THE “comfort woman’ statue is being repaired, according to Jojo Alcovendaz, Manila city administrator. “But Manila will get it back. However, it is impossible to bring it back to the Baywalk area on Roxas Boulevard because the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways] will construct a footbridge in that place,” he said. The DPWH removed the statue on April 27, purportedly to make way for a drainage improvement project. President Rodrigo Duterte backed the statue’s removal, saying that it can be placed in a private property so as not to insult Japan and that the issue of “comfort women” was long over. Women’s group Gabriela earlier sought a legislative inquiry into the removal of the statue. “Such removal of the statue violates existing laws and blackens the memory of abused comfort women who died without even getting a formal apology from the Japanese government for the historical injustice which they suffered,” Gabriela said.
