No comfort for ‘comfort women’

‘Our unfortunate “comfort women” deserve nothing less.’

IT was bad enough that Supreme Court Justice Mariano del Castillo plagiarized parts of his decision denying redress for Filipino women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese solders during WW II. But what was even worse was his reportedly wrong interpretation of the plagiarized portions that led to his decision. As a result, it was the "comfort women" who suffered the consequences of his action.

However, that was only the first blow to the poor souls. The second was when Del Castillo’s peers in the high court exonerated him from the charge of plagiarism.

And now, Congress which had decided to impeach Del Castillo earlier for the same act of plagiarism may not go through with having him tried by the Senate, purportedly because of the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. That would be another cruel blow to the "comfort women". After decades of waiting for justice to be accorded to them, it now looks like they will never get it.

Coincidentally, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak held talks on the issue of wartime "comfort women".

Lee said the problem should be given "prior consideration to maintain peace and harmony of the region". On the other hand, Noda said "according to Japan’s law, the ‘comfort women’ issue has been settled." He added, however, that "we will try hard to make more effort on considering the question from a humanitarian perspective."

Our unfortunate "comfort women" deserve nothing less. Our government should forthwith initiate official talks with Japan on the issue.

Incidentally, what prompted the Japanese government to talk with the South Koreans on the issue was after the latter put up a statue representing the "comfort women" in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. We should consider doing the same thing to give justice so long denied to our "comfort women". – R.A.