Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will not act on concerns about the “comfort woman” statue in Manila’s Roxas Boulevard, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters yesterday.
“It’s up to the people who erected the statue to do anything they want with it,” Roque said. “I don’t think it is really a diplomatic issue, no.”
The bronze statue commissioned by Tulay Foundation was unveiled in early December after an approval from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).
According to Roque, the NHCP should deal with the concerns themsleves.
“That should be addressed to the NHCP. It’s not something that the President will act on himself… We didn’t erect the statue, so it’s not a presidential project, so to speak,” he said.
After meeting with Duterte on Tuesday, Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda raised the issue to the president.
“It’s regrettable for this kind of statue to suddenly appear,” she was quoted on Kyodo News.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was concerned about the effect the statue may have on the Philippines’ relations with Japan. In a letter written in December, the DFA said: “Taking into account the sensitive nature of the comfort woman issue both domestically and bilaterally with Japan, the department requests for background information regarding the monument.”
Various big government projects are being financed by the Japanese government, including the PHP300 billion (US$5.9 billion) Manila-Clark rail.
But Roque assured yesterday that relations between the two countries are still good and will continue to become better.
“I don’t think this is really a bilateral issue because our ties with Japan are very strong. We have every reason to be optimistic that bilateral relations with Japan will become even more stronger,” he said.
Comfort women, or women and girls who were forced into prostituion by Japanese soldiers during World War II, continues to be an issue between Japan and the countries they occupied.
In November, the city of Osaka cut its ties with San Francisco after a statue depicting comfort women from China, Korea, and the Philippines was unveiled. The two had been sister cities for 60 years.
Although Japan hasn’t done a smilar move for the statue in Manila, Gabriela, a women’s group in the Philippines has asked Duterte to refuse requests from Japan to remove the statue.
