By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 07:22:00 07/15/2010
Filed Under: War, history, Massacre
WE WENT to Palawan for the fish and forests and a look at the world as we would like it to be. We found a great deal of that with the help of Bishop Pedro Arigo and Fr. Robert Reyes. I even met, at the end of a long day of snorkeling, a green fish with the Irish flag’s colors on its sides.
We also found the world as it actually is. The island hasn’t escaped the reach of human greed. There are 534 applications pending for mining projects in Palawan. We were told at least 80 of these will be granted. Eighty open pit mines will go a long way to polluting the waters of the island, the forests and beaches. Also Malaysian ships stop illegally in southern Palawan, load up with valuable logs and bring them back home, all with the concurrence of local officials.
We thought there might be less violence in a place so beautiful, but we found that isn’t so. During World War II, for example, Americans, Filipinos and Japanese committed terrible crimes, some of which were so gruesome people are reluctant to talk about them. The stories of these events seem to be connected with one another. Some are clearly historical; others may be not.
The story began for us when Bishop Arigo told us of the massacre of American prisoners of war by the Japanese army in 1944. He told us of the monument to the dead soldiers in downtown Puerto Princesa.
In December 1944 Japanese soldiers, fearing Gen. Mac Arthur’s troops were coming closer, decided to kill the prisoners they kept. They herded the soldiers into air raid shelters, poured gasoline on them, then set them afire. The soldiers who tried to escape were machine gunned, bayoneted or simply clubbed to death. Eleven managed to escape, one at least by diving into the bay.
The site of the massacre is now in the middle of a lovely park, shaded by old acacia and mahogany trees where children play and older students do their homework. In the center of the park, where the air raid shelters were located, there is a monument to the dead: a stone platform holds a statue of an emaciated, bearded prisoner of war struggling to free himself of the barbed wire that coils around him like a snake. The sculptor, Don T. Schloat, was one of the survivors.
For some unknown reason, there has been almost no mention of this massacre in the American or Filipino media, though it is said that what happened there was the massacre of the largest number of American soldiers ever at one time.
Bishop Arigo and the citizens of Puerto Princesa celebrate Mass each year at the monument to pray for the dead soldiers and all who suffered during the war. A person sitting in that park today, listening to the birds and children, cannot imagine the men on fire racing from the air raid shelter to the safety of the bay.
The story continued, according to other narrators, after liberation when Filipino guerrilla fighters and American soldiers rounded up some 300 Japanese sympathizers and dependents (Macabebe) and the few Japanese still left in the city and took them one night to a spot on the highway about 35 kms. to the north of the city and slaughtered them all.
Drivers, including the bishop’s, still blow their horns when they pass that spot. Others throw coins. When we asked the bishop’s driver, Norman, why he blew his horn, he said he didn’t want to meet the woman in white who is sometimes seen at that spot.
We went out along the road to the 35-km mark to see what that area was like. The highway makes big sweeping turns there high above Honda Bay. A driver coming fast downhill might easily misjudge the distance and break through the retaining wall. The ground falls off sharply from the roadside. The tops of tall trees are even with the road. Below is thick underbrush. It is a place the Mafia might pick to get rid of bodies.
We found a group of women, old and young, selling vegetables. Yes, they said, Japanese soldiers were killed near here after the war. Sometimes headless Japanese soldiers block the road, so people cannot pass.
Not everyone in Puerto Princesa believes this story, and yet the drivers still show respect for the dead and seek to appease their ghosts. A lady in white is seen. A laborer who stole a box from that area is said to have brought on many accidents.
On our last day, we saw in a history of the war one final part of the story. Shortly after the war started, 16 Japanese living in Palawan were arrested. They were sent south to a camp near Puerto Princesa in the custody of the police. On the way, they disappeared at Km 37 and were never seen again. Older people in Palawan are reluctant to discuss the role of Filipinos in these stories.
There is unrivalled beauty in Palawan, but be ready for old horror tales, blowing of horns in strange places and women in white.
(Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net)
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Showing posts with label war. Show all posts
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Mindanao right on our doorstep
Commentary : Mindanao right on our doorstep
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 06, 2008
MANILA, Philippines—Mindanao, with its Muslim-Christian troubles, is far away and beyond the experience of most of us. There is, however, a Muslim-Christian struggle on our doorstep. And this we should be able to understand and recommend solutions to.
Some 376 Muslim families who are clustered tightly around their mosque have been resisting government efforts to evict them and their mosque from the reclaimed land in Manila Bay near Baclaran Church. The government wants them and the mosque out; the people want to stay alongside their mosque.
Evictions are a common problem between government and urban poor people these days, but this particular eviction is complicated by Muslim belief. The president of the people’s organization, Abdelmanan Tanandato, says Islamic law forbids the destruction of houses of worship, including Christian churches. The Muslims on the reclaimed land believe they cannot allow the destruction of their mosque. They must defend it. Their imams have told them they can’t leave the mosque. The government believes it must clear the land, which is very valuable and destined for commerce, luxury housing and casino use.
Years ago in Lahore, Pakistan, I saw proof of what Abdelmanan told me. I visited a huge urban poor area that had been demolished by the government. It was literally leveled; not a stone left upon a stone. One small building, however, a Catholic chapel, stood untouched in the middle of the field.
Abdelmanan says that when the Marawi uprising took place on Oct. 21, 1972, a month after the declaration of martial law, angry Muslims were determined to destroy the properties of Christians, but they didn’t touch the churches in Marawi, Catholic or Protestant.
The Muslims now living on the reclaimed land left Lanao del Sur when the Muslim-Christian war broke out in 1972. Some first went to Iligan which, shortly thereafter, had its own troubles, and so in the end many of them wound up in Manila. They have been on the reclaimed land since 1992; the mosque was built in 1994. They are employed like other urban poor people, many are vendors. “If you have only P500 as capital, you can buy and sell something there in Baclaran,” Abdelmanan says, “even hairclips.”
There was a violent demolition on the reclaimed land in 1999. Houses were destroyed and people were hurt. As a result the families moved closer to the mosque. In June this year, the demolition team came again, but hundreds of Muslim men faced them, spread out across the barren land prepared to fight with wooden clubs to protect their homes and mosque. The demolition team left. The government has offered large amounts of money, but the Muslims did not move.
At that time both Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and Bishop Broderick Pabillo spoke to the government on behalf of the people, and the tense situation has calmed down somewhat. There is no change in basic positions, however.
What is the solution in Baclaran? Before investigating, people on both sides should be aware that they look at Moro-Christian problems through a lens of centuries-old bias and suspicion, which make any peaceful solution difficult to arrive at. In addition, the Muslims in Baclaran suffer from society’s general prejudice toward urban poor people.
If the government proceeds with the demolition and eviction, the people will resist—violently most likely. Scores will be injured. Some may be killed. The government will then eventually have to destroy the mosque, a sight that has a good chance of appearing in every newspaper in the world. Will the violence end there? Will there be revenge attacks on Christian churches, for example? The Muslim people believe it is God’s will that they defend the mosque. People must obey government’s laws, St. Paul tells us in Romans, but his precept presumes the laws do not contradict the laws of God as we know them.
If the government allows the mosque to stay, it will remain amid the office buildings, luxury housing and casino facilities that will be built. Why not? The Catholic Church has a church on the reclaimed land. The two religious houses can remind the rich and powerful, including the gamblers, that there is more to life than money and pleasure. They will stand guard reminding the rich to enjoy while they can, for all things are fleeting.
Does this case shed any light on the problems of Mindanao? Probably not much if it does at all, though it does highlight the possibility that alternative ways of thinking can provide good solutions. Insanity can be defined, it is said, by repeating the same actions year after year and expecting different results. We have evicted tens of thousands of poor families. The National Housing Authority says there have been 130,000 poor families evicted from Metro Manila since 1984. The question can be asked, is the city any better off as a result?
The same solutions have been tried for years and years in Mindanao with the same unsatisfactory results. Are there alternate actions, alternate solutions?
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By Denis Murphy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: September 06, 2008
MANILA, Philippines—Mindanao, with its Muslim-Christian troubles, is far away and beyond the experience of most of us. There is, however, a Muslim-Christian struggle on our doorstep. And this we should be able to understand and recommend solutions to.
Some 376 Muslim families who are clustered tightly around their mosque have been resisting government efforts to evict them and their mosque from the reclaimed land in Manila Bay near Baclaran Church. The government wants them and the mosque out; the people want to stay alongside their mosque.
Evictions are a common problem between government and urban poor people these days, but this particular eviction is complicated by Muslim belief. The president of the people’s organization, Abdelmanan Tanandato, says Islamic law forbids the destruction of houses of worship, including Christian churches. The Muslims on the reclaimed land believe they cannot allow the destruction of their mosque. They must defend it. Their imams have told them they can’t leave the mosque. The government believes it must clear the land, which is very valuable and destined for commerce, luxury housing and casino use.
Years ago in Lahore, Pakistan, I saw proof of what Abdelmanan told me. I visited a huge urban poor area that had been demolished by the government. It was literally leveled; not a stone left upon a stone. One small building, however, a Catholic chapel, stood untouched in the middle of the field.
Abdelmanan says that when the Marawi uprising took place on Oct. 21, 1972, a month after the declaration of martial law, angry Muslims were determined to destroy the properties of Christians, but they didn’t touch the churches in Marawi, Catholic or Protestant.
The Muslims now living on the reclaimed land left Lanao del Sur when the Muslim-Christian war broke out in 1972. Some first went to Iligan which, shortly thereafter, had its own troubles, and so in the end many of them wound up in Manila. They have been on the reclaimed land since 1992; the mosque was built in 1994. They are employed like other urban poor people, many are vendors. “If you have only P500 as capital, you can buy and sell something there in Baclaran,” Abdelmanan says, “even hairclips.”
There was a violent demolition on the reclaimed land in 1999. Houses were destroyed and people were hurt. As a result the families moved closer to the mosque. In June this year, the demolition team came again, but hundreds of Muslim men faced them, spread out across the barren land prepared to fight with wooden clubs to protect their homes and mosque. The demolition team left. The government has offered large amounts of money, but the Muslims did not move.
At that time both Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino and Bishop Broderick Pabillo spoke to the government on behalf of the people, and the tense situation has calmed down somewhat. There is no change in basic positions, however.
What is the solution in Baclaran? Before investigating, people on both sides should be aware that they look at Moro-Christian problems through a lens of centuries-old bias and suspicion, which make any peaceful solution difficult to arrive at. In addition, the Muslims in Baclaran suffer from society’s general prejudice toward urban poor people.
If the government proceeds with the demolition and eviction, the people will resist—violently most likely. Scores will be injured. Some may be killed. The government will then eventually have to destroy the mosque, a sight that has a good chance of appearing in every newspaper in the world. Will the violence end there? Will there be revenge attacks on Christian churches, for example? The Muslim people believe it is God’s will that they defend the mosque. People must obey government’s laws, St. Paul tells us in Romans, but his precept presumes the laws do not contradict the laws of God as we know them.
If the government allows the mosque to stay, it will remain amid the office buildings, luxury housing and casino facilities that will be built. Why not? The Catholic Church has a church on the reclaimed land. The two religious houses can remind the rich and powerful, including the gamblers, that there is more to life than money and pleasure. They will stand guard reminding the rich to enjoy while they can, for all things are fleeting.
Does this case shed any light on the problems of Mindanao? Probably not much if it does at all, though it does highlight the possibility that alternative ways of thinking can provide good solutions. Insanity can be defined, it is said, by repeating the same actions year after year and expecting different results. We have evicted tens of thousands of poor families. The National Housing Authority says there have been 130,000 poor families evicted from Metro Manila since 1984. The question can be asked, is the city any better off as a result?
The same solutions have been tried for years and years in Mindanao with the same unsatisfactory results. Are there alternate actions, alternate solutions?
Denis Murphy works with the Urban Poor Associates. His email address is upa@pldtdsl.net.
Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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