Bataan Death March Revisited

Yeah right! Holiday it was for us part of the working force last Monday April 10, 2012. Do we know the reason why? What were we observing or commemorating? And if we know, what are we doing about it?

The Bataan Death March began on April 10, 1942 when 75,000 allied troops were trapped by the Japanese and forced to surrender. Bataan Death March was a forced march of 85 miles in six days with a one-meal a day policy. The Bataan to Cabanatuan trek is probably the worst war-crime ever committed against a group of Prisoners of War. The Japanese guards committed atrocities against hundreds of  Filipinos and Americans.

Stories of World War 2 from the Lolo and Lola Generation. My Lola would often tell me, when she was alive, the things her mother would do. When the bow-legged Japanese soldiers would pass by their town, Filipinos would hide or runaway from the parade as far as they could. My lola told me she was placed inside a container drum and be covered with dried coconut leaves. She also told me a story about the Death March. Since the food supply was rationed, the prisoners were made to drink their own urine to avoid dehydration.

Truly, the war crimes of these raw-food-eating-race should never be forgotten. They killed Filipinos and they took advantage of our country's natural resources. They were demonic enough to rape the Filipino women.

Eighty years have passed, have we forgiven these people? Have we moved on? Eighty years have passed, have they, as a nation, paid for the crimes they've committed against us?

Filipinos should never forget.