A Filipino campaign group for former comfort women during World War II reiterated their call on Wednesday to the Japanese government to give a public apology and to provide compensation.

“Our goal is for them to be memorialized,” said Dennis Gorecho, a lawyer who supports the Flowers for Lolas (grandmothers) campaign, in a forum.

“We are saying that this campaign is urgent. We are asking for a public apology from the Japanese government for what they did to them in the past. Second, to provide them compensation. Third, to put them in books so they won’t be forgotten.”

Comfort women are those who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Gorecho said when they started their campaign 30 years ago, they were able to document the experiences of over 200 comfort women, but there are only about 20 left.

Gorecho also called for reinstalling of one of the remaining “Lola” statues, in memory of the comfort women.

For his part, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo pushed for the passage of House Bill 5179, a measure that seeks to integrate a comprehensive study of World War II, focusing on the heroism of Filipino soldiers.

According to Romulo, Filipinos yearn to hear more about heroes, citing how people flocked to cinemas during the showing of Heneral Luna.

“Filipinos yearn to hear about heroes who are Filipinos, just like them. We need more stories like Heneral Luna. This can be a driving force to unite our country. This can show Filipinos that heroism flows in our veins. There are many Filipinos who have sacrificed their lives that we need to know about,” Romulo said.

Mike Villa-Real, National President of Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP) Sons & Daughters Association, Inc., narrated how veterans fought during World War II.

“We hope people will get to know them. These are the stories we want to broadcast as sons and daughters…because we are looking for Filipino role models for Filipino citizens for the youth and also for us. Those are models we want to share and we want people to emulate,” Villa-Real said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS