by: Janna Pineda
Eighty years have passed since the Battle of Manila broke out on February 3, 1945.
The month-long fighting to retake the nation’s capital from the Japanese occupation forces left an estimated 100,000 Filipino civilians, 16,665 Japanese, and 1,101 Americans dead.
In an attempt to shed light on new information, insights, and perspectives about World War II, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), in partnership with the Philippine World War II Memorial Foundation (Philwar), brought together representatives from the Philippines, United States, and Japan to engage in a conversation and tell their side of the story.
The initiative, formally known as the International Conference on the 80th Anniversary of World War II, offered both a scholarly and humanistic perspective to the war memory of the three nations.
Philwar Vice President for Research and Education Desiree Ann Benipayo stressed the importance of this conference in ensuring that the stories of those who fought and risked their lives for the country will not be forgotten.
“World War II was such a big part of our history, and arguably the darkest and most tragic of all. For three and a half years, the people lived under a harsh enemy occupation. Civil liberties were removed, private properties commandeered, and citizens were tortured and killed for mere suspicion of resistance activities. This reign of terror was supposed to instill fear in the hearts and minds of Filipinos, instead, it just made their resolve stronger,” said Benipayo.
‘We forgive, but can’t forget’
For NHCP Chairperson Regalado Trota Jose, Jr., it is important to have a balanced perspective on the events that transpired during World War II in order to better understand history.
“Not only information is being lost, there’s also a matter of misinformation and we have to be reminded of the history all the time,” said Jose.
“The whole point is we have to transcend all the bitterness of the past. We can forgive but we cannot forget. Many people are coming here to give their points of view about comfort women, and other victims of the war,” he added, emphasizing that through having an open and constructive dialogue about World War II, the present generation will be given a broader, more informed perspective.
The NHCP also hopes that the conference will be instrumental in encouraging Filipinos to get to know the stories that define the Philippines as a nation and keep the history alive.
With an open mind, it only took a sense of humility for Japanese peace education researcher Naoko Okimoto to admit that her ancestors have wronged Filipinos during the war.
Recognizing the lack of knowledge of the present-day Japanese nation about the history of World War II, Okimoto has been actively dedicating her time and efforts to pursue studies that will shed light on historical events during this period, particularly the experiences of war victims.
“Generally speaking, we are not taught much about what happened in the Philippines 80 years ago. So now, I am learning myself what happened because as a Japanese, I feel it’s really painful what our ancestors committed to Filipino people. So we should learn as Japanese,” said Okimoto in an interview.
One of the notable case studies of Okimoto was about the Filipino comfort women applying for the “Atonement Projects” of the Asian Women’s Fund (AWF) and the process that took them to qualify for the program.
By conducting this study, Okimoto not only hopes to bridge information gaps and present supplementary evidence to the implementation of the project and how it is catering so far to Filipino comfort women but also provide a learning opportunity for her fellow Japanese regarding the plight of the victims.
In March 2021, Okimoto co-authored a book entitled “My Mother is more than a Comfort Woman” featuring the life stories and wartime experiences of Filipino comfort women with an aim to contribute to restoring the dignity of survivors.
“Even though my knowledge and my capacity to reach out to people is very limited, I try to make an opportunity to let them know what happened and I hope more Japanese people would learn the history,” she added.
Okimoto also expressed her interest in translating some of the studies of other Japanese researchers about World War II in the English language to introduce additional perspectives about their side of history.
Filipinos’ sacrifices
Peter Parsons, an American born in the Philippines before World War II, has only one thing to say about his war memory and that is how admirable the courage of the Filipino people to fight for their country.
“They must not forget what sacrifices the Filipino people made during the war. No one asked them to do it. They were not ordered by the Americans, they were not ordered by anybody. What they (did), it’s really (galing) sa loob, meaning the heart and the strength of the Filipinos. It makes me cry,” Parsons said in tears as he looked back on every atrocity he witnessed during the war as a 4-year-old boy.
Parson’s father, Commander Chick Parsons, was involved in supplying the resistance movement during World War II. He was in charge of bringing ammunition, guns, and other armaments designed for guerillas. His father also brought them medical supplies, rations, and other resources necessary for the movement.
When he grew up, he started a life mission and that is to help share the stories of those who died and survived in the war through creating documentaries and writing books. Among his notable works are the documentaries entitled “Manila 1945: The Rest of the Story” and “Manila 1945: The Forgotten Atrocities.”
“When we went into Manila, there’s a guy coming by on a stretcher and his arm was off and it wasn’t somewhere else. It was lying on his chest. It’s bleeding and the arm was bleeding and I started yelling at my father to put it back,” he added.
Being able to talk to the surviving guerillas himself, Parsons cannot overemphasize how he is so astounded by the loyalty of Filipinos.
According to one of the guerrillas he interviewed, “Filipinos knew everything, they knew we had radios, they knew we had submarines, they knew everything, they never turned us in. They could have gotten money, they could have gotten rewards from the Japanese and no one turned us in.”
Parson’s war memory is a remembrance of how humanity prevailed beyond the atrocities.
World War II was a period of immense suffering and loss and even though eight decades have already passed, it remains crucial for every people of all nations to approach the history of war with respect and sensitivity.
However, it is equally important to actively engage the present generation in the conversation about the lessons of the past beyond remembering the devastation. Through this, history will not be forgotten and people can continue working towards building a peaceful and just world. (JMP/PIA-NCR)
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