Long Afterward, War Still Devastates Filipinos
The damage caused by World War II, according to historians and sociologists, defines the modern Filipino: poor and lost, perpetually wandering the globe for economic survival, bereft of national pride, forced to suffer, to this day, the indignities of their violation.
By Carlos H. Conde
davaotoday.com
(On the occasion of National Heroes? Day on April 9, we are running this piece, which was originally published in the International Herald Tribune on August 13, 2005.)
MAPANIQUE, Pampanga — On Nov. 23, 1944, Japanese soldiers stormed through this village, burning down houses and killing all the Filipino men they could find. They then herded dozens of women to a red mansion that had been turned into a garrison.
There, the soldiers took turns violating the Filipinas; they raped a mother and her daughter at the same time in one of the many rooms.
To this day, the women of Mapanique — many of those still alive are now in their 70s — talk about their ordeal with chilling clarity.
It is a familiar story. His wife, Yolanda Abu, has been working as a domestic helper in Rome for the past 15 years. She is one of the thousands from this town who work as maids in Europe, mostly in Italy. And Abu is one of many who stay at home, contentedly jobless because there is simply no need to work.