The Philippines 84 years ago

Once, while ranting on the depressing social and political situation over dinner, my father dismissively said, “You don’t know what you are talking about.” Before I could reply, he calmly declared, “What you complain about is nothing compared to what my generation went through—we survived the Second World War.” That day, I realized that perspective and experience are not learned in school; these gifts are only earned with age.

The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines does not fall within my area of expertise. When questioned or asked to comment on the period, I wiggle out by referring the issue to Dr. Rico Jose and deferring to his opinion. It is noninterest or laziness on my part not to know more, since primary sources for the period are readily available from the National Library, the Filipinas Heritage Library Roderick Hall Collection, the Ortigas Library, the Jorge Vargas Museum, and the Lopez Museum and Library. More is accessible online. With these resources ripe for the picking, what we really need are more “workers in the Filipiniana vineyard,” as the late historian Teodoro Agoncillo described the landscape to me over four decades ago.

Inspired by my father’s experience, I decided to look into The Tribune, a wartime English-language newspaper, for Wednesday, July 29, 1942. I fell into a rabbit hole, a time machine that I thought would give me an idea of life in the Philippines 84 years ago today. Three of the eight pages of the newspaper contained a long list of Filipino Prisoners of War (POW) from Batangas and Laguna. This made me flip back a month before to June 29, 1942, to a lean issue of only four pages. The headline read “PAMPANGA, TARLAC WAR PRISONERS RELEASED. Tears of Joy flow as dear ones meet.”

Reading through the headline article, it was obvious that this was blatant Japanese propaganda, since everyone knows about the Bataan Death March. When Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese, they forced an estimated 75,000 Filipino and American POWs on a 105-kilometer march north, beginning on April 10, 1942, from Mariveles to Camp O’Donnell in Capas, Tarlac. Exposed to the summer heat, deprived of food, water, and medical attention, many prisoners stopped to rest, fell behind, or could not march any longer. They were kicked, prodded with the butts of Japanese rifles, bayoneted, or shot dead. Thousands of Filipino prisoners died on the way. None of these details made it to the newspaper story highlighting the humane treatment afforded by the Japanese:

“It is believed that the magnanimous steps taken by the Military Authorities in providing for the provisional release of sick and wounded prisoners of war has brought renewed hope and has caused in everybody concerned a feeling of deep gratitude…”

Elsewhere on the front page were stories of social workers kept busy by the release of POWs, reports that provinces where civil administration had been restored were peaceful, and a warning was issued against “swindlers” who, reading between the lines, were obviously civilians in the resistance. Page two was quite surreal, with notices and photographs of society weddings and parties. There were also notices for sporting matches.

Boxed advertisements caught my eye. First were those for medical services: an optometrist; a surgeon named Dr. F. A. Fidelino; Dr. Ceferino Escarte, a dentist; Dr. Ruperto Galvez, an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist; and Dr. C. B. Boncan, a specialist in skin, kidney, and bladder ailments. He was good for syphilis, gonorrhea, and impotence. In addition, Boncan spoke Japanese. I could not help but smile to see his advertisement above that of El Canal de Suez, which sold cow entrails or “menudencias” in Spanish. The largest advertisement on this page was for Tom’s Oriental Grill and Dancing Pavilion, featuring music by Joe Feliz (in English, that’s “Happy Joe”) and his Orchestra “as usual,” with the dance floor led by Boogie-woogie Dance Champions Leoncio Larin and partner Ellie Dizer.

On page three are the classified ads: houses for rent, real estate for sale, services offered. There were some judicial notices, and in the police section, a man from Mandaluyong was knifed to death, and a fire broke out on General Luna Street, Intramuros, due to dried vines on the walls catching flames from burning garbage. One story jumps out of the page:

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“Mario Javier, young fish dealer from Malabon, asked his girl companion to excuse him as he went to the men’s room in a downtown movie house last Saturday evening. A few minutes later he came out and sat down beside her again. The girl noticed him fretting uneasily in his seat, then he started writhing. She helped him out of the theater and took him to the Philippine General Hospital. The doctor said he had been poisoned. Detectives stepped into the case and found out that he gulped doses of iodine in the men’s room. They also found out that her brother had demanded that he marry the girl. He was already married.”

If we are to believe The Tribune, life went on normally, like the prewar period old-timers remember as “Pistaym.” Censored newspapers hid the terror of life during the Japanese Occupation. Then, as now, we must validate information to avoid fake news.

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Comments are welcome at ambeth.ocampo@inquirer.net