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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Casualties of War
By Antonio C. Abaya Written Feb. 25, 2007 For the Standard Today, February 27 issue At about this time in 1945, the Abaya clan � meaning my father and his brothers (except one who was a government doctor in Ilocos Sur, and another who was a lieutenant in the army and was captured by the Japanese in Mindanao) and sisters, and their respective families � had been taking refuge for the past year or so in the large ancestral manse of a spinster grand-aunt in Pagsanjan, Laguna, away from the deteriorating conditions in Manila, where one needed a sack of Japanese-issued money to buy one sack of rice. When there was rice. In Pagsanjan, at least, when there was no rice, there was always binatog or corn kernels steamed just like rice. But in late 1944, conditions in Pagsanjan were also reaching dangerous levels. The Americans had landed in Leyte in October, followed later by landings in Mindoro , Lingayen, and Nasugbu, as the Americans closed in on the embattled Japanese in Manila . In early 1945, American planes flew in during the day to strafe and bomb the Japanese encampments in Pagsanjan, their empty machine-gun shells often noisily clattering on our roof. At night, guerillas launched attacks against the Japanese garrisons in and around our town, the sounds and flaming sights of warfare drawing ever closer by the day. By late February, the Americans had liberated Manila and nearby provinces, all the way to the town of Pila, on the shores of Laguna de Bay. It must have been a gut-wrenching dilemma for Papa and his brothers to decide what to do, stay or flee to relative safety somewhere else. In early March, they decided it was time to flee, and perhaps 60 to 70 of us, including other families, bundled up everything that could be carried and started a trek on foot to wherever we were headed for. We forded the Pagsanjan river, somehow escaping the notice of Japanese sentries, and trekked through the relative safety of coconut groves and patches of forest and jungle. But crossing the open paddy fields was fraught with danger, not only from the Japanese soldiers, but also from American fighter planes. I recall the first time our column of refugees crossed a paddy field, we were circled by a pair of American fighter planes, which flew down lower and lower . Filipino guerillas ran to us and shouted to the men folk to wave their hats in a certain pattern. This was a signal to the American pilots that we were refugees, not a Japanese army column. Failure to do so would have risked our being strafed and bombed by the Americans. In a patch of forest, somewhere between Pagsanjan and Pila, we stopped to celebrate my ninth birthday, and I recall that we had fried chicken, probably foraged by the men folk from someone�s wild flock. Although I did not fully understand what was going on, I had a feeling of the danger that we were in. Once when Papa and the other men had to leave the women and children behind to scout ahead and determine the best route for us to take, I was overcome by a panicky feeling of concern for his safety, and I cried and cried, and nobody could hush me, until Papa came back safe and sound. A cousin of Papa was not so lucky. He decided to go back to Pagsanjan because he wanted to retrieve something that he had left in his house, but he never came back to rejoin us. We found out later that the Japanese had caught him, set fire to his house, hogtied him, then threw him into his burning house. In Mindanao, one of my mother�s brothers � together with his wife and five of his six children � were caught by the Japanese fleeing from their house and were all beheaded. So we were among the luckiest survivors of the war. We reached the town of Pila safely, with only one casualty. In Pila, we stayed overnight in someone�s house and then sailed on a batel or fishing boat the next day for the liberated town of Calamba, where we boarded an open-top cargo truck � people on top of their balutans - for the 60-km journey to Manila. Our luck held out. Our house in Manila , left in the care of our trusted driver Dionisio, was untouched by the shelling and arson and looting that hit many other parts of the city. Located at the corner of Calle Espana and Calle Cataluna, our house was only two blocks away from the campus of Santo Tomas University , which had been turned by the Japanese into an internment camp for 3,000 American civilian prisoners, and was therefore the first priority for liberation by the US Army in the Luzon campaign. This comes 62 years late, but thank you, Papa, and thank you, Mama, for shepherding us through to safety. ***** Thousands of other people, of course, were not so lucky. In Manila, some 100,000 Filipino civilians were killed during the Battle for Manila, in February 1945, some by American shelling of Japanese hold-out positions in buildings south of the Pasig River, others � easily the majority � by deliberate and systematic Japanese atrocities against unarmed civilians, especially in Ermita, Malate and Singalong districts. These are graphically illustrated in the DVD Manila 1945: The Forgotten Atrocities, written and directed by Peter Parsons, narrated in part by Cesar Montano, and available at the Ayala Museum in Makati City. One can fault the production on several issues: the narrative is not linear but jumps from 1941 to 1945, then back to 1941 etc; there are no maps showing the progression of the American advance, one column coming down from Lingayen, the other column from Tagaytay and Nasugbu; a few video clips are of Japanese atrocities in China, as Parsons himself admits in �The Making of��; eyewitness narrative accounts (in English) are mostly from American and Spanish-Filipino survivors, hardly any from the indios who made up most of those 100,000 casualties of war.. Still as graphic document of a horribly tragic episode in our modern history, Manila 1945 is without equal and deserves to be shown in all schools and colleges, to give younger generations of Filipinos an idea of what their parents and grandparents had to suffer 60 years ago. One message that the DVD eloquently stated, which was earlier voiced by the Memorare 1945 Foundation under former Ambassador Juan Rocha and my friend Bubby Krohn, was: the Japanese Government has never officially apologized for the atrocities of its soldiers in 1945. (In 2006, the Japanese ambassador then, Ryu Yamazaki, offered his personal apologies. But from the Japanese Government, nothing.) The official Japanese thinking seems to be, which is hinted at in the DVD, that since the Flips or Frips need our investments, our official development aid, our tourist yens, our visas for their Japayukis, why should we apologize to them? Another casualty of war. ***** Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles since 2001 in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �Casualties of War� I was your age and remember being piled atop a truck with all our belongings, including our piano, to head for Balayan where an uncle had an hacienda with (I seem to recall) fields of sugarcane and cacao and a carabao-powered sugar mill. My parents rented a small two-storey house for us (we were six kids), and my brothers helped build an outhouse under some coconut trees (it was no fun wiping one's bottom with coconut husks when newspapers ran out). I dimly recall a path from our house that passed a leech-ridden stream leading to the beach some 20 minutes away. I found it all an exciting adventure (being somewhat clueless about the war at that age), even though I was often down with asthma. My father and elder brother had joined the guerillas and often left us. They returned home once, relating how they had been caught by the Japanese and lined up to be shot. Luckily they were at the opposite end of the line when the shooting began, and were left unscathed when the Japanese scampered away for some reason. I remember a Japanese patrol coming by our Balayan house occasionally to commandeer our pigs and chickens. Along with produce from our uncle's farm, my mother supervised a garden of various gulay, so we had enough to eat. My elder sister, a Florence Nightingale type, set up a mobile clinic for the barrio folk whom she treated as best she could. I still have the scar from an ulcer on my ankle which took months to heal, despite repeated applications of foil from cigarette packets (recommended by a friendly quack as a sure cure). When my father learned that the 11th Airborne Division (or was it the 13th?) had landed in Nasugbu, he packed us all on a truck and headed there. We met no Japanese enroute and were soon ensconced in a friend's house for a spell, all the while waiting for news that Manila had been liberated. Meanwhile we enjoyed outdoor movies provided by the GIs who flocked to our place and gave me Hershey bars to make me scram so they could woo my two beautiful elder sisters. When we finally returned to Manila , to our old house on V. Mapa in Santa Mesa, it was intact, and some of our relatives who'd lost their homes moved in with us. Before the war, living across the street from us was the Escoda family --Josefa and Antonio Sr. were massacred around 1945, their bodies were never found. I never thought that their son Antonio Jr., who used to come around to join my three brothers and target birds in our acacia trees with their slingshots, would be my future husband. Needless to say, your wartime account stirred some powerful memories for me. Many thanks. Isabel Escoda, (by email), Hong Kong , Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hello, Sir: Are you related to the Abayas of Candon? They are our relations. Cheryl Daytec, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 MY REPLY. Sorry, no. My father�s family were from Pagsanjan, Laguna. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi, Tony. I fully agree with you. My own uncle died as a war guerilla. However, I have some questions for you. Have the American government already paid our war veterans their dues? Doesn't the American government also owe us an apology for abandoning us and giving priority to the Europeans during the early stages of the war? (I do not know if our veterans have already received their due. As for the Americans �abandoning us and giving priority to the Europeans,� that is not true. From the Fall of Corregidor in May 1942 until they returned to Leyte in October 1944, the Americans were fighting the Japanese in Guadalcanal, Midway, the Aleutians, Rabaul, the Solomons, Bougainville, Coral Sea, New Guinea, Tarawa, Pelileu, etc. Obviously they could not be in all places at the same time. The Americans did not fight in Europe until Anzio in January 1944, and Normandy on June 6, 1944. ACA) Who really owes the Filipinos more? The Japanese for all the atrocities that they did or the Americans because the Filipinos fought and died for them? Cheers! (The Japanese. �Owing� the Filipinos just because we �fought and died for them� was not an atrocity, nor did it mean that the US� whole global strategy had to hinge on the Filipinos. ACA) Bobby Tordesillas, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww (Unedited) I was born two years after the war, as we are known as the baby boomers. During my childhood my Parents and the older town folks would tell us some heroics of our guerrillas and my father's younger brother who was an officer in teh Army would relate their campaign which I he said was mostly intellegence in preparation for the Americans Return. But somehow we were lucky in our home province and our hometown, except for one instance of atrocities in what we call as "ataban market massacre" the Japanese Occupying forces were well-behaved. And my mother said, the economic condition during the occupation was not bad at all for most of the town folks, mainly because we were an agriculture base town. As for the Japanese lack of Apology for the Astrocities of her forces and even the abuse of the "comfort ladies" still speaks for the lack of remorse of the japanese Government for that Decision to go to War in the First place. Our Government had already apologized for the Internment of Japanese Descendant residents and citizens duration or War and we even apologized for the Head Tax imposed on the relatives of the Chinese Migrants Railroad workers after their labour no longer needed for the railroad constructions. Those action the our Government did in the past may be considered correct at the context of time and given the prevailing condition, but in retrospect, the are wrong and that we accepted and Apologized. Do we need the Japanese aid or investment or that of China ? To hell we don't if that's the only reason for our apologies. We apologize because what our past Governments did were wrong. And so did the Japanese... Victor Sanoy, (by email), Scarborough , Ont. , Canada , Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi Tony, Are you wanting an apology from Japan for the atrocities they committed in this our beloved country? Here is another kind of atrocity. In 1956 when I started a business as a commercial broker, or indentor, I was selling foreign goods locally on behalf of foreign principals. My principals included two of the biggest zaibatsus (Japanese companies that control Japanese commerce) one of which could not establish contact with B-Meg, a subsidiary of San Miguel Brewery. Luckily, my efforts got me a good line with the purchasing office of San Miguel Brewery and I sold a couple of hundred tons of poultry feeds.. As an indentor, I am paid a commission by my principal for every sale I make. I got my commission on this initial order from B-Meg. Knowing that the B-Meg order would have to be repeated, I went back after some time to solicit some more orders. I was told that B-Meg already sent in a repeat order. I went back to the Japanese company and asked for my commission. They said, that was "office sales" and no commission was due me on that sale. I purposely ended my connection with this company. The second Japanese company I represented was for chemicals. It has become apparent to me then that these zaibatsus do not extend commercial representation of their company. They extend representation by products only. Exactly the same thing happened. After an initial sale of chemicals, I could no longer collect commissions on repeat sales. All orders that followed were "office sales." I also dropped this company's representation, and did not try to represent any Japanese company thereafter. .I still hear stories about the same behaviour presently. Obviously, this is part of their culture, exploitation of the weak. The Japanese will not apologize for their atrocities during the war. They know we do not have the political strength to force them to do it. Edmundo Ledesma, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, Thank you for sharing this beautiful article about your reminiscences of war. The hardships that our parents and grandparents experienced should always be remembered and told. I was still a small boy in Cebu during that time. Our Lolo always told us the stories of those times. I told those stories, too, to our children and grandchildren. Take care, man. Best regards. Agustin Bacalso, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww This is a story I tell to Americans, most of whom have never heard it. Except I tell it from the standpoint of those 3,000+ allied "prisoners of war" internees in Santo Tomas. I always give credit to the Philippine guerillas and Philippine Scouts who fought bravely beside the Allies throughout the occupation. Unfortunately for the Philippine Scouts, they were promised Veteran's benefits and it has taken years to finally have them awarded somewhat. We know that the " Pearl of the Orient"- Manila , suffered in destruction of property and civilians more than most European cities in WWII. We need to tell the story also to our own students and adults so they know that the brave Philippine citizens stuck by us against the Japanese who hoped they would turn to them against the US . British, Australian, Canadian, American, and other allied POW's and Civilian "POW's" sued Japan for an apology and reparations during the 80's and 90's but we could not succeed. Our own government would not support it because of the position of Japan in the world today. Japan was stubborn then and they are still stubborn today. Many of these stories have finally been told by those who suffered under the Japanese. Japan did not follow the Geneva Convention in treatment of prisoners. Those of us who have not written a book, try to educate others before we are all dead and no one is left to tell the story. Many theaters of war have stories such as these but this one is seldom told. I was born during the Occupation so I remember nothing, but my sisters remember some and they tell the story. My parents and grandfather, who were prisoners, are dead. But we have saved the correspondence between my parents during part of the time. The saddest and most angering story I ever read was The Hotel Tacloban, by Douglas Valentine , Lawrence Hill and Co., 520 Riverside Ave., Westport CN 06880. Not a civilian story but a war story. Have Philippine civilians written their stories? (Many of them have. ACA) Sheilah Hockman, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Mr. Abaya, You are very perceptive. Your last paragraph is right "on the money." In the strict sense of Japanese decorum: "Either you are superior, or inferior to me. There is no such thing as equals." Pierre Tierra, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Mr. Abaya, I think we should not be discriminatory. If we are to require an apology from the Japanese, we need the same from the Spaniards and the Americans. Louie Fernandez, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww This is the kind of story that needs to be embedded in the minds of our youth. Our youth, particularly those who were born during the Martial Law period, have forgotten the past. Our history, even sad, is full of encouraging stories creating in the hearts and minds patriotism lacking in the younger generations. We tend to educate our youth emphasizing advance technology that we have forgotten our past. The del Pilar brothers, Lopez-Jaena, Mabini, Diego Silang, Tandang Sora, Agoncillo, Arellano, and even Quezon, Roxas, Magsaysay, Recto, are now remembered only as street names. Our government should re-engineer our education system by creating subjects of nationalism and patriotism. The Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and even Vietnamese have instilled in their youth love of their country. What happened to your proposal for a subway that runs under the present and dilapidated railway tracks from Makati to Calamba, that can carry passengers, cargo, garbage, etc? (Obviously, it has been ignored. ACA) Raul Sebastian Laman, (by email), Feb. 28, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Good Morning Mr. Abaya, Thank you for this excellent article. I will print it so the story can be preserved in the Archives of Filipino WWII veterans at the Veterans War Memorial Building in San Francisco . My archival co-conspirator, Yoland Ortega Stern is presently in Manila and I wonder if you can get together with her so we can get a copy of the DVD "Manila 1945". I believe Yoli is staying at the Shangri-la in Makati . I'll provide her with a copy of this email so that she could be alerted. (Yoli can just walk to Ayala Museum on Makati Ave., which is about 100 meters from Makati Shangri-la Hotel. ACA) So that you know, the Filipino WWII Veterans on-going demand for Full Equity, although alive and well in the minds of the FilAm Democrats, (they expect the Equity Bill to pass) is a political victory with no specific dollar value to the veterans. The new Chairman of the appropriation Committee is Congressman Mike Honda (D.San Jose), a Japanese. Rudy Asercion, (by email), California , March 01, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Lest We Forget. Perry Gamsby, (by email), Australia , March 01, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Muchas gracias Tony, I have printed it to read at leisure. I am most interested to read your story about what transpired during the war years. Incidentally, I do not know if you have the book 'Three Continents' by: Ana Mari, which is her story about our lives and what occured to her Family that ended up in the PGH and about the Calero and extended Family in Pasay . It includes some other stories of friend's and relatives, including my relatives, the Vazquez Prada family and the Massacre at De La Salle College. If you do not have a copy, Ana Mari and I will be most happy to send you one. I would appreciate if you could give me you mailing address and will ask my younger brother Carlos, who lives in Pasig to mail it to you. I will give you my input or feedback on this interesting story. Abrazos, Jaime Calero, (by email), Australia , March 01, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Antonio, Reading your story, it is hard to understand how people can forgive and forget such atrocities. The Japanese at the governmental level not only have not apologized or admitted their war crimes, they have even distorted the history of the war in their school books. However, when one comes to think of it, neither have the British who slaughtered millions in the establishment and maintenance of �The Empire where the sun never sets� The US to my knowledge has never apologized for the ethnic cleansing of many tribes in North America, their slaughters in the Mexican wars for the annexation of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California etc., , the millions killed in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Nicaragua and the Philippines, to mention just a small part of the 67 invasions, occupations, coups and interferences in the affairs of sovereign states the US has perpetrated throughout the world since the 13 East Coast North American colonies won independence from Britain. The only exception I can think of is Germany that has, at a governmental level, accepted, apologized and granted compensation for some of the crimes committed during the period of the Third Reich. Your personal experiences are a timely reminder once again of the cruelty of wars �Lest We Forget� Doug Adam, (by email), March 01, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww "Filipino civilians were killed during the Battle for Manila, in February 1945, some by American shelling of Japanese hold-out positions in buildings south of the Pasig River..." I have to disagree with you, Tony. My family was living in Calle Colorado in Malate near Philippine Women�s University and there were no Japanese in our residences.. Nevertheless, our homes were shelled by American mortar fire starting early in the morning even before dawn. Neighboring families whose children had been my playmates were killed in their own homes as they slept in their beds. My bed was afire when my mother yelled for me to come downstairs to join the rest of the family leave our house. We walked down streets with homes, not buildings, on either sides of the street ablaze from the systematic shelling. The next day, to get across the river, we walked by charred homes with blackened bodies -- children and adults -- fallen where they had been hit, their guts exploded . War is hell. Angie Collas-Dean, (by email), Eugene Oregon, March 01, 2007 MY REPLY. I doubt if you are implying that the Americans deliberately trained their mortars on your house. Mortars are notoriously inaccurate weapons. They were no doubt aiming for the Japanese hold-out positions in PGH, UP-Herran, St. Paul�s College, La Salle, or the Rizal Memorial sports complex��.but hit your house and your neighbors� instead. It is known these days as �collateral damage.� wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Thank you, I will forward the info to Yoli.Have a nice day. BTW Since you seem to have some issues with Filipinos copying American-style liberalism, have you considered writing an article about priests molesting Filipino children? (Not really. ACA) Rudy Asercion, (by email), California , March 02, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww REMARKABLE! Gloria Lilly, (by email), March 02, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww The Japanese do not need guns to invade us. Someone said: "Our country is being raped (not only by Japanese) but instead of crying for help, we give them a smile." Lucita Luciani, (by email), Los Angeles CA, March 02, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww .....and there's this movie "Letters from Iwo Jima " portraying heroics and courageous deeds of Japanese soldiers, also during the World War II. Allen G. Buyayo, (by email), March 02, 2007 MY REPLY. And it is supposed to be an excellent movie. Nothing wrong with that. Nations and individuals cannot keep on carrying grudges forever. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, My family's experience was more in the City of Manila . Of course, we briefly fled in panic to Antipolo when the Japanese entered the City but came back down and suffered the rest of the war on Arlegui Street , two blocks away from Malacanang. Tony Joaquin, (by email), Daly City CA , March 02, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww You took me back in time to before I was even born. Anyway, thanks for the lessons of history. Your graphic and detailed accounts of episodes like these during the Japanese occupation make me appreciate the hardships you had to forcibly undergo. On the other hand, I realize how lucky we are to be enjoying our freedoms because of the sacrifices paid for by our fathers and mothers (mine, who incidentally is from Santiago , Ilocos Sur but is now in the twilight of her life in Yuba City , around 40 miles from Sacramento where I live and work). Thanks to all of them most especially. Shane Flores, (by email), Sacramento CA , March 02, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Chitong, you write splendidly, I saw everything as if I was there. It hurts that even to this day, we are still casualties of war. Nita Hontiveros-Lichauco, (by email), Quezon City , March 04, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww My mother, Clarita Tambunting Legarda, was a civilian casualty of the liberation of Manila . I was then barely eight months old. To this day, no apology will take away that hurt. [email protected], March 05, 2007 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Chitong - Linda forwarded this article to me and it was really very interesting. I could add a lot more of what happened to us in Vigan - as far back as I can remember. Tatay was at one time incarcerated by the Japanese for helping the guerillas - he used to treat the Japanese during daytime and at night some people would come and get him and bring him to guerillas who needed his ministration. What a life, ano? I also remember Vigan was where Lola Gundang passed away and we had to wait for uncles and aunts to come (those who could) before she was interred. After the war, Lolo decided to get Lola's bones and being her to Manila . On another topic - do you know that I still have your book, Europe by Scooter, which you gave me when it was published? I came to your store to buy one but you would not let me pay for it - in fact, you even signed it!!! Okay - take care and keep writing. Charito (Abaya-Lara), (by email), Bethesda , Maryland , March 08, 2007 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |