MANILA, Philippines — House Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas called for the passage of a bill seeking to educate the youth about the struggles of comfort women during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.
Brosas made this call after historical action-drama series “Pulang Araw” garnered various reactions reportedly showing a “lack of awareness about the plight of comfort women among the country’s citizens.”
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In June last year, the Makabayan bloc filed House Bill 8564, or the Comfort Women Education Act, which pushes for the inclusion of the lives and heroism of Filipino comfort women in elementary, secondary, and tertiary curricula.
“This gap in historical knowledge underscores the pressing need for the Comfort Women Education Act,” Brosas said in a statement on Thursday.
She added that her call was also timely after the country signed the Reciprocal Access Agreement with Japan, which the lawmaker said raised concerns about possible historical revisionism.
“We cannot allow the sacrifices and struggles of our comfort women to be forgotten or minimized. By integrating their stories into our education system, we arm our youth with the truth and honor the memory of these brave women,” Brosas said.
“Knowledge is our strongest defense against attempts to rewrite or erase our history. Through this act, we ensure that the experiences of comfort women during the Japanese occupation remain a vital part of our national narrative,” she added.
Brosas likewise urged her colleagues in Congress and the public to support her call.
“We owe it to our comfort women and to future generations to keep this part of our history alive. Their stories of survival and resistance against oppression should serve as a reminder of the strength of Filipino women and the importance of never forgetting our past,” she said.
Reports revealed that 200,000 women in South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and the Philippines were used by Japan’s Imperial Army for sexual exploitation during the Second World War.