DFA forms inter-agency group to look into comfort women statue

January 12, 2018

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday said a government inter-agency group has been formed to look into a monument honoring Filipino women who were forced to work in brothels for Japanese occupation troops during World War II.

The seven-foot bronze statue along Roxas Boulevard drew concern and opposition from Japan, a major source of development aid for the Philippines.

Cayetano said he can not disclose the DFA’s recommendation but hinted the statue “will really affect certain feelings and relationships.”

“I don’t think it will be good,” Cayetano said, but noted that the DFA’s position is “always based on Filipino interest.”

Although such interests would sometimes “diverge” in the interest of maintaining good relations with another country, the government also “have to deal with the feelings of our people with regard to certain issues,” he said.

“That’s the context of the DFA’s comments. There’s no final finding from the inter-agency group and I think they are still in the stage of fact-finding – who put it up, why did they put it up, where do they put it up, who got the permits,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said the DFA was never consulted when the statue, which featured a blindfolded woman in traditional Filipino dress, was built.

“We were surprised,” he said. “I believe anything that affects international relationships, there should have been consultations.”

“We are talking about public space. If it’s a private space, you can do what you want.”

Other members of the government group are from the Department of Public Works and Highways, the city government of Manila and the National Historical Commission.

In a meeting with Duterte last Tuesday, Cayetano said Seiko Noda, Japanese Minister for internal affairs and communications, expressed concern over the statue’s erection.

A National Historical Commission marker says the Philippine memorial symbolizes Filipino women who suffered abuses during the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945. DMS