The war began for the Philippines the same day it did for the United States, and

ended by
the hands of defiant, effective guerrillas along with liberating American Marines. Filipino
enlisted men and volunteers of the fledgling Philippine Army were motivated by similar causes
as their American counterparts: to protect their country against foreign aggressors, to fight
against a potential Japanese invasion, and to defend their right to freedom from fear. Captured
Filipino soldiers endured the same Prisoner of War experience as the defeated American bastion
and marched with them in the Bataan Death March. The lives of occupied natives were directly
affected in ways the American populous never underwent, including subjugation and
exploitation. The Filipino experience is an underrepresented point of view in common World
War II knowledge, allowing a crucial historical perspective to be diminished, the atrocities they
witnessed go unrecognized, and their contribution become marginalized over the course of time.
Filipino soldiers played a significant role fighting for the defense of their country, largely
written off in the larger historical record. Although a US Commonwealth, after Roosevelt signed
the Tydings-McDuffie Act in 1935 the Philippines was on the gradual path to independence
(Chen). President Quezon requested US General MacArthur’s guidance and presented him
unimpeded authority to plan and implement a national defense force to eventually be comprised
solely of Filipinos. “The first legislative measure of the Philippine National Assembly was the
passage, on 21 December 1935, of the National Defense Act, which embodied the plan proposed
by General MacArthur…When the development of the Philippine Army was completed,
MacArthur believed it would be strong enough to oppose successfully "any conceivable
expeditionary force." It would have a great advantage also in being assigned only one mission:
defense of the homeland​. Each unit of the army would ​operate over ground it knew well​ and
which had been "deliberately selected and organized for defense" (Morton). The advantages of a
capable Filipino-native defense force were obvious. By July 1941, out of 21,098 total enlisted
men in the Philippines, 11,937 were Philippine Scouts (Morton). Yet the army was far from
mature in strength or preparation. The estimated deadline for completion was 1946, still years
away. “The training of the Philippine Army was beset with numerous difficulties. In many units
there was a serious language barrier, not only between the American instructors and the Filipinos
but also among the Filipinos” (Morton). Imperial Japan, meanwhile, had its expansionist eyes on
the unprepared American prize. The Philippines was a key strategic region within Japan’s East
Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, and their ambition to dominate the U.S. began with the occupation
of Filipino land (Helak). When an invasion force inevitably arrived, “many of these individuals,
and the Filipino immigrants who enlisted in the continental U.S., were motivated by a desire to
protect the Philippines, their home, from an attack by the Imperial Japanese.” Sources from the
are few and far between, indicating the lack of interest in the common man historically and the
need to bring to the surface the invaluable experiences of previously marginalized groups.
Subjugation, indoctrination, and exploitation summarized the occupation of the
Philippines for its natives. Japanese Army troops restored order immediately after their invasion.
Their presence was ingrained in the memory of young Filipino girl: “Japanese occupation
affected every facet of life… I remember the Japanese rounding up all the men in town,
including my father and uncles, and interning them in our schoolhouse. They were screening for
American sympathizers. We knew they tortured collaborators, so we were afraid” (​Reblando).
For POWs, “Japanese atrocities began at the very beginning of the occupation. The captured
Americans and Filipinos were marched from Bataan to Luzon proper with little food, water, or
rest; coupled with rampant acts of violence, between 7,000 and 10,000 died on what was to be
named the Bataan Death March” (Chen). For the average civilian in the first year and a half of
occupation, however, the Japanese attempted to establish normalcy and instill discipline in their
subjects. They opened schools, continued the traditional Jai Alai games, and allowed freedom of
worship (Helak). Aling Leonie was a young Filipino girl, daughter of a Philippine Scout, whose
firsthand account reveals much about the subdued but not submissive Filipino spirit: “I didn't go
to school during the Occupation. None of my brothers or sisters went either. The Japanese
controlled the schools so none of us believed there was any reason for us to attend classes then…
One day I saw my high school art teacher, Mr. Fidel Ongpauco, walking on the street in Los
Baños. I found out that he was a guerrilla, and I began to get information from him that I would
sometimes pass on to guerrillas in the mountains.” Japanese interest in the Philippines stemmed
from their abundant agricultural resources (Helak). Menial labor would be passed, as in any
colony, unto its unfortunate inhabitants: “The Japanese would also requisition labor from us…
Men increasingly stopped returning from the labor camp when the U.S. advance was coming
closer near the end of the war. It was rumored that they were killed” (Leonie). As the tide of war
turned against them, the Japanese began to show their brutality and lack of human empathy. For
Leonie, her teacher-turned-guerrilla proved lifesaving. “My high school teacher who was a
guerrilla was an extremely reliable source of information. One day he told me "the Americans
are in Leyte." Later, he told me to "be prepared the Americans are coming and the Japanese are
sure to massacre." He was alerting her of the incoming Los Baños raid, and its inevitably
gruesome aftermath: “Men, women, and children were tied to the foundation posts of homes
nearest the internment camp and these house were set afire” (Leonie). To enforce discipline, the
Japanese often resorted to brute force. In November 1944, a crashed American pilot
‘disappeared’ from the grasp of their jungle search party. In retaliation, “the Japanese gathered
the men from the households that were located on the plateau, which included the farmer who
had come to the aid of the pilot, and took them away to kill them before setting fire to the houses.
The families were now husbandless and fatherless.” By the end of their reign in the Philippines,
the Japanese treated soon-to-be-free subjects with inhumane savagery: “Later we learned more of
what had happened before the Japanese retreated for good… We also learned that Filipinos were
lined up in rows by the Japanese soldiers at ​Bayan​… Then they were bayoneted one by one. An
eight-year old boy had survived by moving further down the line after one, then another was
slaughtered and he eventually escaped to later tell how it had happened. One mother saved her
child. She knew that there was to be one bayonet stab in her abdomen and then another into her
lung after she fell so she held her baby away from where the bayonet struck her” (Leonie). The
Filipino experience of Japanese occupation is invaluable as it provides insight into the lives of a
conquered people, an essential contribution to the historical record.
For their courageous resistance, the Filipinos received little credit, then or now. Filipinos
undeniably deserve more recognition, as 57,000 Filipino soldiers paid the ultimate price in
defense of their country, a territory of the U.S., and 900,000 civilian casualties were suffered by
Japanese occupation forces (Chen). Carmelita was the daughter of a Filipino officer who served
with U.S. forces during the fall of the Philippines: “My father was killed during World War II in
Bataan, Philippines. He was with the U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East, a captain in the Corps
of Engineers… It was only on August 1942 that we learned of my father's death… My father was
on a field inspection with an American lieutenant when a Japanese bomb was dropped nearby.
My father died instantly, and the lieutenant survived” (Montessa). Leonie recounted her
encounter with a Bataan survivor, whose family was never rewarded for his heroism: “One day
my sister saw a dirty man in rags, who she thought was a beggar, approach the house… When
[mother] saw him, she broke out in tears and ran to his aid because she realized that is was her
daughter's husband. He had escaped from the infamous Bataan Death March and made his way
Los Baños. His name was Santos Duenas, and to this day his wife has never received a pension
from the U.S.” (Leonie). Fighting against the Japanese occupation, and preventing their secure
grasp of over half the area of the islands (Chen), were the “strategically indispensable”
guerrillas: “...around 70,000, were members of authorized guerrilla groups and the New
Philippine Scouts” (Nakano, 135). Although Filipino and American servicemen suffered the
same fate during the fall of the Philippines, after the war they were not treated equally by the
American government. “In principle, the U.S. veterans benefits are applicable regardless of
nationality, …currently being granted to foreign-born citizens of 66 countries around the world.
Filipino veterans of WWII, however, have been separate been given a controversial status all the
way since the end of World War II” (Nanko, 134). Immediately after the war ended, the
newly-independent Philippine government and U.S. immigration authorities feared the
consequences of mass immigration to the U.S. Many Filipino vets were superficially prevented
from immigrating before the applications for immigration privileges deadline on December 31st,
1946. Indeed, the highly-effective guerrillas, adopted into the Philippine Army during the war,
were entirely obstructed from these veteran immigration privileges: “Thus the only applications
from former members of the Philippine Scouts, who were considered to have been an integral
part of the U.S. Armed Forces even before the war, were accepted while other applications were
turned down in every possible way.” A law was finally passed remedying the veteran’s plight,
legalizing a special naturalization process for Filipino veterans, in November of ​1990​, 44 years
after the original deadline (Nanko, 136). A clear slight against courageous WWII veterans has
existed for decades, and even today equality for those veterans is lacking.
The Filipino perspective has been marginalized over the course of history, despite their
crucial role resisting the Japanese and the immeasurable value of their historical experiences.
Filipinos’ personal encounters must become a treasured historical record and continued
underrepresentation must be addressed nation- and world-wide.
 Works Cited

Armilla, Jose. “Leading the cavalry,” The Washington Post (May 28, 2004), p. W11. Primary

source depicting the experience of young Filipino citizens and their memory from the

war. Used for information on Japanese invasion, escaping combat zone, and joining

guerrilla forces.

Chen, C. Peter. “Philippines.” ​World War II Database​, Lava Development,

ww2db.com/country/philippines. Accessed 6 Mar. 2018. Secondary source depicting the

progression of events in the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. Used for information on

MacArthur’s development of Philippine Army, Bataan Death March, and Filipino

guerrillas.

Cima, Rosie. “How Filipino WWII Soldiers Were Written Out of History.” ​Priceconomics​, 11

Nov. 2015, priceonomics.com/how-filipino-soldiers-were-written-out-of-the/. Accessed 6

Mar. 2018. Secondary source about the contribution of Filipino soldiers to the defense of

the Philippines. Used for information about the formation of the Philippine Army, &

motivations behind defending Filipino soldiers.

Hansen, Virginia. “Fleeing the fighting, The Washington Post (May 28, 2004), p. W11. Primary

source depicting the experience of young Filipino citizens and their memory from the

war. Used for information on Japanese invasion, escaping combat zone, and joining

guerrilla forces.

Helak, Martha M. “World War II in the United States Colony of the Philippines: Beyond the

Bataan Death March and Douglas MacArthur.” Inquiries Journal 9.03 (2017).

<http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1552> A secondary source about “war of

 annihilation” and Japanese occupation in the Philippines, from the perspective of Filipino

natives. Used for information on interaction between Filipino natives and Japanese

soldiers throughout occupation.

Montessa, Carmelita. “An American rescue,” The Washington Post (May 28, 2004), p. W11.

Primary source depicting the experience of young Filipino citizens and their memory

from the war. Used for information on Japanese invasion, escaping combat zone, and

joining guerrilla forces.

Reblando, Salud P. “A witness to bravery,” The Washington Post (May 28, 2004), p. W11.

Primary source depicting the experience of young Filipino citizens and their memory

from the war. Used for information on Japanese invasion, escaping combat zone, and

joining guerrilla forces.