MANILA, Philippines - A group of Filipino comfort women survivors on Monday asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision turning down their petition that would compel the Philippine government to push for official reparations from the Japanese government.

The group, called the Malaya Lolas (Free Grandmothers), survivors of the Mapaniqui seige of November 23, 1944, filed a supplementary motion for reconsideration of the Supreme Court decision promulgated on April 28, 2010.

This was a decision on a case the Malaya Lolas filed in 2004 "to declare the existing [Philippine] government policy of refusing to espouse the victims' claim for reparation as tantamount to grave abuse of discretion," which was dismissed by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court decision said that while the court greatly sympathized with the plight of the petitioners, the Malaya Lolas did not have legal remedy since it is not the power of the Supreme Court to order the executive department to take up the petitioners' cause as it is the function of the government to "take the lead in protecting its citizens against violations of their fundamental rights."

The supplemental motion for reconsideration assailed the decision penned by Supreme Court associate justice Mariano del Castillo as having plagiarized from at least 3 sources:

an article published in 2009 in the Yale Law Journal of International Law;
a book published by the Cambridge University Press in 2005; and,
an article published in 2006 in the Western Reserve Journal of International Law.

The petitioners said Del Castillo's runing "made it appear that these sources support the assailed judgment's arguments for dismissing instant petition when, in truth, the plagiarized sources even make a strong case for the petition's claims."

The petitioners' counsel Harry Roque said this incident is a first in the history of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, and a sad day for the judiciary.

Roque maintained that these alleged plagiarized quotes and articles, in fact, supported the granting of justice to victims of war crimes but only "twisted" to support the Supreme Court's decision.

Seventeen comfort women petitioners, aged 70 years and above, came to the Supreme Court in purple robes, purple being the color of defiance, according to their counsel.

Lolas Lita, Maria, Simang and Pilar said they have suffered much in the hands of Japanese soldiers, their loved ones were executed and properties burned down, but up to now, justice has been elusive to them.

They even called on the Supreme Court magistrates to step down if they cannot serve justice to comfort women.

They also called on President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to make good his promise that the public is his "boss" by helping them in their cause.