The Malaya Lolas

The Tragedy that Befell Mapanique

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Justice for World War II victims of mass rape committed by Japanese soldiers
 

The Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers) are survivors of the gruesome Mapanique Seige of November 23, 1944 by some 800 soldiers of the Geki Heidan-14th Area Army of the Japanese Imperial Army. They were among the more than a hundred women and girls that the Japanese soldiers herded to a big house they used as a temporary garrison where they were raped en masse.

In 1996, fifty two years after keeping their story to themselves out of shame for having been ‘disgraced’ more than 90 women survivors gathered and swore to let the world know the war crimes the Japanese soldiers committed against them and their community.  They gained strength from victims of the comfort women system that came out ahead of them.  They vowed to seek justice.

With assistance from an NGO, Asian Center for Women’s Human Rights (ASCENT), the Malaya Lolas sent some of its members to the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands in December 2001 where they testified about the sexual and other forms of violence they went through.

From The Tribunal, the Malaya Lolas have moved to other venues in its quest for justice.  With assistance from KAISA KA, from lawyers and law students of the Un

At the crack of dawn on November 23, 1944, bombs, cannons and gunfire astounded the people of Mapanique, a remote village in Candaba, Pampanga. Japanese soldiers set the entire village ablaze and slaughtered hundreds of residents mostly young and old men.  Then they dumped the dead and the dying in the local schoolhouse and burned the building.

The Japanese troops ordered the young women to carry their loot and walk towards the Bahay na Pula (literally, a red-painted house) in Anyatam, San Ildenfonso, Bulacan where the Japanese soldiers were...  <read more>

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June 30, 2009

Malaya Lolas Thankful for the City Resolutions in Japan

But Await Justice from Japan’s National Government

Told of the news yesterday that the City Council of Mitaka became the sixth city with a resolution urging the national government of Japan to settle its responsibilities to women victims of sexual abuse during world War II, the Malaya Lolas, through a phone call said they are very thankful to the various groups in Japan that worked for this resolution to be passed.

According to Isabelita Vinuya, president of the organization in Mapanique, Candaba, Pampanga of victims of mass rape committed by Japanese soldiers, the news gives them a glimmer of hope even as the number of surviving victims has been reduced to 57 as of this day.

The latest resolution was passed on June 23, 2009.  The Mitaka City Council strongly asked the government of Japan to take sincere action on the following demands: that it sincerely listens to the voice of each victim and get the facts; that it acknowledges official responsibility on the issue of “comfort women” and should publicly apologize; and it should teach the youth the truth through education in history and in every opportunity

            From March in 2008, similar resolutions have also been passed by other City Councils.  These are the City Councils of Taraduka City in Hyogo Prefecture,  Kiyose City in Tokyo Prefecture, Saporo City in Hokkaido Prefecture, Fukuoka City in Fukuoka Prefecture and Mino-o City in Osaka-Hu prefecture.

            According to Vinuya, they “do not want to lose hope that justice will be won” even as they lament the dying of a number of them without seeing what they have been working for.  Just this May, another rape victim of the Japanese soldiers,Petrolina Dela Cruz died from cardiac arrest.  More than 30have died from the Malaya Lolas’ original membership of ninety (90).

            “We are sad that sixty four years after the war ended, the Japanese government has not even apologized to us,” Vinuya concluded.