‘WWII foe Japan now trusted friend’

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has rebuilt a “strong friendship” with former foe Japan even as its neighbors criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for failing to properly apologize for Tokyo’s aggression during World War II, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

Since the war, Japan had “acted with compassion” which led to a relationship “characterized by trust and unfailing support in so many fields,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II yesterday.

“This 70-year history demonstrates to the world that through their relentless efforts, peoples of two countries can attain a remarkable achievement in overcoming issues of the past and establishing strong friendship,” Del Rosario said.

Japan is now the Philippines biggest source of development assistance and the two countries have also been strengthening defense cooperation in the face of separate territorial disputes with China.

Del Rosario’s comments were in stark contrast to reactions from China and other Asian victims of Japan’s wartime aggression.

Beijing called Abe’s statement a non-apology while North Korea derided it as an “unpardonable mockery of the Korean people.”

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said the speech “left much to be desired” and stressed the need for Japan to resolve the issue of Asian women forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels.

A group of Filipinos representing dozens of former sex slaves denounced Abe’s pronouncement that future Japanese generations should not be compelled to apologize for past aggression.

“He wants a gag of silence. That is unacceptable. You can’t commit a crime and set conditions... Our grandmothers didn’t set conditions when they were victimized,” Rechilda Extremadura, executive director of Lila Pilipina, told AFP.

Only 70 of the estimated 1,000 Filipina “comfort women” are still alive, many of them ill and in their twilight years, she said.

The women are demanding an “unequivocal apology,” an acknowledgement of the war brothels policy and compensation from the Japanese government, she said.

“I am very angry because Japan does not want to close this chapter. Will they wait for another 80 years? 100 years?” she said.

Never again repeat devastation

The Philippines remembers the “great horrors, devastation, and suffering” the war brought to people and agrees with Japan that “we must never again repeat the devastation of war,” said Del Rosario.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said through committed efforts, the Philippines has worked closely with the international community not only in recovery and rebuilding after the war but also in establishing and promoting international norms and institutions as enshrined in the United Nations Charter to help ensure global peace, stability, and prosperity.

 “Since the middle of the 20th century, the Philippines’ relationship with Japan, in particular, has been characterized by trust and unfailing support in so many fields, as Japan has acted with compassion and in accordance with international law, and has more actively and more positively engaged the region and the world,” the DFA said.

Japanese Emperor Akihito has expressed “deep remorse” over the conflict, a departure from his annual script which could be seen as a subtle rebuke of Abe.

Malacanang expressed support for Abe’s advocacy of “proactive contribution to peace” based on the primacy of the values of freedom, democracy and human rights, upon which the strategic partnership between the Philippines and Japan was founded.

“Japan’s reflection upon the lessons of war is linked with its determination to renounce violence, threat or force as means of settling international disputes, and to pursue peace as the path to long-term global prosperity,” Presidential Communications Operations

Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a statement. - With Aurea Calica