Group calls for rescinding of PH-Japan Reciprocal Access Agreement
An alliance of comfort women groups, descendants of war victims, and peace advocates on Thursday trooped to Roxas Boulevard in Manila to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The FlowersforLolas alliance said Japan has yet to officially acknowledge its responsibility to the Philippines for the world war and has still denied justice to the victims and their families.
"The war has ended. For many victims, however, whose lives were immeasurably damaged by the war, the war continues," Tessy Ang-See, FlowersforLolas campaign lead convenor, said.
Joining the alliance during the commemorative action were Lila Pilipina, KAISA Para sa Kaunlaran, Gabriela Women's Partylist, Bahaghari, and Gabriela Youth. Some descendants of Filipino comfort women also participated in the rally.
Lila Pilipina executive director Sharon Cabusao-Silva also called for the rescinding of the Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) between the Philippines and Japan, saying it will make Manila a 'stomping ground for Japanese troops once again, and this time with the added benefit—for Japan—of the Philippines being turned into a profitable market and huge storage for Japanese missiles.'
The defense agreement seeking to expand and strengthen security cooperation between the Philippines and Japan through joint military drills and other activities will enter into force on September 11, 2025.
"We are also preparing to lobby for an enabling law that will establish a reparations fund for all victims of Japanese wartime military sex slavery. This is especially timely with the coming congressional budget deliberations," Cabusao-Silva added.
In July 2024, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy press secretary Kaneko Mariko said that they had long issued an apology for the atrocities committed during World War II. She also said that Japan had provided reparations to war victims through the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
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