What is the yardstick of loyalty?

Media

Part of The Nation

Title
What is the yardstick of loyalty?
Language
English
Year
1945
Rights
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Fulltext
What Is the "' "' ·• By J. R. NUGUID "' . . The question of loyalty is gra ,.e and delicate. Though the word is simple enough to be understood by the man on the street, it has created a national issue. l<'rom the moment that our new leaders who were 6atapulted into power by the tidal wave of liberation tinker"'d with this question, the Filipino people were wrapped in a mixture of impulses, ~ and sorely perplexed. The government employees a.nd members of the former Usaffe were directly hit. The whole citizenry, too, has its misgivings, for is not the implication clear that all those who folded their arms before the enemy are guilty of disloyalty? YARDSTICK of LOYALTY?' The Author Brings Up the Question of Collaboration acts. months to the amazement of the en._ The question now is: Is there any- tir~ world. When, however, the laet thing in the conduct of our people hope of victory whittled awar that merite the stigma of . disloyal- around seventy thousand men laid ty? To begin with, the cabinet has down their arms to put an end to set a pretty high, if not an arbi- an unequal conflict. That epochal trary, standard of loyalty. Only a battle was lost, but the nation rose fow can make the grade. The truth to new heights of honor and glory of the- whole matter ill that during and our heroic soldiers emerged the J:tpanese regime, the Filipino from the battlefields as gallant depeople, whether they sat in govern- fnders of democracy. When they, !!lent offices, practised their profes- who were professional soldiers and sions, engaged , in bu11ine111, ran in duty bound to defend the cause, trades, culled fishe11 from tb,e seas, surrendered, was it not to avoid raised crops on the farms, or mere- useless death? Yet why should ly worked on the roadi, helped the our civilian population be now asAa we look in retrospect over the enemy one way or another. In a ·sailed and rebuked for failing to do early days of the Japanese occupa- narrow sense, that was oollabora- what our armed forces failed to action of Manila, the memory of, a tion. But while -they extended tha.t complish in Bataan? And bil.Ve our city-grim and ghost-like and its kind ·of" help and collaboration, in army officers and enlisted mert who inhabitants horror-filled and crest- the 1anctuary of their hearts the fought in the mst episode of thi~ fallen-surgei in sharp contrast to 11pirit of reTolt burnt like a fla.me, war turned disloyal bv, servin1t in the gay atmosphere- of the present. defiant and dea.thle11e. Have they government offices or in the JapaThe Philippine Executive Commia- b~ome disloyal by merely holding nese-made Philippine constabulary, siou was organized. A handful of public offices? Surely, it ta.kes a whim the fact is thev W'l,re merely employees were called to report, but lot more than that to be guilty of waitini;(, anxiously and patiently, their number increased gradually as disloyalty. The attending circum-. for the more appropriate and opporthe 8.ctiviiies of the gov~rnment stances, the background, and parti- tune time to strike against the :velmultiplied. . ';l'he . employees then cularly t.he motive and th" actions low invaders? In their time, the J·a· could be divided mto two classes, while holding office must be tho- panese hated them becaU!le they. refl:S~_ely: (I) those who accepted. po- roughly appra.ised ~nd considered. fused to drop their pro-Amnrican a1hons; fl:>r. fear- that refusal 1,lllght Viewed from the strictly legal leaning; now, their own hrotbere be 'c<>nstrued as a hostile act. and standpoint, the eharge lacks the hate them because they have been (2) ih68e: who: voluntarily applied rnpport of any precedent, authori- pro-.Tapanese. Whst a trag;ic para.under ·the compelling force of neces- tative opinion,' or judicial · ~o· dox I · sity. In either case, it was the po- ~o~nc~m~nt. From ~he ethical aide, As for thos~ who held "j;Ositionll pular sentiment that they were 1t is ms1sted that it WO,.il our duty f (! 'b'l't 't is hard to beliserving only the interest of their to defend ·th11 ca.use at the cost of o r sponsi i 1 y, i d b own people, thl"t they were not con- our lives. A, local editor even went e:·~ that they we~e pron'IJ?t~ y potributing to the war effort of the so far as to aay that those who were htical or material fm~>I~{ohs. I~ enemy, and that there wa!I nothing afraid to die in the past regime are fact, no amouht k o tha y oo ~»; in. the nature of their work that Q.ot fit to live in this new gonrn- sli:nde1: can . s a t; e peop ? s was incompatible with tbeir loyal~y ment. Is this the correct yarditii:k f~ith Ifn thh~ mteodty an: patr.\~ . to the Commonwealth and their by ,,.hich lovalty should be m'ea.11ur- ~ism o t eir ~a ers w o, WI allegiance to the United States. ed r Do we i:i'ot ridicule the Japanese mcompara~le skill and tact1 mann. . . for their fanatical and futile reiis- ed our .s'!iip of state durmg !he '.fhe. gene.r.alp~~hc ~as m a si- tance when· surrender is the wiser most critic~} and t.urbulent period mliar pood1cament. 'Y1th the fall and mo:·e honorable course to fol- of. ou~ natio~al hi~tory.' In t~e of Bataan and Corregul.o;-, the con- low? faith m the mtegr1ty and patrioquest .of the country bec~me an ao- I~ the battle of Bataan, the Fil- as 1_1ot. to realize the right from the ?Oml;'hshed fact and bowmg_ to t~" American forces, cornered, outnum- begm~mg that the Japaves"' set-up inevitable,. they. set about. m their bQrelt, an~ outequipped, held the was not permanent,; secondlY, they. pre-war occupations. In spite, how- enemy at bay for a little OTer three were used as mere fronts. the real ever, of the !!trict censorship and power being exercised by the sabrAthe close- vigilance of. the Kempei, rattling Samurai; thirdly, no public our people. continued to ta)k and office at the till!'ll held any glamour di11cusa day after da.y tl;le deyelop- because the government did not ha".• ments of . the. war as -~ews ~r,1ckled · ot 0 ·f support from the people ; through the air from distant shores. an 1 a . The less fortunate were hauled in and lastl~, there was absolutely no and were either tortured or slain in money in it, the salary of a minisF~rt Santiago; Far Eastern, S~n t.flr of state being less thari onfl ~a., and ot~er hell holes for. hs- thousand pesos a month an a•ount ten.mg to Alhed broadcasti, circu- . . · ' tating "false•r l'Ulllora; committing which durmg the last months of the sabotage-, and similar · 1 'hostile" Japanese occupation could not eYen The NATION buy a pair of shoes. It could be pos. United States and there amidst • • • • • • · • • • • • • sible that they accepted their .jobs safety, ·tranquility and b~utiful YANIS' llTCHEN. because they did not want to be surroundings joined 'bands in laying rushed to their graves. Like our for-. the groundwork for the liberation ces in Bataan they relied, and for and rehabilitation of our countey. AND BAR.· good reasons, on that old proverb We pay tribuie to our guerrillas that sometimes prudence is the bet- for ,,their heroic feat. We alao welter part of valor. Or it might also come the rise of our new leaden. be that with the welfare of their They bring youth and enthus_ium poople at heart, they accepted their to our resurrected political 1trucjobs so. as to be in a poiiition to help ture. But while we &lorify all thoae and protect their countrymep or at who participated in this patriotio least to minimize their suffering. movement and give them our enW e could picture with grim horror couragement and support, we ask the atrocities a.nd brutatities the the men that now guide our destipeople would have suffered if the DY to be slow and cautiou1 in pa.al· Japanese had directly governed or ing judgment over the conduct of placed unscrupulous Filipinos at the their fellow-countrymen. The flurr1 help of the government. of excitement and the lust for powTh f M J t' J Ab d er are apt to blur the vision of ma.n e case o r. us ice ose a d h·a good judgment If wo Santos who preferred death to obe- an .waIJ> i · d ; un isance to the Japanese warlord ha11 persis~ in a bl~ purge, ou Cl!> •• been cited to bolster a self-centered try will b~ spbt 1'1de ~pe~. This ~ cause, but this case is singular, uni- n~t t~e t1m for .~u~sbngu~g,. recnjue. It is thus that there is only one ~inat1on, ~nd divlBlon. Thia is the ose Abad Santos as there is only time to. restore order out of chaos, one Jose Rizal. But there is this repai:ation out of. wreckage, anoi great difference, that when they of- happmess out of misery. In t~e cas.e fered their lives, n.-ither they nor of ~ose who, after proper 1nvest1any one in their behalf chided their gat1on, r.re found to have sold themcountrymen for not followina: in 1elve1 to ~he ene!DY oi: have gone -their footsteps. o~t of their way ?n their collaboz:a.. . . . tion, let the punishments be swift No Fihpmo will ever forget the and relentless. But in the case 'of drea.dful men,iory. of the ~apanese the greater number of Filipinos who s~ldier. To his distorted mind, the heaven knows are innocent, let their right o! con~u.est. was a~solute, all- caae be decided with. understanding emb~mg. Conqueror, lord, a!'d so- and justice. vere1gn, be' waa all. 'futored m the . ways of his Axis partner, the Ger· . man Nazi; he improved to perfe<"- P2,000,000 in Goods Due SOOn tion the latter's technique to cow The Commonwealth Government ~he people of conqu~r~d territories thru representations made by Sec1nto complete 1ubm1~s1on... and tei;· cretary Hernandez of Finance bas ror. Those who remained m the c1- • . tiea and towns, worked under the secured from the United Nations forced labor~ system, faced the gory Relief and Rehabilitation Adminis"magic eye, in a "r.ona,'" roundup, tration the shipment of P2,000 000 or aaw the inside of secret chamber• h · • od d' of .torture know what it meant to wort of consumers go s an mer.ome unde~ the heels of the oppres- dical supplies, - according to a reRor. Of Japanese brutalit1 and cent Malacanan announcement. mthle1sness, we have only to look · The shipment will consist of one to the shambles and the blood-eoak- ·11· · b d ed tho d ad soil of Manila to convince our- m1 ion so: un r usan pesos We serve all kinds of American, European and Chinese Dishes. And the best wines in town ~OLEDAD QUINTO$ Proprietress: 675-677 Rizal A venue The People's Favorite Weekly ~he FILIPINO OBSERVER Newsmagazine Published Every TUESDAY aelves. What chance could they· ban worth of goods and :l'our hundred against such hordes of barbarian11? thousand worth of me,ticines. The .How they must have wished that cargo will be brought by the first enough ships were sent to their .res- available boat that leaves San cue during the siege of Bataan .10 "'Eii!Si!ei!Sii!Si==33~ii!!i33!!3!!i!3!2! tha~ they might have reached the Francisco. = GET YOURSELF AMONG TIIAT DECENT CROWD AT CRlSTINA'S WINE @ DINE @ .DANCE BEST FLOOR SHOWS EVERY DAY & NIGHT PRESENTING: BAYANI A NIEVES .. Outstanding Filipino Dancing Team . YANI'S KIDS ...•............... Sensational Danee Trio BETTY & DANNY .-.. Youngest Dancers in the Philippines JULY, 1945 TttE RESTAURANT A MITE CLU• - for THE ARISTOCRAT All At Its Belt 2nd Fl. ARIAS BLJ)G; .· RIZAL AVE. cor. CARRIEDO' In Front of · • ·· AMERICAN RED CROSS CLUB ENTRANCE AT BACIC OF BLDG. 11