese soldiers. They also suffered much pain and trauma into what they experienced in the hands of Japanese soldiers. LILA Filipina members outcry for justice. Many of them are now dead and those that are left are very old. President Aquino III, must stand out and be courageous enough as our President. He should be the first person to fight for the rights of his fellowmen. Unfortunately, our president seemed to have no sympathy over the victims of Japan colonization. Japanese emperor Akihito visited our country, but days before the said visit, LILA Filipina already made appeal to the President to bring out the issue of apology and reparation to Filipina-comfort women. However, into no avail.

Asian countries are colonized by Japan during World War II and it is not only our country who is not offered an apology and reparation to the damage caused by Japanese soldiers. The Japan Empire must seek apology and reparation to every victim of its dark history. It should not limit its apology only to the country which has the most number of victims. People who does not have the power to speak or those who are not in authority are oftentimes ignored. Through this reality, we need a leader that will voice out and fight for our rights. But how can we attain justice if our own president has no compassion and sympathy over its own people. It is now left to the hands of those victims to fight their own battle even without the help of a valiant leader.