Rundown: The Philippines must provide full reparation and issue an apology to Filipino victims of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. For more ANC Interviews, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm34qRgqWBU4AT2G3LWF27_RErcz0GVd9 For more Rundown videos, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm34qRgqWBU43cWAARce9sr7hsv9d0uZR For more ANC Highlights videos, click the link below: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm34qRgqWBU43K1JtKfSzAzho2UExmS3G Subscribe to the ANC YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/user/ANCalerts Visit our website at https://news.abs-cbn.com/anc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ancalerts Twitter: https://twitter.com/ancalerts #ANCNews #ANCHighlights #Rundown

Video Transcript / Subtitles:( AI generated. About AI subtitles » )

* AI ("Artificial Intelligence") subtitles on Tagalog.com are generated using "Whisper" by OpenAI (the same company that created ChatGPT and DallE2). Results and accuracy may vary.
* The subtitles do include errors occasionally and should only be used as a tool to help with your listening practice.
* You can request this website to create a transcript for a video if one doesn't already exist by clicking the "Request AI Subtitles" button below a video. Transcribing usually takes 30-40% of the length of a video to complete if there are no other videos in the queue. For example, a 21 minute video will take 7-8 minutes to transcribe.
* Running a super fast cloud GPU server to do these transcriptions does cost money. If you have the desire and financial ability, consider becoming a patron to support these video transcriptions, and the other tools and apps built by Tagalog.com

Good morning.

Good morning. So, Attorney Rumen, let me just get your thoughts first on the significance of the views expressed by the Sidao Committee,

that the Philippines is in breach of its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women

in refusing to assist the Malaya Lolas who suffered under the Comfort Women system during the Japanese occupation

in bringing their case against Japan.

First off, how binding is this on the Philippine government, this particular view espoused by the Sidao Committee?

The Philippines is a signatory to SIDAO and its optional protocol which allows individuals to file cases against the government.

And as a signatory to the treaty, the Philippines is obliged to comply in good faith with the findings of the committee.

Although these are considered as views and recommendatory to the government,

there is an expectation in the international community that the government will seriously address and take action on these views of the community.

Attorney, let me get your thoughts about the committee's views. Do you agree with their assessment?

The Malaya Lolas did try to compel the Philippine government to assist them as they seek redress against Japan

by filing a case before the Supreme Court. That didn't work.

The Supreme Court saying the Treaty of Peace with Japan bars all future claims.

Now, the committee did not contest that ruling, but instead it said the Philippine government discriminated against the Malaya Lolas

because the Philippine Commission on Women has not addressed the institutionalized system of wartime sexual slavery

while predominantly male victims and survivors were treated better.

Is there some semblance of truth from your view to that opinion or assessment of the CEDAW committee?

The CEDAW committee looks at it in a holistic way.

They have probably cited part of the inaction or the lacking of action on the part of the Philippine Commission on Women,

but that is just one of the things that they were considering.

There is also recognition that they said that the Philippines can no longer take action because there's already a treaty,

but they said that there is a continuing discrimination.

And that continuing discrimination, they link it with the failure to provide remedies to the women ever since they were trying to seek justice.

So it's a continuing failure to provide remedies.

It's not just with the Philippine Commission on Women, but the part of the actions of the state in general.

And that, of course, includes the absence of legislation for failure to provide assistance that would be commensurate to the suffering of the Malaya Lolas.

And they cited, as you mentioned, the difference in terms of treatment of wartime veterans where they were able to provide assistance, benefits,

but such is not existence when it comes to the Malaya Lolas.

And if you look at CEDAW committee decisions, they are looking at failure of state to comply with its obligation under CEDAW.

And you have to look and understand that.

What are these obligations under CEDAW?

And this obligation covers protecting women from violence and discrimination.

And this includes providing effective remedies and timely remedies for violations of their rights.

And that is where the CEDAW committee zeroed on.

The government has been failing to provide effective remedies.

And then it cited the different instances.

It just so happened that what it was able to zero on was the lack or the inadequacy of the programs of the Philippine Commission on Women.

But that is just one.

Another is, for example, the legislation that was proposed to recognize the Malaya Lolas or the corporate women or sexual slavery worldwide.

There was a legislation proposed, but it wasn't able to pass Congress.

Explain to us, Attorney, the whole concept of state responsibility under the convention.

What is the Philippine government supposed to do?

Because in this case, it would appear that the Philippine government is in a bind.

It has signed on to a treaty of peace with Japan, forgoing all the claims.

But at the same time, it still has obligations to provide redress and compensation to victims, to comfort women.

So what exactly should the Philippine government do?

For one, it could have urged and considered as urgent the creation of the passage of a legislation that would recognize the experience of the comfort women or the Malaya Lolas.

That's one.

Another would be, which is pointed out by the SIGO committee decision, which is the preservation of the Bahay na Pula and recognizing the memory and experiences of the Malaya Lolas.

Another statement that is severely lacking is the way that the statute of the comfort women were removed.

It's actually a denial of the recognition of the suffering and the violation against rights of the Malaya Lolas.

And then another would be to provide, even without the legislation, a system of reparation that would allow and recognize the experiences of the Malaya Lolas.

And in terms of obligation, you have to understand that the government is expected to pursue with due diligence effective remedies for victims of human rights violations or women's human rights violations.

And in this case, the SIGO committee saw that the actions of the government were lacking.

And if you look at it, if you see, if you understand it from the perspective of transitional justice, it's not enough to say that there's already a treaty and then therefore the violation is not contained.

You also have to look at how well do you recognize the suffering that these women experienced and how do you exhaust all powers within the government to recognize that and to address and to provide compensation that is commensurate with the harm that they suffered.

And in this case, the SIGO committee saw that the government was lacking in that aspect.

On the aspect of compensation, you have urged the Philippine government to heed the committee's recommendations, including providing full reparation, including recognition and redress and official apology and material and moral damages.

The question now, though, is the Philippine government in a position to do this?

Do we have the funds for it?

And would it be an excuse to the committee if the government says, look, we have trillions of debt, we cannot possibly provide for compensation to these women?

Can that be an excuse?

Then there's where political will really comes in and how seriously we consider violation of women's human rights.

And if the government does not address that and sees that it cannot address it because of this or of that, then it shows that it is not really exercising its obligation with due diligence, which is what is required under SIGO.

And which has been the comment of the committee in the first place, that it is not doing enough.

And just to mention that there are two other cases elevated to the UN SIGO committee that the government has not acted on and the government has not provided compensation.

And we see this as an opportunity to once again remind government that it entered into a treaty and it agreed to be bound by the treaty and it has not complied with the compensation in two rape cases.

And the excuse that the government is saying is that there's no legislation that will allow them to pay victims of sexual violence.

And so this decision is really another opportunity to provide that framework of compensation for victims of sexual violations.

And in this case, Malaya Lola. So to provide and to pursue that, this will be possible.

And that means enacting a legislation to address it or to discuss what would be the best way to create a state-funded reparation for sexual violations.

Because if we do not seriously consider this, then it is another form of trivialization of sexual violence against women.

And it's high time that the government recognize and provide and act on the violations experienced by the Malaya Lolas because they're already in their twilight years.

And it's high time that they should be provided compensation and reparation.

And the government, as part of its obligation, should be able to do that.

But with this SEDO committee's ruling, historic as it is, wouldn't this be a case of justice delayed, justice denied?

Because they have been seeking reparations for decades and most of them have passed on.

But still, you have this ruling now. How important is it for them to have this ruling at the very least?

It is a very important ruling. It is a milestone ruling. It is a symbolic victory for many Malaya Lolas.

Although many of them already passed on, but there are still some of them remaining.

And to be able to say that they are really recognized as human rights victims.

And this ruling restores their dignity, their integrity, and their reputation.

And provides us as well as a National Human Rights Commission to push the government further to act on their case.

And also, as I said, allows us to urge the government to act on other cases that they have been unable to act on.

These are also SEDO rulings. These are also rulings that provide compensation to women who have been discriminated because of the state's inaction.

It is high time that the government should be acting on this.

Because it signed on the treaty that it will not allow any form of discrimination against women.

And denying remedies in cases of violence is a form of discrimination.

Alright, Andato. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us this morning.

Attorney Twyla Rubin from the Commission on Human Rights.

Thank you.

Thank you.