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not a whimper ... not a tear-
The Liberation of Manila by Narciso G. Reyes HE liberation of Manila was the fulfillment of a blood compact between the peoples of the Philippines and America, a compact written not on parchment but on hallowed Philippine soil: on Bataan, Corregidor, Cebu, Zamboanga-wherever American and Filipino soldiers fought and died side by side in defense of something mOTe precious than the sum total of their individual lives and bigger than their two countries put together. In February, 1942, when it became evident that naked courage and sheer will to win could delay but not overcome the overwhelming might of the invader, General Douglas MacArthur sealed the compact with the words, "I shall return." When American troops, therefore, entered Manila in the evening' of February 3rd last year, three y,ears almost to the day after General MacArthur's departure for Australia, they were not merely capturing an enemy-held stronghold or liberating a friendly city. They Wlere keeping an historic rendezvous, in redemption of a pledge forged on the anvil of a common struggle. They were fulfilling a compact signed in blood shed for a common cause. Th" Filipinos who cheered the incoming American troops saw them as comrades in arms who had fought their way across ten thousand miles of land and water to keep a promise given in the dark days of defeat and disaster. They thought littLe if at all of the dictates of military strategy that made the retakin~ of the Philippines an absolute nece.-
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sity quite apart from the moral and psychological considerations involved. As the material evidience of triumphant American power unrolled before their eyes, the thing that rang like a bell in their minds was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's message of hope captained in the first leaflet from America that they had received in captivity: "The entire resources, in men and materials of the United States, stand behind that pledge." For their part, the Filipino peopl,. kept faith with America. They were loyal when it was hardest to remain loyal: after the American forces had been vanquished and Old Glory hauled down in the dust. While Burmese nationalists rejoiced over the fall of Singapore and Indonesian patriots exulted over the extirpation of Dutch power in the East Indies, the Filipino people became more devoted to America with each of the initial reverses suffered by American arms. Their loyalty fed on adversity and drew strength from defeat. The American soldier was never closer to the Filipino heart than when he shuffled, prodded by his conqueror's bayonet, to the prison pens of Capas and, later, marched in disgrace through the streets of Manila.
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THE light of the unique tie. of affection which bound the p,eoples of the Philippines and America in peace and war, it is easy to understand the frenzied, almost ecstatic happiness with which Manilans welcomed the liheration For the people of Manila, as forces.
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