MANILA, Philippines —Amid concerns that the controversial “comfort woman” statue unveiled in Manila recently could hurt the Philippines’ relations with Japan, a major source of investment, President Rodrigo Duterte has stressed he cannot stop the people’s right to freedom of expression.
The seven-foot bronze statue, unveiled last December 8, was installed in remembrance of around 1,000 Filipino women who were forced into prostitution by the Japanese military during the occupation of the Philippines in World War II.
The victims are known by the Japanese euphemism “comfort women.”
In an interview with MindaNews, Duterte said he cannot stop some survivors and their relatives from “expressing through the statue.”
The topic of “comfort women” remains a sensitive issue for Japan, with some survivors demanding for an apology as well as compensation from Tokyo.
“That is a constitutional right which I cannot stop. It’s prohibitive for me to do that,” the president said, adding that Japan did not ask for the removal of the statue.
Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiko Noda reportedly told Duterte in a recent meeting in Manila that “it’s regrettable for this kind of statue to suddenly appear.”
According to Duterte, it’s up to Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada, the former president, to take the monument down.
The president also said the issue “has not been raised to national policy” and that the government was “blind and deaf” about the statue’s installation.
Osaka has cut its city sisterhood ties with San Francisco in the United States after a comfort woman statue was put up on private land donated to the city government.
Manila has city sisterhood ties with Yokohama
In January last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went on an official visit to the Philippines, which saw the signing of various agreements and the granting of a ¥1-trillion aid package to the Philippines spread over the next five years.
Malacañang earlier downplayed any possible diplomatic repercussions of the comfort woman statue, while the Department of Foreign Affairs has asked the city government of Manila to give background information on the statue after the Japanese embassy aired its concerns.