The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Supreme Court (SC) of the Philippines has denied the petition of more than 70 Filipino World War II "comfort women" who want the Philippine government to pursue reparations and a public apology from the Japanese government.

In a 34-page decision penned by associate justice Mariano Del Castillo, the SC rejected the women's petition by distancing itself from a “diplomatic matter that must be addressed by the executive branch of government,” the Associated Press reported.

“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 said in its ruling.

“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 high court further explained.

The aging Filipinas, who are under the Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers) Organization, were termed "comfort women" because they were forced to provide sexual favors or "relief" to Japanese soldiers stationed in the Philippines during World War II.

They asked the SC last 2004 to order Malacañang to pursue charges of crimes against humanity against Japan in front of the International Court of Justice. The Japanese government has denied having forced women into wartime sex slavery up to this day.

The women charged Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Delia Domingo-Albert, former Justice Secretary and now Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, and former Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo for abuse of discretion in refusing to pursue their claims against Japan.

"We are saddened...in other countries, their governments even extend material assistance to their comfort women. But here, we have none, not even support for these victims' claims," lamented Corazon Requizo, secretary-general of Women in Unity for Freedom.