Philippines government giving in to Japan, removing ‘comfort woman’ statue?

This 12 December 2017 says about itself:

Japan has expressed regret following the Philippines‘ recent unveiling of a statue representing the so-called “comfort women”.

In a press briefing Tuesday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Japan regrets any country installing a comfort woman statue, adding that it will decide how to react to through communication with the Philippine government.

On Friday, the League of Filipino Women and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines jointly unveiled the two-meter tall statue to honor some 1,000 Filipino victims who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War Two. The Philippine government said it would not take any position on the comfort women issue, hoping that the statue would not affect Manila-Tokyo relations.

After President Duterte of the Philippines recommended his soldiers to shoot communist women opponents of his government ‘in their vaginas’ …

From daily The Independent in Britain today:

Anger after Philippines removes sex slave statue

‘We kneeled down to the Japanese, that’s why it’s shameful, so shameful’

A statue honouring women who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during the Second World War was quietly removed from a busy seaside promenade in the Philippine capital, angering women’s groups.

Manila City Hall said in a statement that the bronze statue of a blindfolded Filipina, unveiled alongside Manila Bay in December, will be returned once drainage work is completed. It gave no time frame for the project, alarming activists who suspect that the Japanese government pressured the Philippines to take the monument down.

“What happened is that we kneeled down to the Japanese. … That’s why it’s shameful, so shameful,” said Teresita Ang See, co-founding president of a Chinese Filipino group.

Michael Charleston “Xiao” Chua, a professor at the De La Salle University Manila, called on the public to fight to get back the statue as a symbol of national dignity.

The monument was removed Friday night.

Japan’s Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Seiko Noda had expressed regret over the construction of the monument in January. According to Kyodo News service quoting the Japanese Embassy in Manila, the Philippine government had notified the embassy of its intention to remove the statue.

The emotional issue of “comfort women” has provided a dilemma for the Philippines’ relations with Tokyo, a major provider of aid and financing to Manila.

A National Historical Commission marker says the monument memorialises Filipinas who suffered abuses during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1942 to 1945. It was built with donations from Chinese-Filipino groups and individuals.

Historians say 20,000 to 200,000 women from across Asia, many of them Koreans, were forced to provide sex to Japan’s front-line soldiers. Japanese nationalists contend that the so-called “comfort women” in wartime brothels were voluntary prostitutes, not sex slaves, and that Japan has been unfairly criticized for a practice they say is common in any country at war.

In 1995, Japan provided through a private fund 2 million yen ($18,000) each to about 280 women in the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea, and funded nursing homes and medical assistance for Indonesian and former Dutch sex slaves. However, many women in South Korea and the Philippines have demanded a full apology accompanied by official government compensation.

Last year, Osaka terminated its 60-year sister-city ties with San Francisco to protest a statue commemorating Asian sex slaves that was erected by California’s Korean, Chinese and Filipino communities.

Philippines government books Trump hotel as Duterte pushes for free trade deal with US: here.

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