"I saw the best and worst of Filipinos."
"I saw the best and worst of Filipinos."
The resilience of Filipinos and their ability to adapt to what is going on around them was best shown during the Japanese occupation, from 1942 to 1945.
I know this firsthand. I was a teenager during the war.
It was Dec. 8, 1942 when, as a high school student at the University of Santo Tomas, I, along with the rest of my class, was told by our teacher to go home because war had broken out between the United States and Japan.
I was sad and heartbroken. I was enjoying school and doing very well in my studies. I had no inkling what war was going to be like.
During the first months of the war when the Japanese Imperial Forces occupied Manila, my eldest brother, Desi, was arrested with the late Manny Manahan. They were members of the underground movement. They were imprisoned at Fort Santiago with all their companions in the movement.
My other brother Willie had wanted to join the other Filipinos being recruited by the Americans. But he could not because he was classified as a “Four-F,” having a slight deficiency.
Lo and behold, when Willie, my mother and I got to the sidewalk of España waving to the Filipinos who were recruited to Bataan, Willie ran after one of the trucks and climbed into it.
Naturally my mother went into hysterics upon seeing her son go. We soon learned that Willie had joined up with the Ilocano brigade with then-Mayor Ferdinand Marcos as commander. But that is getting ahead of the story.
Would you believe I was a young entrepreneur? To enable me to watch movies and stage shows featuring my favorite comedians Pugo and Tugo, I became a bootblack and a cigaret vendor.
I took my meals at the Mathay eatery, and there was also a grocery. That was how I became friends with the Mathay brothers, Ponciano and Mel. Mel later on became Quezon City mayor.
I knew that some American detainees were at the Santo Tomas concentration camp, and all I had to do was insert the cigarets through a hole in the sawali. I earned my keep.
After a week or so, I transferred my business to a side street. This went on for some time. Would you believe I was able to build up my savings because of this trade?
When the Japanese Imperial Forces granted amnesty to veterans of Bataan and survivors of the underground movement, both my brothers were released. They then went up north to join the guerilla movement.
My mother, sister and I stayed in Manila because my father who was then in Abra had a plan to bring a caretela and to Manila to earn some money. That's when I became a conductor with my father using a caretela to negotiate between España Rotunda on to Quiapo at 10 centavos per person. I had fun, and my father earned well. He made as much as P10 a day.
This went on until life in Manila became so difficult that it took about a sackful of Mickey Mouse money which the Japanese distributed for a ganta of rice. We subsisted on kangkong, seldom eating meat and fish.
In early 1944 we decided to evacuate to Abra. That's when the family had to go from town to town all over the province, to be near Willie and Desi. I was then 16 and I recall wanting to be a member of the Bolo Batalliion tasked to send messages from one guerilla movement to another. My brothers said no—it was too dangerous.
It was during this time when the Americans started landing in some parts of Northern Luzon via submarines to combine with Filipino guerillas.
In 1944 when the American forces landed in Lingayen Gulf and tried to take over Manila, the infamous Rape of Manila occurred. And then the Japanese, under General Tomijuki Yamashita, retreated to the Cordilleras to make a last stand.
That began the Battle of Bessang Pass, which lasted for several months until Yamashita surrendered. Both my brothers were in that battle. It's in the annals of the Armed Forces. That battle was known as The Battle Among The Clouds.
My family and I were in La Union when Yamashita surrendered, And then I finished high school in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur. I was promoted twice. The rest is history, as they say.
* * *
I saw the best and worst of Filipinos during the Japanese occupation.
Many sacrificed their lives so that others may live. But I also saw Filipino guerillas torture and kill their fellow Filipinos.
Would you believe that in Ilocos there was this guerilla called Escobar who plundered and raped women on sight? He reigned over Ilocandia at that time until he was arrested and executed.
There were also the Makapilis, or Filipinos who were recruited by the Japanese and then Benigno Aquino Sr. who hid their faces in paper bags.
It is in times like these when you find out who your friends are.
* * *
The congressional investigation into the water crisis brings to fore several questions.
Why did the government through the MWSS act only after the fact?
Didn't the MWSS know that Angat Dam's water reserves could be depleted during summer, made worse by El Niño?
Why did the crisis only in the Eastern part of Metro Manila?
They have to answer all these, and more.
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