Pinoy comfort women appeal dismissal of petition for reparations

MANILA, Philippines - Filipina comfort women in World War II asked the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to reconsider a 2010 ruling dismissing their petition to compel the government to back their demand for an official apology and reparations from the Japanese government.

Lawyers of the Filipina comfort women said the SC can consider the Aug. 30, 2011 decision of South Korean Constitutional Court on a similar case involving the claim of South Korean comfort women against Japan.

The South Korean Constitutional Court ordered the South Korean government to settle the issue with the government of Japan.

The South Korean case arose from a suit of South Korean comfort women against the South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The South Korean comfort women questioned the refusal of the South Korean government to settle the issue of whether the government of Japan is liable for the atrocities that Japanese soldiers committed against them during World War II.

The South Korean Constitutional Court said it would be favorable  to South Korea’s national interest to call on the Japanese government to take on its legal responsibility toward the South Korean comfort women.

Lawyer Harry Roque Jr. and the Center for International Law, representing the Filipina comfort women, submitted the South Korean case to the SC for reference in resolving their motion for reconsideration.

Roque told reporters the South Korean case may be admitted into the records of the Philippine case.