Southeast Asia Information Port (www.dnyxxg.com) – Even in their old age and bedridden, Filipino victims of World War II "comfort women" continue to take to the streets in protest, hoping to witness justice served and demand due compensation from Japan. Recently, Sharon Silva, coordinator of the "Philippine Grandmothers Alliance," a Philippine organization dedicated to protecting the rights of "comfort women," gave an exclusive interview to China News Service, detailing the tragic experiences of the Filipino "grandmothers" and expressing strong indignation and condemnation of the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese invaders during World War II.
In the Philippines, victims forcibly conscripted as "comfort women" by the Japanese army during World War II are called "grandmothers." Silva explained that according to existing records, at least a thousand local women were forcibly conscripted as "comfort women" during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1942 to 1945. Of these, 174 victims later joined the "Philippine Grandmothers Alliance," and only a handful are still alive today. The actual number of women who suffered atrocities at the hands of the Japanese army far exceeds a thousand.
These Filipino women, forced into sexual slavery as "comfort women," had their lives utterly destroyed by the atrocities of war. Silva stated that most of them never returned to school, never held formal employment, and most never left the country, or even their hometown or province, remaining marginalized and living out their lives in extreme poverty. 94-year-old Estrita is a typical example. In 1944, at the age of 14, she was kidnapped by Japanese soldiers at a market in Bacolod, Philippines, and forced into sexual slavery as a "comfort woman." This experience became a lifelong nightmare, causing irreparable trauma to her body and mind.
After the war, Estrita kept this painful secret for nearly half a century before finally mustering the courage to stand with other elderly "grandmothers" and fight for justice. Time and again, they took to the streets, protesting outside the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines and Malacañang Palace, the Philippine presidential residence, burning their last breaths to condemn Japan's war crimes, chanting slogans like "No to war!" and "Rise up for peace!" and opposing any attempt to drag the Philippines into open conflict.
Estrita once confessed to Silva that she was old and didn't have much time left. She longed to see justice served in her lifetime, yet held no hope, knowing that Japan had consistently refused to atone for its war crimes. Her only wish was that the younger generation would never again experience the suffering of the Japanese occupation. Sadly, Estrita passed away at the end of 2024 without receiving an apology from Japan, leaving this world with endless regret.
In Silva's view, telling the stories of these "grandmothers" is not only about remembering this heavy history, but also about warning the future and preventing such tragedies from repeating themselves. With the passing of several "grandmothers," the transmission of historical memory has become especially important. She was deeply alarmed and indignant that this history was at risk of being distorted and falsified, with the crimes of the Japanese invaders even being attempted to be erased from history education under the manipulation of right-wing forces—the "comfort women" statue on the shores of Manila Bay in the Philippines was hastily removed by the Philippine authorities under pressure from Japan and ultimately disappeared without a trace.
"We hope that the tragedy caused by the atrocities committed by the Japanese army during the war will not be forgotten, and we hope that the Filipino people, especially the younger generation, will remember the truth of history and ensure that history will not repeat itself," Silva emphasized. She also criticized Japan for its arms sales and war-mongering in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years, and for the Japanese right-wing forces' efforts to glorify its history of aggression. Japan must correct these erroneous actions, issue a formal apology and compensation to the "comfort women" victims and their families, and must not go further down the path of militarism. (End)
