A one-meter tall bronze statue showing a girl seated on a chair with a vacant chair on her right was unveiled in San Pedro, Laguna on December 28.

The statue, according to the inscription, said "is a "monument of peace and women empowerment."

"The monument gives recognition, respect, equal protection and empowerment to women of yesterday, today and future. It also symbolizes peace and true friendship of all nations in the world," it added.

A similar statue which has been set up in Seoul in front of the Japanese Embassy has been interpreted by various groups to recall comfort women during World War II.

Last year, a statue built by a Filipino-Chinese group commemorating Filipino women was inaugurated along Roxas Boulevard. After a few months, the government ordered the statue transferred to another area.

The statue is located in Barangay San Antonio inside a private compound for elderly women abandoned by their family.

Gracing the unveiling of the statue were South Korean couple Kim Seo-kyong and Kim Eun-sung, who built the statue, San Pedro Mayor Lourdes Cataquiz and former mayor Calixto Cataquiz, her husband. DMS