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Narciso G. Reyes

from The Philippine-American_February 1946

by Filipiniana Online

from The Philippine-American_February 1946, page 62

Article from: The Philippine-American_February 1946

THE _ PROOF OF THE PIE . . .. ...

- not a whimper ... not a tear-

The Liberation of Manila

THE liberation of Manila was the fulfillment of a blood compact between the peoples of the Philip-

pines and America, a compact written

not on parchment but on hallowed Phil-

ippine 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, en-

tered Manila in the evening' of February 3rd last year, three y,ears almost to the day after General MacArthur's depar-

ture for Australia, they were not mere-

ly 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 incom-

ing American troops saw them as com-

rades 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 retakof the Philippines an absolute nece.-

by Narciso G. Reyes

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.

IN 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 forces. For the people of Manila, as 31

indeed for the entire Filipino nation, the retaking of the city by General MacArthur's troops meant not only the end of three years of bondage; it meant the fulfillment, at the cost of incalculable effort, suffering and the sacrifice of human lives, of a pledge that has set tho pattern for a new dispensation in the relationship between strong nations and weak; above all it meant the restitution of the means and opportunity to engage once more in the open, by the side of America, the foe that from the beginning of the war both had fought with equal purpose and dedication.

These thoughts were uppermost in the minds of the people of Manila when the mechanized sp1larhead of the U. S. 1st Cavalry Division broke the thin crust of Japanese defenses in the north and entered the city at sundown of that memorab1" day.

In the northern districts, which were overrun and taken with hardly a struggle, the central emotions were happiness and thanksgiving raised to the nth d'egree. When the first American tanks rolled into the city, the pent-up longing of three years explod:ed into manifestations of joy as reckless and deHrious as anything could be this side of sanity.

These incidents stand out in my memory:

Along Rizal Avenue, oblivious of the danger of death, crowds rushed to the • treet to cheer the white-starred tanks. In the dusk they might easily have been mistaken for enemies, both by the American tankmen and the Jap units scurrying southward to join the Jap forces entrenched along the Pasig. But a feeling stronger than fear moved them, and they ran to the sidewalks and street corners to show, if only by a shant or a wave of the hand, that they rejoiced over this moment for which they had waited three years.

On O'Donnell and Antonio Rivera, people climbed to the rooftops, hoping to catch a glimpse of ·the American soldiers.

Across the street from a Japanese sentry post on Tayuman, a group of little children started to sing "God Bless America." A gang of laborers passing by took up the tune and soon the whole neighborhood was ringing with the song which during the Occupation had become a symbol of the love of the Filipino people for the people of America.

A ranking officer of the Allied Intelligence Bureau, unable to contain his impatience, met the spearhead of the Amedcan force near Blumentritt, identified himself, and guided one of the command cars to Sto. Tomas University, where American nationals were interned. Being the only one in civvies, he made a conspicuous target. A hand grenade thrown by a Japanese sniper hit him below the heart and killed him.

His act was .ymbolic of the temper of the city which would not brook a single moment's delay in its liberation and was quite willing to risk death to hasten the advent of freedom even if only by SO much as a split second.

It remained for the people of southern

Manils, however, to give a new meaning

and dimension to the readiness of the city to pay the price of liberation.

A.ide from the boon of freedom, the people of the northern districts had good cause to rejoice and give thanks when !their half of the city waS liberated. Their homes were not burned . Their women were spared from the lust of the enemy. They did not see their children die at the stake or the point of the bayonet. The battle by-passed them: they were not caught in the cross-fire of friend and cornered foe.

Southern Manila was sacked and most of it razed to the ground. Yet the wounded and hungry survivors., emerging the charred ruins of their homes, could utter only words of thanksgiving.

gret, saw none and thought the faet worth recording for history. He bad the people of southern Manila in mind when he said in a speech before the Philippine Congress: "During the battle for Manila I have seen mothers anguished of soul for their dead children-I have seen fathers bereft of all whom they held dear and with all their material possessions gone-I

have seen a continuous line of refugees

slowly trudging north-without food,

water or shelter, and knowing not er to go in search of sanctuary-but

through the stark terror and tragedy (of it all there is one thing I have never

heard, one thing I have never seen. I have never heard a whimper; I have never seen a tear ... "

Something more than the innate courage and fortitude of the Filipino people, to which General MacArthur ascribed their Spartan behaviour under the

enemy's sword, sustained the people of

southern Manila through an ordeal which for sheer horror and barbarity has few parallels in modern history. A

new spirit was at work among them.

Three years of servitude under the most brutal of masters had taught them 11' nothing else could the infinite value of freedom. Measured against it, suffer-

ing and sacrifice, wealth, position,

ure comforts and life itself shrank to insignificance. If death were the only door to liberation, and it was given them to make the choice, they would themselves have gladly turned the key and stepped over the threshold.

This spirit found one of its most

touching expressions in the dying words of one of the anonymous thousands who died in the Intramuros holocaust. This

man, a laborer who could not even read or write his own name, was routed out

of his hiding place by a fear-crazed J apanese soldier iust before American troops entered the Walled City. In the last rattles of the fighting, he was hit and mortally wounded by American machinegun fire. His wife bent over him crying, but he wiped her tears away. "I die content," he whispered. He touched the spot on his breast where the bullet had entered. "It came from the other