Contestations of Memory in Southeast Asia

7. War and Violence, History and Memory: The Philippine Experience of the Second World War

War and Violence, History and Memory 185 185 CHAPTER 7 War and Violence, History and Memory: The Philippine Experience of the Second World War Ricardo T. José T he subject of the Second World War and the Japanese Occupation still evokes intense emotions in the Philippines today, over 60 years after the events. Issues such as collaboration with the Japanese, Japanese war responsibility, America’s failure to defend the Philippines and the apparently excessive use of force in the liberation campaigns, the truthfulness of war heroics, non-payment of Philippine claims for rehabilitation, or reparations for damage and loss of life, and non-recognition of Filipino veterans who fought side by side with US soldiers, all tend to make war memories a sensitive topic. In many cases, polemics and stereotypes dominate in spite of factual evidence. Stormy up to now, the controversy has been made even more dramatic with the bringing into the open of previously suppressed accounts of wartime experiences (such as of the Comfort Women and of forced labour). The government, on the other hand, has tended to belittle or even ignore the more sensitive issues, while selecting specific anniversaries for celebration. Few historians and research institutes have given serious thought or attention to the war and the Japanese Occupation , choosing to focus instead on the 1896 and 1898 revolutions and the Philippine-American war. But the Second World War and the Japanese Occupation are ripe with lessons, stories and experiences that should be better understood, for the past to be viewed in full perspective. 186 Ricardo T. José An Ambiguous Legacy Perspective, however, is not easily achieved. Wars, by their nature, do not lend themselves to dispassionate analysis and examination, except perhaps in the works of military historians. The pain, suffering and sense of loss are too moving to peruse with a cold eye. Apart from the destruction and dislocation caused by war, the legacy of war can best be described as an ambiguous legacy, to borrow a phrase used by David Joel Steinberg (1972). The renowned historian Harry Benda, for example, has called the war in Asia a watershed in Asian history. This was accepted for many years, especially given the difference between the relatively more stable and orderly prewar world, and the chaos of the postwar one. Later studies, however, tended to show that, particularly in the Philippines, there were no long-term transformations, especially in the social and political fields. On the contrary, there was a remarkable continuity in pre- and postwar Philippine society, especially in the disparity between the landed elites and the oppressed peasants; and between political rivals and economic leaders, both local and regional (Benda, 1972; Silverstein, 1966; McCoy, 1980; Lacar, 1984). What then are the legacies of the war? War memories seem to be determined more by one’s present perceptions of the war, rather than by delving into past facts. Today, when one speaks of the war and the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, subjects likely to crop up are the Comfort Women, reparations from Japan, veterans’ benefits from the United States and the injustice Filipino veterans suffered under the Americans. This is very different from the situation 60 years ago. Then the pain was still keenly felt and books and articles were written about the atrocities that took place, often with a focus on the courage and patriotism of Filipinos. One book entitled The Crucible demonstrates how the war and the Japanese Occupation were a test of the Filipino people, one which they passed with flying colours. The Americans, especially General MacArthur, were seen as heroes and liberators, and the Japanese were the ‘bad guys’. In the late 1940s through to the 1960s, many works with political overtones were published, usually timed to appear before or during local or national elections. Attacks became vicious, sometimes refuted by equally vicious counter-attacks. Meanwhile, studies, articles and books War and Violence, History and Memory 187 on the guerrilla movement also surfaced regularly to dramatize Filipino courage and love of freedom; a few, in fact, were used to launch the political campaigns of some candidates. The guerrilla resistance movement was seen in conjunction with the anti-Spanish revolts and the anti-American struggle at the turn of the nineteenth–twentieth century, and so served to feed nationalistic emotions. Such studies conveniently assumed that any collaboration with the Japanese had been an exception or...