MANILA — Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the government would work on legislation for the reparation of Filipinas who suffered sexual abuse by Japanese soldiers during World War II.

A United Nations (UN) panel focused on women's rights has found that the Philippines failed to provide reparation, social support, and needed recognition for the Filipina victims known as comfort women, leading to "ongoing discrimination against them that continues to this day."

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"I was sent the report last night and we will have to talk to Congress, to the Speaker and the Senate President about the legislation necessary to act on this matter about comfort women kasi hindi tayo nakapag-pass ng legislation, hindi natapos ang trabaho before," Remulla said.

(We were not able to pass legislation, the work was not completed before.)

The justice secretary also noted that time is of the essence as comfort women are already in their twilight years.

"That’s history, something that is most known to us, siyempre we never want justice to be too late kasi kaunti na lang ang nabubuhay sa kanila kaya sana mahabol natin," Remulla said.

(Of course, we never want justice to be too late because there are only a few of them alive so I hope we can catch up.)

Remulla said he would bring up the matter in his meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. next week.

"I will get instructions very soon, I will be there Monday for another meeting with the President, this time about trafficking in persons,” he said.

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Comfort women have been pressing the Philippine government to support their claims to get reparations from Tokyo for their suffering under the Imperial Japanese army.

"Their repeated efforts, however, were dismissed by the authorities, with their last action turned down by the Supreme Court in 2014. The Philippines’ government has always maintained that it is not in a position to claim compensation from Japan after ratifying the Treaty of Peace with Japan in 1956," the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.

The commission was referring to the Reparations Agreement, wherein the Philippines agreed to receive some $550 million from Japan in services and goods as compensation for Filipino victims of World War II.

Before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s visit to Japan last February, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said it was unlikely the Chief Executive was going to raise the issue of Filipino "comfort women" with Tokyo.

In 2018, then-President Rodrigo Duterte said the wartime sexual abuse issue between the Philippines and Japan was already resolved, as far as he was concerned.

Duterte's predecessor, the late President Benigno Aquino III, had also pointed out that Tokyo already fulfilled its obligations to Manila over the issue, through the Reparations Agreement.

— With a report from Agence France-Presse

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