The Helpless Call of Comfort Women to the Philippine Legislation
Written by Veronika Millena | Edited by Addrita Yousuf
Chapter 3: The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines
Pananakop– the act of conquest. Conquest breeds in various forms. Political, ideological, and physical, are among the many methods used at the start of international colonization. Perhaps, the greatest influence lied on the status of people before, during, and after a state’s conquest of a smaller, less powerful nation. It is difficult to provide a centralized concept of colonization when each country warrants a contrasting control from others.
The Philippines is an archipelago located in Southeast Asia. Similar to other Asian nations, it is embedded with rich culture, a diverse demographic, and an extensive history. In early times, its nativity was preserved even when trade relations were existent with China, Arabic countries, and India. An early process of non-volatile globalization influenced a lot of the Philippines’ language, way of life, and culture. However, during the 16th century, when the world was split between the powers of Spain and Portugal, the nation fell under the control of the Spaniards. Lasting for over 300 years, the Philippines managed to end Spanish conquest with the help of the United States (Estados Unidos).
At the height of America’s colonization of the Philippines, the Japanese government exerted extreme (and forceful) will to replace U.S.’s power over the small nation. American and Philippine soldiers worked tirelessly protecting the nation, only to fall completely under the Japanese occupation in 1941. In lieu, it was during the occupation when the trend of “comfort women” heightened among Japanese soldiers. Soldiers kidnapped Filipinas as young as 10 years old– eager to make sexual entertainment their pastime.
The tireless “industry” of Comfort Women
During one of the most telling eras of Philippine history, sexual work applied to all ages of women and gay men. The word “applied” is crucial here because comfort women do not go to Japanese soldiers and ask to sexually satisfy these men. The fact remains that soldiers would just kidnap, and a lot of the times abduct victims, and isolate them completely from society.
The term “comfort women” was coined from the Japanese term ianfu, meaning comfort, consoling women. This concept was only centralized in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II when they had a good standing in Asia’s powers. The process of obtaining these comfort women was quite easy for Japanese soldiers. Kidnapping or families “donating” their daughters and gay sons produced the sufficient influx of sexual entertainment for these men. Most of the time, family members would be killed in front of these women to “peacefully” obtain them. Comfort women would then aid the soldiers, some acting upon the animalistic desires of Japanese men from the break of dawn to scary depths of nights. These acts would be done randomly at first, however, the Japanese desired a more organized structure of rape. The Japanese military would provide this exploitative and abusive service to disgruntled soldiers and reduce the chances of internal revolt.
All throughout the 3 main islands of the Philippines namely Luzon, Panay (now Visayas) and Mindanao, comfort stations were set up. These could be abandoned hospitals turned to garrisons, or plain military camps. Within the walls of these comfort stations, a woman could be simultaneously raped by 12 men. This was the experience of Maria Rosa Henson. Henson was a Filipina comfort woman from the city of Pasay and was subjected to 12 men raping her all at once. Recounting her experience, she was only 14 years old when she was raped by three Japanese men while she ran errands with her uncles and neighbors. After two weeks, she was raped again by one of the same men. This triggered her desire to fight the Imperial Japanese Army, which led her to join HUKBALAHAP– a guerilla group acting against the army of carnal men. This movement failed, and Henson found herself falling victim to never-ending forced sexual activity in a comfort station.
The Japanese military always had it their way, from mutilating infants for entertainment to killing and raping young girls to satisfy their needs. Sexually exploiting minors was undeniably and wrongfully normalized when the Japanese had control over the Philippines. These comfort women were violated and were bereaved of their rights to their own body and life. Many of these victims were killed when they were already depreciated by the military– this shows the fact that the Imperial Japanese Army had no respect for their colony’s rights. An extreme parasitic relationship that shows how the sexual needs of military men are more important than preserving the rights of the people.
The Contemporary Call of the 1945 Comfort Women
On March 9, 2023, the Philippines was called upon by the United Nations (UN). The UN Women’s Rights Committee (WRC) believes that the Philippines violated the rights of comfort women by “failing to provide reparation, social support, and recognition commensurate to the harm they suffered,” stated in an article by Rappler. Throughout the subsequent years following the end of the Japanese occupation, the Philippine government has made minimal efforts to relieve comfort women after their sufferings. Most of the action that garnered modern attention to these victims are non-profits organizations, note that the Philippine government had full capabilities to at least lift some of the burden that these comfort women suffered (e.g. monetary compensation, psychological aid, etc.). One of these organizations is the Malaya Lolas who filed a plea to the Philippine government about the violation of the victim’s rights through the government’s silence on their continued discrimination and sufferings.
The Philippines took a stance that these victims should not be given reparations and has decided to revisit and reevaluate the case presumingly because of the WRC report. Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla announced that an appeal will be taken to the National Congress– a motion to pass a law recognizing the “plight of wartime sex slavery” and “provision of assistance to victims.”
The Philippines is a nation wherein all rights of all demographics are taken into consideration by the government. Therefore, for the victims of Japanese sexual slavery, the government’s act of denying the responsibility of giving reparations is equivalent to dismissing the rights of these women. As the nation finally frees itself from the influence of foreign powers, its people fall under the wrath and recklessness of their own government. This single act devalues the sufferings undergone by comfort women and brings them back in the spotlight of discrimination both from the Japanese and the Philippine legislation. With this, most of the victims do not live long enough to see the light of freedom from their past nor do they receive the respect they deserve from their own government. If the government does not even pursue a better life for those who were wronged in the past, what more are they willing to do to women who are being harmed in the present?
Many comfort women died amidst fighting for justice. They died aware of the fact that their rights were suppressed by their nation as their rights were suppressed by those who have hurt them prior. Today, tomorrow, yesterday, will they continue to be fed with empty, illegitimate promises? Only time can tell.
Sources (APA Format):
Women made to be Comfort Women — Philippines. (2023). Awf.or.jp. https://www.awf.or.jp/e1/philippine-00.html
Testimonies of the Victims. (2023). Awf.or.jp. https://www.awf.or.jp/e3/oralhistory-00.html#philippine
Wikipedia Contributors. (2023, June 13). Comfort women. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women
McCarthy, J. (2020, December 4). PHOTOS: Why These World War II Sex Slaves Are Still Demanding Justice. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/04/940819094/photos-there-still-is-no-comfort-for-the-comfort-women-of-the-philippines
UN rules Philippines “violated rights” of World War II comfort women. (2023, March 9). RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/nation/philippines-violated-rights-comfort-women-failing-pay-reparations-un-decision-2023/
Marc Jayson Cayabyab. (2023, March 10). Philippines to revisit comfort women case. Philstar.com; Philstar.com. https://www.philstar.com/nation/2023/03/11/2250764/philippines-revisit-comfort-women-case
Wikipedia Contributors. (2023, June 22). Rape. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape
