Nana Rosa - A Brave Story, But Expect No Comfort

“I felt as if I’m the one being raped” – said one of the audience during the respite after the first act on the original play written by Rody Vera. I could not agree more.

“Nana Rosa”, is not an ease-comfort-in-your-seat-to-watch story. It portrays the testimonies of the first Filipino comfort woman to go on public in 1992. A scandalous time to shed light to the shadowed war crimes committed by imperial Japanese soldiers during their occupation in the country; since four decades has passed and Japanese-Philippine relations has been greeted with favor, especially the booming of Pinoy entertainers working in Japan, Nana Rosa’s coming out is both an eye-opener and a target of speculative gaze.

Maria Rosa Luna Henson, (played by Peewee O’hara) was a Pampanga born, Pasay raised lass who along with her mother lived far-away from the peering eyes of his father’s legitimate family and town in Pampanga. A cast-away child of the rich and famous Kapampangan Henson clan.

The play starts with the folks of the Task Force for Comfort Women’s Rights, who are mobilized upon the coming out of a South Korean comfort woman which stirred the world on the sex-slavery scandal and justice the victims calls for from the Japanese government. The task force figured that if Korean women suffered such ill-fate, there might be Filipinas who experienced the same during the war. They called-out to anyone who can come to them and relay truths of sex-slavery that occurred in the Philippines.

It was at this moment that Nana Rosa overheard the radio announcement concerning the latter and with a surge of emotions felt memories of the past rushing back, memories she tried to forget, memories she did not wanted to see again. With urging from her family and despite having doubts, she plucked the courage to go on public and recount the details of how she became a comfort woman.

She narrated how during the war in the forested areas of Fort McKinley, she was raped by three Japanese soldiers. At a young age, not even menstruating yet, she already knew how to be treated like trash. She shared the event to her family, who only told her to be mum about it— simply because there is nothing more to be done.

The bombings in Pasay lead them to move back to Magalang, Pampanga where as she grew up became coiled with the Hukbalahap guerilla that are fighting against Japanese soldiers. It was there that she was captured and put into sex stations or comfort stations where women are kept in rooms and are systematically scheduled to provide forced sexual activities with Japanese soldiers. Nana Rosa recounted how soldier after soldier, she would be assaulted as if just a ragged toy being played at. It was an orgy of violence and barbarism. She would try to tighten her legs or move her body face down so as not to be penetrated, but she was too weak, and there we’re too many of them.

She almost found love and care from one Japanese soldier, but fate is cruel, later on she was brought to the doctor for check-up because of an illness, there and there she was raped by the Japanese army physician, and furthermore, by other personnel.

It was too late when she found out she lost a three-month old baby. She didn’t even know who the father was. She didn’t even know she was pregnant. She has lost herself, plunged with trauma and depression, she was incarcerated, nearly bowing to death until she was rescued by guerillas.

Struggled of gathering back her life, Nana Rosa lean on her mother’s request to be silent. She was conditioned to believe that the only way to move forward is not say a word so as not to be reminded of what happened and that to live in forgetting everything is the only self-respect left for Rosa. Quiet tears are already filling the room in this scene. Bit by bit, one can feel his/her heart weighed by the heaviness of the unfair situation.

By the time, she found that there is no dignity in hiding rather a hole for injustice to escape, Nana Rosa found herself complaining in a wrong period of time, for the people that harassed her and took away her humanity, are the very people being looked up to now. And the justice, even the apology she asked for, we’re never heard by her— whilst alive.

Unfortunate the circumstances are, Nana Rosa’s stepping forward allowed other comfort women hidden in the dark, to come out and bear witness to the atrocity of that era towards our nation’s women, women from Pampanga, Iloilo, and even from Mindanao, all braved to tell their tales of abuse which still continues nowadays, only in different forms.

Jose Estrella’s commendable direction made the play not simply a recount of Nana Rosa’s life, but a time-travelling experience. The tension, anxiety and fear at the narration of how the sexual assaults happened are cringe-worthy, you would cover your eyes just to save your imagery of the monstrosities. The story-telling was well offered, beautiful blockings and ominous effects and sounds, complemented the somehow small stage to become pages of a book telling its audience that the fight will never be over until there are those brave ones who will not stand back for indifference and injustice to simply be at the pedestal— not only for women, children and men— but for the sake of humanity.

The University of the Philippines (UP) Playwrights’ Theater, a subgroup under the Dulaang UP, indeed hammered a nail on the cemented walls of the justice system with this play. Vera in his writing, was not only able to immortalize a person’s story but her quest for justice.

A must-watch! Especially by younger generations whose views about our history are being depleted by bad ideologies given by false voices of power. There was a Nana Rosa. There we’re comfort women. There will be justice!

“Nana Rosa” will be shown at the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater, Palma Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City from February 27 ‘til March 17. Ticket price is at P500.00 with discounts available. Inquire to Nico Varona at upptnanarosa.marketing@gmail.com