Comfort women files new motion with SC; calls on Aquino to back them

MANILA -- Some 17 grandmothers who claim to have been forced to become comfort women by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War Two filed on Monday a supplemental motion asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its earlier ruling against them even as they called on President Benigno Aquino III to support their cause.

The Lolas (grandmothers), who were wearing violet, were accompanied by their lawyers in filing the supplemental motion after they discovered that the associate justice who penned the April 28, 2010 decision allegedly plagiarized portions of the decision.

ﾒPresident Aquino, please help us. Donﾕt abandon us,ﾓ said Maxima dela Cruz, 81, from Candaba, Pampanga.

ﾒMr. President, which relationship is more important, is it with the Japanese government or with the Filipino people?,ﾓ said Isabelita Vinuya, 78, also from Pampanga and president of Malaya Lolas, a non-stock, non-profit organization that assists alleged victims of rape by Japanese soldiers during the last war in the country.

The 247-page supplemental motion states that it is highly improper for the Supreme Courtﾕs judgment on April 28, this year to ﾒwholly lift, without proper attribution, from at least three sources...and make it appear that these sources support the assailed judgmentﾕs arguments for dismissing the instant petition when in truth, the plagiarized sources even make a strong case for the petitionﾕs claims.ﾓ Celerina Monte/DMS