APEC参加のために来日するフ ィリピンのア キノ大統領が、日本と慰安婦 問題について話し合うのかと地元と日本のメディアの取材を受けた（アキノ大統領と慰安婦問題【異なる態度】フィリピンと韓国 ）。共同通信の配信記事（ジャパン・タイムズ）と地元フ ィリピンの新聞の書きようを比較してみよう。
アクセス・フィリピンによると、一番上のManila Bulletin Onlineはフ ィリピンの代表的な英字紙。二番目のPhilippine Daily Inquirerも、同国で最大の発行部数を誇る新聞とのこと。一番下が共同通信の配信記事である。
フ ィリピンの新聞はタイトルも本文中も「慰安婦」という言葉を使っているのに、ジャパン・タイムズ（共同通信）はタイトルから本文まで「性奴隷」で通している。
Aquino Asked to Back Comfort Women's Cause
MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino was urged Friday to bring up the case of Filipino comfort women with the Japanese government during his visit to Yokohama where he is attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Sen. Pia Cayetano appealed to the Aquino administration to support the cause of the comfort women following reports that the President is planning to ask Congress to appropriate funds for them in order to make up for the failure of past governments to undertake such reparation.
The term “comfort women” refers to the Filipino females who were forced to become sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army at the height of the World War II.
As chairperson of the Senate Committee on Youth, Women and Family Relations, she said she has taken up the cause of comfort women in the last three Congresses but lamented the government’s indifference towards their plight.
In the 13th and 14th Congress, Cayetano filed a resolution directing the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to exert utmost diplomatic efforts to push for the immediate passage of a measure filed before the House of Councilors of Japan (Diet of Japan) concerning issues related to victims of war-time sexual coercion.
She said she plans to re-file the resolution next week.
“These women who are now in the twilight of their lives have suffered in silence for decades, but still managed to gather the courage to come out and tell the whole world their story and demand justice for the dastardly acts committed against them,” Cayetano said.
“More than half a century has passed and many of them have passed away without receiving any apologies and compensation for the trauma they suffered,” she added.
“The government, however, has chosen to remain indifferent to their plight. It simply waited for the Japanese government to take the initiative of issuing an apology and providing compensation to the comfort women, which both never happened,” Cayetano said.
Aside from this, Cayetano has also re-filed a bill that seeks to provide compensation and health benefits to the comfort women.
She said she expects President Aquino to certify as urgent Senate Bill No. 2083 or the “Comfort Women Compensation and Benefit Act of 2010,” a measure which she has been re-filing since the 13th Congress.
“This bill seeks to recognize the comfort women and alleviate their suffering through financial compensation and health insurance from our government,” she said.
Under the bill, the Philippine Commission on Women, formerly the National Commission on the Role of Filipino women, will be tasked with determining the authenticity of the claims and identities of comfort women, with the assistance of various accredited cause-oriented women’s groups.
The measure also seeks an initial fund of P10 million for the processing of applications and payment of pensions and insurance of the comfort women.
Beneficiaries would be entitled to a monthly compensation of P3,000 through the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), free fullmedical insurance through PhilHealth and counseling and guidance through the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Manila Bulletin Online（上）とPhilippine Daily Inquirer（下）
Aquino may ask Congress for compensation for comfort women
President Benigno Aquino III may ask Congress to appropriate funds for Filipino women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II, but is unsure of whether he would seek apology from the Japanese government.
A Palace statement issued Wednesday said Aquino told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) that his administration would “correct" the failure of past governments to provide reparation for the so-called comfort women.
“As far as the compensation is concerned, I understand the reparations and part of the Treaty is supposed to have taken care of all reparations, so if it is the Philippine government who failed to take care of them adequately sometime in the 50s. I think then that should be something that we should correct," Aquino said, referring to the Treaty of Peace that the Philippines signed with Japan in 1951.
“I'll probably go to Congress and ask them for a pertinent law that will authorize expenditures to make up for what previous governments in this country had failed to do," he added.
Aquino said the executive branch can ask for a supplement in the proposed 2011 budget, if it is allowable under the law, for compensation for comfort women. The proposed budget has already been passed by the House of Representatives.
Apologies
The President, however, was more cautious about the idea of asking the Japanese government to apologize for what was done to the Filipino comfort women.
“As far as asking for apologies at this point in time, diplomacy has to have a lot of legwork done," Aquino said, adding that the new Philippine Ambassador to Japan, Manuel "Manolo" Lopez, will study the issue.
"The next ambassador will be tasked to find ways and means whereby we can can achieve a compromise that is acceptable to all parties," he said.
Aquino is set to fly to Japan on Thursday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. When asked by GMANews.TV if he would bring up the comfort women issue with Japanese leaders during his trip, the President said he would “if there is an opportunity."
“Since we had a bilateral meet with the Japanese PM (prime minister) at the ASEAN summit and they are the APEC hosts, we might not have an opportunity now," Aquino said in a text message.
Last May, the Supreme Court turned down the attempt of some 70 Filipino comfort women to compel government officials to support their demands for an official apology and other forms of reparation from the Japanese government.
"Unimaginable horror"
The court said that while it sympathizes with the petitioners’ cause, the call for the Philippine government to espouse claims of its nationals against a foreign government is a matter of foreign relations outside the judiciary.
“We cannot begin to comprehend the unimaginable horror they underwent at the hands of the Japanese soldiers… Regrettably, it is not within our power to order the Executive Department to take up the petitioners’ cause. Ours is only the power to urge and exhort the Executive Department to take up petitioners’ cause," the SC ruled.
The high court pointed out the Executive has determined that taking up the women’s cause would be inimical to the country’s foreign policy interests, and could disrupt our relations with Japan, thereby creating serious implications for stability in the region.
“For us to overturn the Executive Department’s determination would mean an assessment of the foreign policy judgments by a coordinate political branch to which authority to make that judgment has been constitutionally committed," the SC said. - KBK, GMANews.TV
ジャパン・タイムズ/共同通信（下）
Aquino to seek 'compromise' on war sex slaves
MANILA (Kyodo) President Benigno Aquino said the Philippines will seek a compromise "acceptable to all parties" on the issue of World War II sex slaves.
"We do not profit anything by being very belligerent about this," Aquino said in an interview with Japanese journalists Tuesday ahead of a visit to Japan.
Aquino, who will be taking part in the Pacific Rim summit in Yokohama, said the incoming Philippine ambassador to Japan, Manuel Lopez, will look into the issue after taking up his post in Tokyo.
"We have very, very good relations with the Japanese people and government. The way we've treated each other after the war, I think, is something that should be nurtured," Aquino said.
Lopez "will be tasked to find ways and means whereby we can achieve a compromise that is acceptable to all parties," he said of the wartime sex slaves.
Filipino women who said they were sexually abused by Japanese soldiers during World War II have pressed Japan to offer an official apology and government compensation.
Japan created the Asia Women's Fund in 1995 to compensate those who were known in Japan as "comfort women," who had been recruited to work at frontline brothels in Asian territories under Japanese occupation.
The fund has been rejected by the victims because the money came from private donations and not from Japanese government coffers.
While citing the economic benefits of good relations with Japan, Aquino also showed sympathy for "these very senior citizens of ours" in getting "their dignity back."
Regarding compensation, Aquino said he would probably seek help from the Philippine Congress "to authorize expenditures."
Aquino also said the Philippine government will look into allegations that the remains of Filipinos may have been taken to Japan by a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization tasked with gathering the remains of Japanese soldiers killed in the country during World War II.
He said he has already sought an explanation from the Philippine National Museum, which assisted the NPO, called Kuentai.
A tribal group from Mindoro Oriental Province south of Manila filed a formal complaint last month against Kuentai as well as local officials and tribesmen for alleged theft of their ancestors' remains.
Local people are allegedly involved in the sale of the remains.
Kuentai has denied the allegation.
Aquino said the National Museum stated that it did not allow the transport to Japan of bones that were questioned by some parties.
共同の配信記事を掲載したのは、ジャパン・タイムズの他に、毎日新聞の英字版と、Japan Today。
記事中で一ケ所だけ「慰安婦」という言葉が出てくるが、who were known in Japan a s "comfort women," （日本では『慰安婦』という名で知られる）という部分のみでの使用である。
この頁つづく
by Hazama
人気韓流ドラマの中の慰安婦 …