Japanese time

A. Paulita Roa

THE recent state visit made to this country by the Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko brought back memories of those stories told to me by family members and relatives who survived the Second World War. They referred to this historic period as the “Japanese Time” or  “Panahon sa Hapon” and the pre-war era was called  “Peace Time.” Let me share with you some of the many stories told to me by these survivors of this war that is considered as the bloodiest and most destructive period in Philippine history.

A few years before the war, there were already Japanese that came to live and do business here in Cagayan. One had a photo studio and was often seen taking pictures of the town and countryside. There was a big store in Divisoria known as the Japanese Bazaar that sold sundry goods and a Japanese had a shop that repaired the petromax–a gas-fed lamp that was widely used in most of the houses in Cagayan. When the war broke out, these Japanese turned out to be members of the Imperial Army. The photographer was the head of the intelligence unit while the guy who repaired the petromax was exceptionally cruel to those who did not pay him of his services.

Many of the townspeople thought that the war would be a brief one. A relative told me that his lola baked dozens of cookies before they boarded their car to stay on their farm thinking that the war would be over in a few weeks. But their stay stretched to over two years and they encountered many hardships. My cousin, Dondon Roa, whose family stayed most of the time in Dansolihon, a hinterland barangay, remembered that many families who evacuated there brought with them their pianos for they all thought that they will go back to their houses in a matter of weeks.

Around June, 1942, Filipino and American soldiers retreated from the coastal area of the town after a long and brave stand against the Japanese forces. The enemy warships anchored in Macajalar Bay bombarded their positions that forced them to withdrew. Cagayan was in flames when the enemy entered and then occupied all the school buildings, big residences,  the Bishop’s House, and even the St. Agustine Church and convent. The town was virtually deserted except for a few families who decided to stay.

Some enterprising Kagay-anons started to do business with the Japanese. Two ladies opened a small restaurant near Divisoria, called Sakura or cherry blossoms in Nippongo. A family opened a cake and tea shop near the Municipio that was so popular that soldiers would knock very early in the morning and demanded that they open the shop and serve them. It is interesting to know that come Liberation time, the owners changed their shop and named it the GI Joe Bar where they served beer to American soldiers and hired a piano player who played those catchy boogie-woogie tunes of that period.

Japanese army officials encouraged the Kagay-anons to go back to town assuring them that they will live peacefully under the Japanese occupation. They even ordered Fr. Isaias X. Edralin, that brave Ilocano Jesuit, to stay in town and say mass regularly at the parish church of St. Agustine. This way, some of the parishioners went back to town but still, many chose to stay up in the their places of “bakwitan” or evacuation.

Henry R. Canoy, founder of the Radio Mindanao Network, wrote in his memoirs titled the RMN Story, that the Japanese soldiers cremated their dead in the area that is now the Pelaez Sports Center, with wood that they took from abandoned wooden houses. What is interesting was a brief mention about the “comfort women” in Cagayan. I asked an old man who was a teenager during the war if he knew about this and he replied in the affirmative. He pointed to an old and unpainted two-story house near Del Mar St. (A. Velez St.) as the place where these women were kept. He said that many knew about it and that these women were not Filipinos but not one has seen them.

There were also local women who were either married or became mistresses of the Japanese soldiers. We have not heard or know if there were children from these unions. If there were any, their identities were kept secret for the hatred towards the Japanese was so intense the years following the end of the Second World War.

It was in the municipality of Talakag where many Kagay-anon evacuees stayed all throughout the duration of the war. The Mindanao guerrilla movement, a huge shadowy network of freedom fighters had a big group operating in Talakag and its environs. There was a long trail from that place that led to the coastal town of Alubijid. People would walk for miles to get there. The road was relatively safe for this was guarded by the guerrillas. Upon reaching Alubijid, one can ride on a sailboat and go even as far as Manila. It is in the waters of Alubijid that American submarines would come to bring the  high-powered arms and ammunition to the guerrillas or spirit away American pilots back to their temporary base in Australia.  But this is another long story that I may have to share some other time.

The stories that I heard about this war are so many that I need to find the time to document theme since most of my sources are now dead. If you have a relative or friend that survived World War II or has stories from their families who lived through this war, please take time to listen and record their experiences. In a short while, many of them will go to the great beyond and bring their stories with them. Stories could have been part of our history.