51. Mrs.
Paquita C. Garcia testified in part as follows:
"We left our house on the 9th of February about 8:00 PM, as the
house next to ours was already on fire.
We took some clothes and food stuff and went to Alhambra Street and
there the Japanese stopped us and separated us from the men.
There are eight in the family - a couple of girls, 24 and 18; a
girl, 15; a girl, 14; and twins boy and girl age 11.
The eldest son and husband were taken away.
They left me with my youngest son and the girls.
They searched the men for arms and money.
I saw this. There were
hundreds of women and children in the large Ferguson Plaza.
There were all nationalities - Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and
Italian. They made a long row
of women to take them somewhere.
I didn't know where, but when I got there I knew it was the Bayview
Hotel. It is only a few blocks
from the plaza to the Bayview Hotel.
There were only a few Japanese soldiers in the plaza, but a large
number of them at the hotel as it was a garrison, I think.
When I was in line they separated my girls from me and took a
handbag and first aid kit which I had on my back.
The handbag had only five pesos in silver and a rosary and
something I was knitting. When
they took my girls away, my instinct told me the Japanese were going to
rape them. We came to the
Bayview Hotel and I saw the Japanese checking and searching and touching
them. The woman in front of me
was so scared that she threw away from behind her back six hundred pesos.
We reached the Bayview Hotel and forty were crowded into a small
room about 12 x 15 feet, and we were kept there all night.
We couldn't even lie down we were so crowded.
The Japanese came into the room several times and around midnight I
heard the girls shouting and calling for their mothers.
Finally, I heard my girl, Evangeline, call me, and a Japanese
brought her to me. She stayed
with me until the next day.
When I met the other two girls, Esther and Priscilla, they explained to me
what had happened to them the previous night. Afterwards about eight in
the evening I felt hungry and thirsty, but they gave us water with salt.
We drank it, but it made us crave more.
At one time they gave us a biscuit, two pieces to each, one for
noon time and the other for night.
When they came to choose girls for night I tried to hide them but
did not succeed. After that we
left the Bayview Hotel when the building was set on fire.
They wanted us to stay inside so as to get all burned, but we
protested and went out on the street to find shelter.
We found a house owned by Mrs. Felix in the street of Arquiza.
We stayed there until the house caught fire from a mortar shell
which was thrown to us by the Japanese.
We fled again, looking for shelter from one ruins to another.
There in the street my son, eleven years old and named Joaquin, was
hit by shrapnel in the leg cutting it off.
I carried him, looking again for some shelter.
Two hours later my boy died in my arms.”
(See Exhibit "B-58".)
52. On 9
February 1945, Jose Christabal and his family were forced to
evacuate their home because the Japanese were burning homes in the
neighborhood. Mr.
Christabal saw people being shot in the streets so he and his family of
mother and sister escaped from the back of their house to the
Philippine General Hospital.
He was then separated from
his
mother and sister, for men were placed in the nurse’s home while women
were left in the hospital. All
families coming to the hospital were met by the Japanese and men and women
were separated. About
twilight one Japanese with a submachine gun and twenty soldiers with fixed
bayonets surrounded the men.
When the soldiers began firing at them, Mr. Christabal dropped as
if dead.
While they were lying there, the solders bayoneted those
still
moving.
Some tried to run, but the soldiers shot at them.
After the Japanese had left, Mr. Christabal crawled over the dead
bodies, and escaped to a house where he was able to wash the blood from
his hands and hair. (See
Exhibit 1”B-6l".)
53. On the morning of 9
February, as Miss Mary Bechara Manila, was getting water
from a well in the street, the Japanese started shooting people in the
street without warning. She
saw one Filipino shot and killed on Arquisa and Mabini Streets, and an old
man wounded that day. She took
cover in the house of Mrs. Rafaela Cucurry who was killed later, but not
outright by the Japanese. She
jumped from wall to wall until she got to her house at Mab1ni and Arquisa.
There she stayed for the afternoon.
At about 4:00 PM the Union Church was blown up.
She was about to cross the street to save her family, consisting of
her mother, a younger sister, age l8, and her invalid father, age 71, whom
they had to carry across the street to the Ermita church.
The, Japanese were shooting at them and at all people who took
cover. Two or three were
killed at one time, and four or five at another.
When the Ermita church started to burn, they decided to take a
chance and run for the last house in Cardata street, and made
it. There they slept for the
night. The next day two Japanese came and told us to go away as they, were
going to burn the place. From
there they ran to the ruins of Ermita church.
There were thirty of them.
They crawled along the street to the Astoria Apartments as it
looked safe there. They found
280 people there, as it was a four story building with about seventy
people per story. Then they
were subjected to about fifteen days of shelling.
When they went out to get water, the Japanese shot at them
repeatedly. They had heard
what was done to women and girls at the Bayview Hotel, so the people in
the building kept very quiet and stooped when going from room to room so
that they would not be seen in the windows.
They were rescued when the Americans came.
(See
Exhibit “B-62”.)
54. On
Friday, February 9th, the Japanese began putting fire to the Singalong
Subdivision. They started the
fire about five blocks from the home of Mr. Eustacio Barros, age
25, 1448 Calle Estrada, Manila.
As the Japanese were going down Calle Estrada toward Pasay, Mr.
Barros had to leave the house as the fire was pretty hot and getting
closer. At about nine o'clock
in the morning my father decided to leave the house because he wanted to
defecate. Upon putting on his
pants two Japanese soldiers tied his mouth with the handkerchief and also
tied his hands behind his back.
They put a
rifle
to his
heart and shot him. Then the
two Japanese left, and Mr. Barros and his cousin approached the father and
found that he was dead. Not
one of the persons there, about two hundred more or less, wanted to
accompany the son to carry the body back, as the Japanese were still
shooting. (See Exhibit "B-65”.)
55. Dr.
Rodolfo B. Escosa, Physician at Canlubang Sugar State Hospital,
testified that he supervised the burying of people who were bayoneted in
Calamba. Thirty-four were
buried that had been dead for three days when he first saw them.
The thrusts were very clear on their chests.
Some of their hands were tied.
Most of them were children arid their mothers. (See Exhibits “B-66"
and “F".)
56. Mr.
Carlos Borsoto, age 14, Mabato, Calamba, was bayoneted in the back by
a Japanese soldier about 3 March 1945, when he tried to run across the
street. The bayonet thrust
went clear through him, but he survived.
(See Exhibit “B-67”.)
57. On
Saturday, 10 February 1945, a squad of Japanese entered the Philippine Red
Cross building and began to shoot and bayonet everybody they found in the
building. That day there were
no cases of major operations and several other bed-ridden patients.
In the late afternoon Dr. de Venecia, on duty with the Red Cross as
volunteer surgeon, was preparing, with an attendant two cases for
operation. Miss Rosario
Andaya, a nurse on
volunteer duty, was out in the main corridor keeping order among the large
crowd that filled the building to overflowing. As the noise
of rifle fire was
heard in every section of
the building, Miss Andaya screamed for mercy to spare the lives
of a mother and
children beside her. Then a
Japanese soldier with drawn bayonet came into the temporary combined
office-operating room-ward where Mr. M. Farolan and Dr. de Venecia were.
Misses Loveriza and De Paz, both nurses, and an attendant ducked
into their respective corners for safety.
First Dr. de Venecia was shot twice while he was seated in his
corner. The soldier next aimed
at the refugee attendant beside him, but missed her as she threw herself
over to where the two nurses had covered themselves with mattresses beside
a desk. The soldier overturned
the two cots in front of
the desk, and saw two patients crouching underneath.
One bayonet thrust killed each
of them.
Another bayonet thrust at the girl that had escaped the first shot
aimed at her, caught Miss de Paz.
The soldier fired two shots at Mr. Farolan as he hid under his
desk, but- the bullets passed between his feet.
The soldier then shot a young mother with her ten-day baby and the
baby's grandmother, Mrs. Juan P. Juan, who was attending the two.
From the room in which Mr. Farolan and his associates were
attacked, more shooting could be heard in the rest of the building, and
the shrill cries of children and sobs of dying mothers and girls.
About ten o’clock Mr. Farolan and others began to inquire of each
other to determine who survived.
It was then found that Miss Loveriza was unhurt while Miss de Paz
had a bayonet thrust and was bleeding.
Mr. Farolan further investigated the room and in moving from one
cot to another found both dead and living. The latter were too frightened
to talk to him until they found out who he was.
At the corridor in front
of the pharmacy room he heard Miss Alldaya moaning and
saying goodbye to everyone of those whom she addressed by name, urging them to look
after the others and to leave her alone as she was dying soon.
Investigation of the other rooms in the building revealed
additional dead and some survivors.
Mr. Farolan, in conference with ether survivors, came to the
conclusion that about twenty of some sixty refugees and patients had been
killed. Among these who were
bayoneted, but could escape were Corazon Noble, film artist, who had come
as a refugee to the Red Cross building; Tito Duran, another artist,
together with the family of Juan Juan; a German Jew by the name of Fritz
and Corazon Abellera. Friday
morning a squad of Japanese marines came to the building and asked why so
many people were being taken in. It was explained to them that the people
in neighboring houses had no home because their homes had been destroyed
by fire and that the Red Cross building was the only building intact in
the entire neighborhood. The
fact that only three shells out of many fired into that part of the city
for an entire week had hit the Red Cross building testified to the
accuracy of American fire and American respect for the Red Cross sign.
Thus, it was the only safe place for refugees.
The Marines told us not
to take any more people, particularly if they were not Filipinos or
Germans, and that nobody should be allowed to go upstairs.
They examined the baggage of the refugees, but apparently did not
find anything they liked, and left.
In the afternoon another Japanese squad came and wanted to use the
back yard for a place in which to make those infernal mechanical noises
that serve to confuse American artillery about the number of pieces the
Japanese had. All around, such
devices were being used and Mr. Farolan stated that until he finally
observed what they were and what they were for, they sounded like
artillery volleys or the thud or explosion of landing shells.
The Japanese were invited by Mr. Farolan to see what was going on-
operations every minute of the day, patients suffering in bed, children
and women flattened against the walls during artillery barrages.
They saw him ordering Marcelino, their boy, and a volunteer
attendant to replace two Red Cross flags that had been blown down, and
they told Mr. Farolan not to replace them saying in broken English: "No
good, Americans very bad, no like Red Cross. Japanese okay.”
They also saw on a desk a temporary card-board sign which read
"Philippine Red Cross Emergency Hospital - Operations Going on - Refugee
House - Women and Children.
The Japanese gave instructions not to hang it and one soldier threw it
from the desk at the point, of his bayonet.
The first Filipino scout
of the advanced columns of the Americans, already in Paco
cemetery, reached the Red Cross area at seven in the morning of February
13th and warned everyone to clear the area for street fighting.
Mr. Farolan and his associates began to run calling upon everyone to
leave. As they ran, the
Japanese came from the Esaac Peral side and began machine gunning them
indiscriminately. Mr. Farolan
stated he was not able to tell how many perished in this fresh massacre.
58. a. On 2
June 1942, Mrs. Margaret Utinsky, Santo Tomas Internment Camp, was
near the post office when two Japanese chased her and struck her several
times with the butt of
a rifle, beat her over the face with their fists and kicked her on
the shins. This lasted about
ten minutes. During that time
a truck load of American prisoners was halted and forced to look on.
On another occasion she was brutally whipped with a rope when
leaving the Tutuban RR station.
She does not know why.
No questions were asked. She
was the only white person in sight on both occasions.
On October 1, 1943, at 2:00 AM, fifty Japanese officers and men
came to her apartment. As many
as could, stayed in the apartment and on the stairs, and the rest on the
street in front of the building.
They searched everything in the place, taking everything out of the
desk, looking through all books, trunks, drawers, tearing the bed apart,
looking at the bottoms of the chairs, under the mats, and taking the
pictures out of the frames.
They left at 7:00 AM telling her that she must not move from that
apartment. Two days later
eight of them came to the hospital where Mrs. Utinsky was working and took
her to Fort Santiago. After
eight hours of questioning she was put in a hot, dark dungeon with two
Filipino girls, one American woman, and a French woman.
They were not supposed to talk to each other, and when Mrs. Utinsky
talked to one of them she was called to a hole in the wall where the guard
struck her on the head with a club.
The dungeon was five feet wide and about eight feet long.
There was no toilet, only a bucket which was emptied once a day.
There was a can of drinking water and a tin saucer that they all
drank from. They were given a
saucer of rice three times a day and nothing more. Every day she was taken
out of the dungeon for questioning, and she was hanged by the wrists or
made to kneel on a rack and sit back on her heels while being questioned.
When the answers did not suit them (the Japs), she was whipped
,with a leather belt. On two occasions she was struck with an iron bar and
several times with a bayonet.
At the end of a month she was released and had lost twenty-eight pounds
and was hospitalized for forty-five days.
Her right arm and leg were injured so that for six months she had
to walk with a cane and for a year her arm was still very sore.
The French woman, one of Mrs. Utinsky’s cellmates, was given the
water treatment. They would
fill her with water, then make her lie on the floor with a board across
her stomach and a Japanese would jump up and down on it.
In the next cell to Mrs. Utinsky were five Jesuit priests.
They were allowed no clothes, only a G-string or loin cloth, and
they were brutally beaten.
Their backs were bruised and scarred.
There were blisters showing that they had been burned.
One of them was thrown against the stone wall one day when the
Japanese were beating him and his arm was broken at the elbow.
It was never set. Two
months later he was released.
He weighed one hundred pounds, although he was nearly six feet tall.
He had to have blood transfusions and was in the hospital for
several weeks, and then sent to Santo Tomas.
One of the first American women to be sent to Fort Santiago was
Mrs. Christensen, wife of Captain Christensen who died at Cabanatuan.
Mrs. Christensen was so horribly abused that she was a patient in
the Psychopathic Hospital for one year.
On April 11, 1944, three Mary Nole sisters were taken to Fort
Santiago. After four months
one of them was released to the Philippine General Hospital.
Mrs. Utinsky went to see her.
She looked like a little skeleton in the bed.
She was a nervous wreck.
While Mrs. Utinsky was in Fort Santiago she saw a man brought in
with his hands tied behind him, his feet chained together so that he could
step just about six inches at a time, being pushed along by two Japanese
while others were striking him with bayonets.
As he would pass, other Japanese would kick and strike him.
The man had been shot, or bayoneted in the shoulder, his coat
sleeve and his whole side covered
with
blood.
He was put in a dungeon very near her and she could hear him groan
as though in great pain. Some
time about midnight he became delirious.
The Japanese captain took him out of the dungeon, hands and feet
still tied, and in front of her, beat him unmercifully with the buckle end
of a heavy leather belt, and told the man over and over that he was going
to kill him. This was repeated
for three days and nights, and then late one night he was dragged out and
never came back. The same
captain would stand in front of
Mrs. Utinsky’s
dungeon and call her name and that
of the French woman
and
when they answered he would tell them they were to be taken to the grave
yard the next day. Mrs.
Utinsky stated that at the time the Japanese entered Manila they began to
tie people in the sun for hours – sometimes for days.
She saw five boys tied facing the sun in front of the Rizal
Memorial Stadium. Two small
boys were lying on the sidewalk.
The next day the five who were tied, looked as though they were
unconscious. Their tongues
were protruding, their eyes glazed and they were burned black from the
heat of the sun. The next
morning after she saw them, they were all taken away to be buried.
The youngest of these boys was nine years old and the oldest
sixteen.
b. Soon after the
surrender of Corregidor, Mrs. Utinsky was informed that an American who
had escaped from Bataan, was hiding a few blocks away, and that he was
very sick. She went to see
him, and found him suffering from malaria and dysentery.
She took him to her apartment as the Japanese were living very near
him. She took care of him
until he was well and then moved him to a small apartment in Paco.
She obtained papers stating that he was a Spanish Mestizo.
She returned to her work in Bataan, and several weeks later
returned to Manila and learned that he had moved to another part of town
and the Japanese had taken him to Fort Santiago.
He was there for two months and then released.
He would never admit that he was an American, but he had been
brutally beaten with saber and bayonets while his wrists were tied behind
him. He was given the water
treatment. His knee cap was
broken by the blow of a saber.
She had him taken care of this time by one of her friends as it was too
dangerous for her to have him in their apartment.
In July, 1944, he was again taken to Fort Santiago and killed the
same day. He was Captain
Burzon, 45th Infantry, and this was his second time on duty
in the Philippines.
c. Mrs. Utinsky was in the Barrio of Camachile, Bataan, soon after
the surrender of Corregidor.
The Japanese were issuing passes and forcing the people to evacuate,
leaving their belongings behind.
She saw the bodies of two men who had been shot when they were
caught trying to catch fish from their own fish ponds.
Many of these people were suffering from malaria and dysentery.
One woman was on the ground under a tree unconscious.
She had given birth to a still-born child early that morning.
Her husband was one of the men who had been shot.
She had to leave before they were all moved, but she met them on
the road a few days later.
Some of them could walk no further and were sitting under the trees hoping
that someone would give them a lift, but the Japanese were
the
only
ones with trucks
and passed
them by.
Most of the trucks were empty.
She saw many families with small pushcarts with their few
belongings
and
children, some carts carrying the dead bodies.
She helped some bury their dead after dark.
The Japanese Would not let them stop for long at a time.
They sent the people to the
mountains;
when
they were there they were told to go back to the low
lands,
thus
they wandered until most of them were dead. (See Exhibit "L".)
59.
On about 22 February 1944, Mr. John H, Blair, an internee of
the Santo Tomas Internment Camp, manila, at the time it was administered
by the Japanese, was informed by Mr. Ohashi of the Japanese Commandant’s
office that he wanted at the front gate for investigation, supposedly he
thought, in connection with his activities as a camp buyer.
The questioning, however, revealed that the Japanese suspected, Mr.
Blair of receiving
KGEI transcripts through a Mr. Johnny Harris, whom the Japanese at that
time had under investigation.
During the questioning Mr. Blair was severely beaten on the head, neck,
shoulders and kidneys with a rubber garden hose.
The investigation continued for approximately two hours, after
which he was tied with a rope at the mess hall.
During this investigation Mr. Blair did not admit receiving the
transcripts, but after his release and after talking with other men who
were being investigated for the same reason, it was being decided among
them that it, would be better to admit their guilt.
When next questioned, Mr. Blair did admit receiving transcripts
from KGEI broadcasts and was court martialed on July 1st and
sentenced to three years in Muntinlupa prison.
Mr. Blair was so badly beaten during his first questioning in
connection with the investigation that he was admitted to the hospital and
remained there until April 1st.
The examination at the hospital showed blood in his urine and minor
body injuries. Mr. Blair
further testified that during his period of detention at the military
police station and at Bilibid prison, he considers that the Japanese
violated many of
the clauses of the
Geneva Convention, by such acts as face slapping, beatings on the head
with swords, shoes, and sometimes bakias; refusal of reading material,
prohibition of communication with relatives, absence of recreational
activities and exercise, and feeding of a starvation diet to the
prisoners. (See Exhibit
“B-69”.)
60. Mr.
Frederic H. Stevens, and internee of the Santo Tomas Internment Camp,
was taken from the camp on 7 October 1942, by two Japanese secret service
men to Fort Santiago where he remained until Good Friday, 1943.
He was questioned concerning the character, membership and extent
of activities of Freemansory, particularly with reference to the present
war, and concerning his activities in sending funds to Camp O’Donnel and
admitted sending money to prisoners, and to guerrilla leaders.
Mr. Stevens admitted sending money to prisoners, but denied having
sent any funds to guerrilla leaders.
In the Japanese attempt to force Mr. Stevens to reveal information
regarding Freemansory and the furnishing of funds to prisoners of war, the
following types of punishments were inflicted upon him:
Small splits of bamboo were inserted under the finger and toe
nails. His feet were placed on
a small electric stove and the current turned on.
As he jerked his feet off the plate when it got hot, the
investigator would strike him on the shins with a heavy ruler.
A bit of skin was sliced from the back of his hand and put into his
mouth. he was ordered to eat
it. The loose skin on his face
and arms was twisted with a pair of wooden pliers.
The hitting of the testicles with a stick was a frequent form of
punishment used by the Japanese guards.
His hands were tied behind his back and one end of the rope placed
over a beam. He was then
hoisted until his toes barely touched the ground.
In this position he was slapped, kicked and punched.
During one of the investigations he was hit with a fist clenched
over wooden pliers, and one tooth was knocked out as a result.
On a number of these occasions he lost consciousness.
After recuperating from one of these spells of unconsciousness he
was taken out of the cell, tied to an iron fence where, as the guards
passed and re-passed, they would grind his bare toes under their hob-nail
boots. Mental torture was
included, such as stories affecting his son and family.
(See Exhibit “E”.)
61.
Taguchi Hiroshi, a Japanese prisoner of war, testified that three
or four days before the Americans took Fort McKinley, or on about 13
February 1945, a part of his platoon was ordered out for the purpose of
burning Filipino homes, and that they were also instructed to shoot any
Filipinos who came out of those homes.
This group of Japanese burned two or three houses, and the men who
went on the mission told Hiroshi that each killed three or four civilians,
including women. When Hiroshi
was asked by the Inspector General conducting the investigation why he
thought the men were sent on such a mission, he testified that he did not
know what higher officials had in mind when they ordered these deeds, but
the enlisted men in the lower ranks believed that, because of a
cooperative attitude toward the Americans and an ill feeling toward the
Japanese on the part of the Filipinos, and because of the rise of prices
of food and other commodities during the Japanese occupation of the
Philippines, the Japanese higher officials ordered the destruction of
Manila and its inhabitants.
(See Exhibit “B-72”.)
62. When
Mr. Benigno S. Aquino, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the
Republic of the Philippines (Japanese Puppet Government), left for Baguio
on the night of 5 January 1945, to join the President Laurel cabinet, he
and his wife decided that his wife and family should be left behind in
Manila, believing at that time that Manila would be the safest place in
case of any eventuality. As
the wife of a high official in the Philippine Government, it was Mrs.
Aquino’s understanding that the central government was transferred to
Baguio purposely and precisely to save manila from the possible ravages of
war. (See Exhibit “M”.)
63. Before
Dr. Laurel, president of the Republic of the Philippine Government, left
the city of Manila, accompanied by members of his own family and a large
number of the presidential guards, together with the members of his
cabinet including General Manuel Roxas, General Capinpin, General
Francisco and some three Vice-Ministers and their respective families, Mr.
Nicholas Roxas, Assistant Executive Secretary to President Laurel, had
occasion to confer with President Laurel in his private office, to receive
last minute instructions before President Laurel’s departure.
Mr. N. Roxas was directed to take charge of the executive office
and other offices directly under the President, in lieu of Executive
Secretary Abello who had to leave with the party.
President Laurel told Mr.
Roxas that he and his cabinet had to move to Baguio primarily
because he wanted to save the inhabitants of manila from the sufferings
and ravages of war, and that he felt it was his patriotic duty to save the
important public buildings of Manila, as well as the commercial sections,
for in President Laurel’s own words, “Manila represents a population
equivalent to one-eight (1/8) of the entire Philippines and the city of
Manila is the repository of Filipino culture and everything Filipino.”
It was intimated to Mr. Roxas on that occasion that it was
necessary for the civil administration to leave Manila because there was
an understanding on the part of the Japanese military authorities and the
Philippine Government that all military installations in Manila would
likewise be transferred to other places out of Manila and that no military
operations would be undertaken within the city limits.
A publication was even made to this effect.
However, immediately after the departure of President Laurel and
his cabinet, Japanese garrisons and several navy units occupied the most
important public buildings in the city, planted dynamite in all important
places, especially in the southern part of the city, barricaded streets
with barbed wire, and constructed pill boxes within the city limits.
Mines were planted in the principal bridges in Manila, such as the
Jones, Santa Cruz, Quezon, and Ayala bridges.
Things were such that during the last days of the Japanese
occupation, the traffic movement in the city was very much restricted and
government employees, as well as businessmen and pedestrians, could no
longer cross the bridges and attend to their daily activities. During the
last conversation that Mr. Roxas had with President Laurel, he said that,
according to the orders received from General Yamashita, the highest
commander of the Philippines he (Yamashita) had orders from Tokyo to
protect the lives of the President and his cabinet and that it was his
(Yamashita’s) duty to obey the orders of his Imperial government.
Apparently this was a sudden order, for even the members of the
cabinet were given only twenty-four hours to prepare for the trip to
Baguio which took place on 22 December 1944.
Families of the party were not eager to leave Manila, although no
protestations seemed possible.
The
families of Minister Paredez, General Francisco and General Capinpin were
left behind for reasons unknown to Mr. Roxas.
On or about the 4th or 5th of January, Speaker Aquino, accompanied
by Minister Paredez and Colonel Utunomiya, a Military Attache, left also
for Bagnio, but the members ofthe Aquino family were not taken along.
The reason for this was that one of the officers of the
Presidential guards, who returned to Manila after the first trip, informed
Mr. Roxas that he had instructions to get in touch with Speaker Aquino to
advise him not to take his family to Bagnio because of lack of
accommodations. Minister Sison
of the Home Affairs had been appointed chief delegate of the President and
was supposed to represent the
President, during his absence, in the capital. Minister Sison was unable
to return to Manila from Baguio, because immediately after his last trip
to Baguio the bridges leading to Bagnio were blasted and it was impossible
for him to make the return trip.
Because of this situation Mr. Roxas received telegraphic
instructions from the President directing him to inform Vice-Minister Pio
Duran of the Home Affairs of his appointment as Chief Delegate to the
President in the third, fourth and fifth military districts.
Mayor Guinto of Manila was to remain Military Governor for the
city, the 8th military District.
Vice-Minister Duran assumed his new office until the eve of the
American entry to the capital on 2 February 1945.
On this last day, Vice-Minister Duran asked, Mr. Roxas to close all
government offices, as he alleged that he was sure the Americans
were
coming
to Manila in a day or two. He
even
conferred personally
with the
other Vice-Ministers about leaving Manila, but none of them wanted to
follow Duran's advice. In his
own case, Mr. Roxas expressed to him reasons why he did not want to leave
Manila. Vice-Minister Duran,
however, retorted in seriousness and with vehemence that, in the first
place, he did not want to be captured by the Americans, and secondly, he
was sure that once the Americans entered the city everything would be
destroyed and Manila left in
ruins.
Duran said, "You do not know, but I know, that once
the city is captured by the Americans everything will be destroyed by the
Japanese. I know that all
around Manila as far as the hills of Antipolo and Montalban, gun
emplacements have been set towards Manila and nothing
will
be left
of this city." Mr. Roxas
stated that Duran, being the second supreme head of the Makapili, must
have known in his own heart at the time that there were orders that would
result in the destruction of Manila.
Mr. Roxas adds in his statement that as a matter of historical
truth, and as proved by recent deve1opements, the Makapilis went on record
as being those who accompanied Japanese soldiers and civilians spreading
and pouring gasoline in various sectors of the city and burning everything
on their way. (See Exhibit
"N".)
(The
statement of Mr. Roxas as a high official in the Republic
Government, was obviously taken by the Inspector General conducting this
investigation to demonstrate that the atrocities committed in connection
with the destruction of the city of Manila was the result of deliberate
intent and a preconceived plan by the Japanese to execute that
destruction.)
64.
During the battle for Manila, a Japanese order was captured, paragraph two
of which stated in part that all people on the battlefield, with the
exception of Japanese military personnel, Japanese civilians, and Special
Construction Units, would be put to death.
(See Exhibit “H".)
IV.
DISCUSSION.
65. The
facts shown above are based upon the sworn testimony or sworn statements
of witnesses considered to be reliable because they were eye witnesses or
victims of the type of atrocities testified to by each.
Many witnesses included in their testimony material which had been
told them by another person.
Many of these statements are considered to be true, but have nevertheless
not been included under the statements of facts shown above because of the
possibility of exaggeration or inaccuracy.
For example, much contained in the statement of Mrs. Margaret M.
Utinsky, a civilian internee in Santo Tomas Internment Camp and formerly a
first lieutenant in the U. S. Army Nurse Corps, refers to atrocities cited
to her through letters from her officer friends in the service.
Only that part of her statement of her own personal experiences and
observations is included in facts above.
Mrs. Utinsky has been repatriated to the United States.
Again, in the testimony of Dr. Rodolfo B. Escosa, Physician at the
Canlubang Sugar Estate Hospital, which was taken as a result of the letter
signed by Major Carl T. Grounds, Headquarters XIV Corps, (see Exhibit
“I”), coming to the attention of the Inspector General conducting
investigation, which reports that 2,500 civilians were slaughtered in
Calamba, Laguna, it is revealed that Dr. Escosa, himself, buried a number
of dead, but there is no definite proof of the large number originally
reported as having been killed.
Also, he testifies that one of the women, whom he buried had been
raped, and bayoneted but that this information was given him by the girl's
suitor. It is, therefore, not
considered to be reliable enough to be stated as a fact.
The reliability of the testimony of the Japanese prisoners of war
is tempered somewhat by the fact that they might not have the same
understanding of "swearing," or of statements given under oath, that we
have, because of the different standards of religion, the difference being
unknown to the Inspector General conducting the investigation.
Furthermore, the informing of the witness of his rights under the
24th Article of War or the Constitution was attempted by merely explaining
to the Japanese witness the spirit and meaning of these quotations and
that the meaning applied to him.
This procedure was also followed when Japanese witnesses were
sworn. Except for this
technicality, it is the opinion of the Inspector General conducting the
investigation that the testimony from this source may be considered
reliable.
66. The
sworn statement of Mr. M. Farolan was given the Inspector General
conducting this investigation by Mr. H. Ford Wilkins whose testimony is
also included in this report.
At the time Mr. Farolan’s signature was obtained on his statement, he was
found to be confined at Bilibid Prison, Manila, as a suspected Japanese
collaborator. Nevertheless,
his account of the atrocities which occurred at Headquarters of the
Philippine Red Cross, of which he was at the time acting manager, are
considered to be reliable since he was an eye witness.
67.
The comparison between the intended meaning and difference in
understanding of Mr. N. Roxas (see Exhibit “N") and Mrs. Aurora A. Aquino
(see Exhibit “M”) from their statements is interesting to note.
From Mrs. Aquino's statement it will be seen that, if what she says
is true, she understood that the reason for the movement of the Republic
of the Philippines Government (Japanese "puppet" Government), of which her
husband was Speaker of the House of Representatives, to Baguio, was for
the purpose of, and with the understanding that, military operations wou1d
not take place in Manila and that the city would be preserved.
This may have been emphasized to her and families of other high
officials in the government because the Japanese high command also moved
its Headquarters from Manila to Baguio, and evacuated a number of Japanese
army troops to the North from Manila in December 1944.
That Manila would be destroyed and civilians killed were withheld
from some high officials of the Filipino government by the Japanese
military authorities is obvious.
However, from a study of Mr. Roxas’ statement, it is apparent that
certain officials such as Vice-Minister Duran did know of the intended
destruction of Manila, and the fact that General Yamashita, Commander of
Japanese Armed Forces in the Philippines, had orders to save the life of
the President and his cabinet, which he elected to do by moving them from
Manila, emphasizes that General Yamashita, himself, knowing of his orders
to destroy Manila, could only insure the saving of the lives of the
President and cabinet by evacuating them with him.
It is Interesting also to note from Mr. Roxas’ statement that
Vice-Minister Duran, who knew of the plans to destroy Manila, was the
second supreme head of the Makapili.
The Makipili is an armed organization of pro-Japanese Filipinos
which was established and recognized by the Republic of the Philippines
Government (Japanese "puppet" Government of the Philippines.)
They are comparable to the Philippine army established under the
Commonwealth of the Philippines Government, the only difference being
their faith in and collaboration with the Japanese forces.
It was brought out in Mr. Roxas’ statement that the Makapilis were
responsible along with the Japanese army for the burning of the buildings
in Manila, and this was also brought out in the testimony of other
witnesses. Nevertheless,
sufficient evidence has not been procured to make them equally responsible
with the Japanese for the destruction of Manila and the killing of
civilians, and it is considered that they may have been under a great deal
of dorsa by the Japanese army to commit these deeds.
68. In some
cases testimony discloses that Germans and Spaniards were shown some
consideration, and excluded from the mass killings.
In other instances, however, nationality was apparently ignored as
in the case of the execution of German priests and Spaniards during the
massacre at De LaSalle College. Since the pattern of the plan of the
Japanese to annihilate Filipino people in large numbers and to destroy all
public and private buildings, seems, in general, to have been to put large
numbers of people in inflammable buildings and then to set fire to them,
machine-gunning and bayoneting any who tried to escape, it becomes
apparent that the Japanese intended to prevent the disclosure of these
murders by the burning of the bodies of those killed, and
therefore the destroying of the evidence of the atrocities.
69. From
the facts above, concerning the many atrocities committed by the Japanese,
in particular those of mass murders of the civilians and the destruction
by
fire
and
dynamite of public buildings and dwellings, there leaves no
question in the mind that the Japanese did commit atrocities on a grand
scale, but no doubt the imaginative reader has by now asked himself, "For
what purpose was the greater part of Manila intentionally destroyed by the
Japanese? Why did the Japanese
attempt so energetically to massacre, as far as possible, the whole
civilian population of Manila?
Since the Japanese are fighting the Americans, what advantage to the
Japanese war effort evolves from the mass murder of a population with whom
Japanese are not at war? How
Can the Japanese soldier, who must also be considered a human being,
behead defenseless civilian men and bayonet women and children?”
70. These
questions were asked the Japanese prisoners of war by the Inspector
General conducting this investigation, and an answer was obtained from one
prisoner which verifies the opinion expressed invariably by every Filipino
with whom the investigating officer has talked informally, both from
personal curiosity and in connection with this investigation.
It must be concluded from the answer of the Japanese prisoner of
war, which is the same expression of opinion from all Filipinos, that the
reason for the furious assault of the Japanese armed forces against the
city of Manila and
its inhabitants was because of the Filipino's partiality toward and
cooperation with the Americans, and the ill-feeling and unfriendliness of
the Filipino toward the Japanese during their occupation.
The Japanese prisoner of war cited only one example as the cause of
this unfriendly attitude - the rise in prices of food and necessities to
the extent that Filipinos found it difficult to live- but the feeling goes
deeper than this. Many open
acts of violence were committed against the Japanese war effort in the
Philippines, both by, Filipino guerillas and even other Filipinos who did
not call themselves guerillas, but nevertheless resisted the Japanese
whenever possible. Both open
and subtle acts of
non-cooperation and passive resistance were committed against the Japanese
by the Filipinos, and the sworn testimony of victims of atrocities taken
in this investigation includes
many
expressions of thankfulness and relief at the timely arrival of the
Americans and their deliverance from the hands of the Japanese.
It is well known that, in the early years
of the Japanese occupation, the Japanese made every effort
to become friendly with the Filipinos, but when they realized the
Filipinos retained their friendly attitude toward America and Americans,
their reversal of attitude toward the Filipinos was climaxed by the
destruction of
Manila and the attempted murder of its civilian populace.
This seems to be the only explanation offered from any source.
71.
Concerning the question as to how the Japanese soldier, as a human being,
can bayonet women and children, an answer is given by one
of the Japanese
Prisoners of war from whom testimony was taken.
The answer is, "because it is an order." It is difficult to try to
reconcile this blind obedience of the Japanese soldiers to such an order
by their officers when it is realized that, with few exceptions, an order
given by an American officer to an American soldier to bayonet women and
children would more likely result in that officer's being bayoneted.
Therefore, it maybe assumed that the Japanese soldier
must have
as a
part of his
military training, not only an ingrained belief in complete subjection to
his officers and the carrying out of his officer's orders, but he has no
doubt been taught that at times it may be necessary for him to murder
defenseless civilians, no matter how distasteful it may be to him.
The knowledge that the Japanese soldier may be expected to behave
in this manner may be of some tactical advantage in future military
operations against the Japanese, particularity in localities in which a
civilian population my be encountered.
V.
CONCLUSIONS.
It is
concluded:
72. a.
That numerous atrocities were inflicted upon American soldiers, Filipino,
Spanish, Chinese, British, German, Syrian, and civilians
of other
nationalities, not only in Manila, but throughout many other parts
of Luzon,
by
members of the Japanese Imperial Forces, and that these atrocities are of
such a savage, inhuman, malicious, and unwarranted nature as to appear
unbelievable to the average individual who has not seen or heard of these
atrocities from victims themselves.
b. That these atrocities assumed in general the following forms:
(1) The bayoneting and shooting of unarmed civilians - men, women
and children- with rifles, pistols, machine guns, and the throwing of
grenades at them.
(2) The herding of large numbers of civilians - men, women, and
children - in to inflammable buildings, the barring of doors and windows,
and setting fire to the buildings.
(3) The throwing of grenades into dugouts where unarmed civilians
were taking cover, burying alive those who were not, killed by the
grenades.
(4) The assembling of men in large groups and the tying of their
hands and then bayoneting, beheading, or shooting them.
(5)
Theft from civilians of money, valuables, food, and the looting and
burning of their homes.
(6) Tying the hands and blindfolding of Chinese and Filipino men
and then beheading them with a sabre on a chopping block.
(7) Torturing both military prisoners of war and civilians by
beating, kicking in the face, burning, and making them assume contorted
positions for long periods of time until they lost consciousness in the
attempt to make them reveal information which the Japanese desired.
(8) General disregard of the rights of prisoners of war under the
Geneva Convention.
(9) The taking of large groups of girls, as many as a hundred, to a
hotel and the systematic raping of all of them, the attention of an
average of three or four men being forced on each girl.
(l0) The massacre of refugees, doctors, and nurses at the
Philippine Red Cross Headquarters ,and general disrespect for the rights
of the Red Cross under the Geneva Convention.
c. Because of the number and extent of the killings of civilians
and the destruction of public and private buildings in Manila and other
towns and cities in the Philippine Islands, the systematic dynamiting of
buildings, the methodical herding of defenseless civilian men, women and
children in large numbers (over 1,000 in some cases) into inflammable
buildings, the firing of these buildings and the shooting and bayoneting
of those who attempted escape, the use of the chopping block and saber in
beheading large numbers of defenseless civilian men, the indiscriminate
shooting of men, women and children in the streets, the testimony of a
Japanese prisoner of war that members of his platoon were ordered on a
mission to burn civilian homes and kill civilians, the text of the
captured Japanese order to put to death all people on the battleground
with the exception of Japanese military personnel, Japanese civilians, and
Special Construction Units, the statement of Mr. Pio Duran, Vice-Minister
and second in command of the Makapili, to Mr. Nicholas Roxas, Assistant
Executive Secretary to President Laurel, that he (Duran) knew that
Japanese gun emplacements had been turned toward Manila and that the city
would be destroyed, and the admission of President Laurel to Mr. Roxas
that the Republic of the Philippine Government was moved to Baguio because
General Yamashita, Commander of Japanese forces in the Philippines, had
received orders from Tokyo to protect the lives of President Laurel and
his cabinet, it is concluded with unmistakable certainty that the wanton
destruction of the greater part of the city of Manila and the mass
murdering of large numbers of the defenseless civilian men, women, and
children, the majority of whom were Filipino, was not the result of
caprice or impulsiveness of individuals in the confusion of battle, but
was instead the consequence of a preconceived plan executed by the
commander of Japanese Armed Forces in the Philippines, under orders from
higher military command in Tokyo.
d. That the reason and purpose of the Japanese in committing these
many atrocities against primarily the Filipino people was because of their
partiality, cooperation and friendliness toward America and Americans, the
inability of the Japanese during their period of occupation to win that
same cooperation and friendliness and the taking of revenge, as a result,
upon the Filipino people by wholesale slaughter of the inhabitants of and
the destruction of the city of Manila.
VI.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
It is recommended:
73. a. That
disclosures and information revealed
in this report that
might jeopardize the safety of American and allied prisoners still held by
the Japanese, and the names of women who testified to their having been
raped by the Japanese, be held in the strictest secrecy.
b. That information contained in this report which condemns the
Japanese nation in their atrocious prosecution of war in the Philippines
be
given
the widest publicity so that Japan may be properly exposed as a nation
which is truly an enemy of the civilized world.
c. That three (3) copies of this report be forwarded
to the War Department for review and such action as is deemed necessary
and appropriate.
(Signed)
R. GRAHAM BOSWORTH,
Lieutenant
Colonel, IGD,
Assistant Corps
Inspector General.
9 April 1945.
I concur
in the conclusions and recommendations of the Investigating Officer.
(Signed)
FRANK B. JORDAN,
Colonel, I.G.D.
Corps Inspector General.
APPROVED:
(Signed)
O. W.GRISWOLD,
Major
General, U. S. Army
Commanding.
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