MANILA, Philippines -- A statue honouring women who were forced to work in Japanese military brothels during the Second World War has been quietly removed from a busy seaside promenade in the Philippine capital, angering women's groups. Manila City Hall said in a statement that the bronze statue of a blindfolded Filipina, unveiled alongside Manila Bay in December, will be returned once drainage work is completed. The comfort woman statue, which bore the official marker of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines, was "erected without permits," said lawyer Edward Serapio, secretary to Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, in an earlier interview.
A statue honouring comfort women, sex slaves raped by Japanese World War II soldiers, in Manila, Philippines, is removed less than five months after it was installed.