On Friday, March 4, 2016, Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa and his wife, Madame Yuko Ishikawa came to pay their respects at the final resting place of a significant figure in Japan-Philippines history, Hon. Estelita Guinto Juco, in the Manila Memorial Park-Holy Cross in Quezon City.
Hon. Estelita Guinto Juco (1930-1989) was a prominent Filipino teacher, legislator, World War II survivor, poet, and an advocate for disabled people. She graduated from St. Paul’s College in 1952 and went on to pursue a 36-year career as a teacher in the same institution. When President Corazon Aquino first assumed office, she appointed Ms. Juco as sectoral representative of the disabled in Congress, a position she carried out with zealous commitment.
Ms. Juco herself was disabled, having lost an arm and sight in one eye in a bomb explosion during the last days of the Second World War in Manila. It was a tragedy that left emotional scars just as deep as, if not deeper than, the physical ones incurred. Yet, she did not allow this to prevent her from living a full life. A few years after the war, Ms. Juco participated in a visiting program in Japan, where her honest and outgoing nature won her many friends locally, including members of the Imperial Family. While there, she inspired people with tales of her experience as a WWII survivor. And through the warm personal bonds she formed with the locals, Ms. Juco came to perceive Japan in a positive, new light. From that point on, she became a central figure — one that shone so brightly — in reconciliation efforts between Japan and the Philippines.
She came to Japan several more times since and in the course of which developed closer friendships with more people, including Her Majesty the Empress of Japan (then Crown Princess). In 1962, when Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress (then Crown Prince and Princess) came to the Philippines for the first time, Their Majesties had a friendly conversation with Ms. Juco.
The memory of Ms. Juco has always stayed in Their Majesties’ hearts and they recalled this with particular fondness during their recent visit to the Philippines in January this year. In the same spirit, Ambassador and Madame Ishikawa laid flowers and offered a prayer for Ms. Juco when they visited her grave.
