The Department of Public Works and Highways has committed the foul deed of removing a bronze statue symbolizing comfort women on Roxas Boulevard in the dead of a weekend night.
I join those who vehemently protest this insult to some of the worst victims of World War II.
The excuse given is a flood control project, but if this were the only reason, why was no provision made for relocating the statue?
Without relocation it seems like a craven capitulation to the complaint of the Japanese Embassy.
Manila, which was the second most devastated city in World War II, has few memorials for that period, the only other being the Memorare Manila 1945 in Intramuros.
Removing the statue reduces Manila’s already few World War II memorials. I call on Prof. Rene Escalante and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines to initiate the relocation of the statue to a prominent place.
BENITO LEGARDA JR,. otineb6291@gmail.com