SELL OR ELSE

Do you remember that plan by a previous administration to sell a government-owned property in Fujumi, Tokyo (Japan), and how it could not be sold because it was donated to the Philippine government by former wartime President Jose P. Laurel? The condition was that it should never be sold to any party, and therefore must only be for the sole use by the government diplomatic mission in Japan. The property was purchased by Mrs. Pacencia H. Laurel with her personal funds and donated to the government during the Japanese occupation years. Remarkable and admirable.

Today, we have a government that landgrabs property and pockets the money it earns from overpricing its sale. Other than that, we too have a regime that buys land for a song and then twists the arms of reluctant buyers under pain of harassment, in order to sell it at astronomical figures. Our government officials have been buying properties left and right as if they were being sold during 'midnight madness' sales. It seems that they are in a frenzied rush to purchase prime property. Do they know something we don't? Unbelievable and abominable.

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JUST COMPENSATION?

There is a group of Filipinos who want our government to ask Japan to extend benefits to all those who collaborated with the Japanese Imperial Army during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines. These Filipinos say that Japan should treat collaborators in the same way that the United States treated Filipinos who fought in the U.S. Army, and that Japan should grant them Japanese citizenship. Thousands of Filipinos served in pro-Japanese organizations, such as the Bureau of Constabulary, the propaganda office and the Makapili.

Thousands of other Filipinos were forced to work for the Japanese Occupation forces or for the Japanese-backed government. People who worked for the Japanese at the point of a bayonet are also entitled to some form of compensation from Japan, whose government has declared that it wants to make up for the evils the Japanese Imperial forces committed during the Pacific War. This sense of guilt has raised the issue of compensation for the thousands of Asian women who were forced to serve as "comfort women" for Japanese soldiers.

Some of the Filipinos who are pushing the idea of compensation for Japanese collaborators go as far as to suggest that the Philippines may have chosen the wrong side during the Pacific War. They cite the long list of injustices Filipinos have received at the hands of the Americans even though the Philippines was the staunchest U.S. ally in Asia. If we had sided with Japan, would we now be an economic power like South Korea and Taiwan, which were ruled by the Japanese for many years?

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WAR-TIME PUBLICATIONS

While many of us have not heard of these war-time publications, I believe recognitions and tributes are in order for the following newspapers and the people behind them.

- Matang Lawin, by Colonel Guillermo Nakar who operated in the Sierra Madre mountains in Nueva Vizcaya.

- The Liberator, by Leon O. Ty, distributed in Manila, Cavite and Bulacan. One of the writers of the Philippines Free Press.

- The Flash, by Pedro dela Llana, which concentrated on war news.

- Ing Masala, the Hukbalahap paper published by the Huks operating in Central Luzon under Luis Taruc.

- Thunderclap, run by the Hunters ROTC guerillas, by Colonel Eleuterio Adevoso, one of the most decorated guerilla leaders during the Occupation.

- Kalibo War Bulletin, by Colonel Macario Peralta.

- Ang Tigbatas, by Colonel Tomas Confesor in Iloilo.

- The Saber, by Wenceslao Q. Vinzons, distributed in Bicol and Laguna.

- The Commentator, by Governor Juan Frivaldo of the Escudero Guerilla Unit of which he was propaganda officer. Distributed in Sorsogon, Masbate and Samar.

- The Bugle, by Colonel Ruperto Kangleon, distributed in Leyte.

These underground newspapers should be given due recognition by no less than the National Historical Institute (NHI), The UP Philippine Historical Society, the National Press Club, the National Museum and the National Library. Let us preserve the memory of these brave editors and writers who fought the Japanese invaders during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines - and risked their lives in the process. Their respective families should be given the honor for their service and bravery in defending the right to information during an oppressive moment in the nation's history.

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