Beyond Bataan

April 9 used to be Bataan Day, marking the surrender of Filipino and American soldiers to the invading Japanese Army. There was strong media coverage of this “Fall of Bataan” and the “Bataan Death March,” in which thousands of Filipino and American soldiers were transferred, including several segments on foot, from Mariveles in Bataan to Capas in Tarlac. Some 24,000 died from hunger, fatigue and abuse by the Japanese Army.

I can’t remember who the main critics were but I do recall newspaper articles asking why we keep referring to “falls” and “defeats” rather than battles of resistance and victory. April 9 has since been rechristened “Araw ng Kagitingan” or Day of Valor, valor here mainly associated with the heroes of World War II. With time, though, because that day was always so close to Holy Week, people have lost sight of what that day means. This year was particularly bad, April 9 probably to be remembered by many of our younger Filipinos as an extra holiday after Easter, made all the more regrettable considering this was the 70th anniversary of the Bataan march.

We need to get more serious about April 9 and to remember not only the soldiers of Bataan but also the many other terrible atrocities that accompanied the Japanese invasion and occupation. Some 500,000 to a million Filipino soldiers and civilians died during the war, out of a prewar population of 16 million, and many more suffered physical and mental injuries, and lost their homes and property.

The Libingan ng mga Bayani and the American Cemetery will be important focal points for the memorial activities but we should not forget the Chinese Cemetery, which also has several war memorials. Today’s column, and next Wednesday’s, will be about these memorials.

Let me provide a quick background of why I’m doing this. Last month I wrote a column about getting an overseas phone call from a family friend, Fred Mok, asking if I could help get more information on his father, Clement K. Y. Mok, who was among eight Chinese consular staff members executed in 1942 by the Japanese. I wrote a column about Consul Mok with an appeal to readers to write if they had information on him.

The Internet proved to be a useful research portal. While there was very little new information on Consul Mok that came in, I did end up with all kinds of accounts about that dark period in our history. Nery Chan wrote in about her grandfather, Chua Phay Kong, who was among nine local Chinese community leaders executed by the Japanese two days before the consular staff. The Chinese Commercial News e-mailed scanned clippings from its newspaper’s special issue in 1987 to mark the 45th anniversary of the executions. I also exchanged e-mails and materials with Wang Yingfei, a journalist from the Nanjing Modern Express. Finally, history professor Ricardo Jose sent transcripts of the trial of Gen. Masaharu Homma, who led the invasion of the Philippines.

I realized, as I did more research, that the Chinese Cemetery in Manila was the gruesome site for several executions and hasty mass burials, not just of Chinese but also of Filipinos. Even more surprising, I learned that the Chinese Cemetery was the site of a battle fought by Filipinos resisting American invaders in 1899, a day after the Filipino-American War broke out. Sadly, while the Chinese have war memorials, the Filipinos who died in the hands of the Japanese and the Americans have nothing, not even simple markers.

Heroes’ trail

This is one time I wish I were doing a blog, so I can share photos and maps as I take you on a “heroes’ trail” tour of the Chinese Cemetery. In case you do go on your own, you can look up the three Chinese memorials, which are clustered around the area of the temple and crematorium.

The most well known of these memorials is the one put up to honor the eight Chinese consulate staff members headed by Clarence K. S. Yang and Clement K. Y. Mok. Shortly after occupying the Philippines, the Japanese arrested the eight and first put them in UP Manila, trying to persuade them to endorse the Japanese occupation of the Philippines as part of an “Asia for Asians” plan. They also wanted the Chinese consular staff to raise P24 million from the local Chinese for the Japanese Army. The Chinese diplomats refused to cooperate.

Even in times of war, diplomatic corps are entitled to special protection under the Geneva Convention, but the Chinese consular staff members knew they were vulnerable. In the trial of General Homma, a French diplomat recalled how Consul Mok had told him that he suspected the Japanese would be moving them to Muntinlupa. On March 28, 1942, the Japanese did transfer the prisoners, but not to Muntinlupa. Instead, they were brought to Fort Santiago, which was the headquarters of the Kempeitai, the dreaded Japanese military police. The Kempeitai was known for its brutality, and Fort Santiago was a hell hole where prisoners were tortured and executed.

Mass grave

The consular staff’s families were still able to visit Fort Santiago but when Consul Mok’s wife went on April 18, she was told that her husband had been moved “far away” and his whereabouts were a military secret. It was to be two years before she and the other relatives were to learn that the diplomats were brought to the Chinese Cemetery on April 17, executed and thrown into a mass grave. The remains were exhumed in June 1945, following leads from Chinese Cemetery caretakers who had witnessed the executions.

The remains of the Chinese patriots were brought to Nanjing, China, where they are buried in Nanjing Rain Flower Terrace Cemetery. The Chinese government conducted memorial activities this year to mark the 70th anniversary of their deaths. Fred Mok attended; it was an emotional first visit to his father’s grave done on April 5, which is Qingming (pronounced Ching Ming), the Chinese day to commemorate the dead.

Locally, the Chinese Commercial News will have a special issue to commemorate the consular staff, as well as another group of local Chinese martyrs. I am going to save for next week the story of these forgotten heroes, together with an intriguing group of Chinese guerrillas who fought together with the Hukbalahap. I will write, too, about the Filipino patriots killed in or near the Chinese Cemetery.

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Announcement: The UP College of Social Sciences and Philosophy will hold a workshop on “Innovations in Philippine Social Teaching and Research in the Digital Age” on April 17-20 at UP Diliman. The workshop is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education. Call 981-8500 local 2436 or 0915-900-5840 for more information.

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