Letter to the Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshiro Mori

LOLAS ( Lolas Kampanyera Para Sa Kapayapaan at Kumpensasyon)

30 March 2001

His Excellency
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori
Government of Japan
Tokyo, Japan

Dear Prime Minister Mori,

On behalf of ex-comfort women survivors from the Philippines and their supporting groups, particularly the latest batch of more than a hundred women who emerged and formed themselves into an organization called the LOLAS (AWHRC Kampanyera Lolas Para Sa Kapayapaan at Kumpensasyon), we would like to extend our greetings and best wishes for your health and well-being.

It has been nine years since our first survivor, Lola Rosa Henson (who has since passed away in 1997) spoke publicly about her suffering as a sex slave of the Japanese servicemen. Despite her acceptance of the Asian Womenﾕs Fund in 1996, Lola Rosa and other victims like her, continued to articulate her demand for state legal compensation from the Japanese government. In 1993, she headed the list of Filipino plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court. Since then, the Tokyo courts at the district and higher court levels, have dismissed the Filipino ex-comfort women survivors demand from the Japanese government for the fulfillment of its legal obligation to the victims.

Mr. Prime Minister, the Filipino victims and their supporting groups wish to let you know that despite the series of rejection of the lawsuit by the Tokyo courts in 1998 and 2000, we will never let go of our demand for justice and for state compensation as the legal accountability of the Japanese government for the crime of Japanese military sexual slavery- a crime against women, a crime against humanity. For as long as one victim is still alive, along with their heirs, we will continue to petition Japan and the international community for justice that is due to all victims of military sexual slavery by the Japanese army in World War II. The Asian Womenﾕs Fund that has been created by your government in 1996 as humanitarian assistance to a limited number of identified beneficiaries can never substitute for the legal redress that is being sought by all victims in Asia and elsewhere, whether they have accepted the AWF or have rejected it, as in the case of Taiwan and Korean and other victims from various countries.

In this regard, we would like to inform you of the deep desire of victims from the Philippines to work strongly for the passage of the Draft Motooka Bill, and other similar post war compensation draft laws providing for legal redress for victims of Japanese military sexual slavery in the various countries. It is for this reason that we have initiated the rally today, March 30, 2001 to express our determination to campaign for the passage of the draft post war compensation law filed at the Japanese Diet by generating a favorable public opinion for this law in the Philippines and in various fora internationally, including the UN.

We hope and trust that the Japanese government will one day reflect for a favorable settlement of the issue of legal compensation for the women victims of World War II. It is the only way to have a true friendship with the peoples in all the victim countries, and pave the way for healing and the reign of peace in the hearts and minds of the women and their families and communities.

Sincerely yours,

Nelia Sancho

Coordinator, LOLAS (AWHRC Kampanyera Lolas Para Sa Kapayapaan at Kumpensasyon)

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