WW2 JAPANESE SOLDIERS REMEMBERED, HONORED DURING ALL SAINTS' DAY
MANILA, NOVEMBER 2, 2009 (STAR) By Jerry Botial – Japanese citizens, mostly soldiers from a former garrison of the Imperial Japanese Army in Valenzuela who died during World War II, were remembered and honored yesterday as Filipinos observed All Saints’ Day.
“Kahit magkaibang lahi at paniniwala, inaalala rin namin sila sa Araw ng mga Patay (Even if they are from a different race and have different beliefs, we also remember them this All Saints’ Day),” Leonarda “Aida” Valenzuela, 70, caretaker of the Japanese shrine told The STAR.
Aida, as she is known in the neighborhood, said she and her brood of 10 families living in the shrine’s 500-square-meter compound on Don Pedro Street in Barangay Marulas, would also light candles and offer flowers at the Japanese shrine today – All Souls’ Day.
“We will do it our way, the Filipino way. Whether they (Japanese) come or not (from Japan),” said Aida, who took over from her dad, Francisco Valenzuela, as caretaker of the property.
She said her father was the caretaker assigned by the Japanese embassy in Manila after the shrine was built in 1960.
The compound, some 500 meters off Macarthur Highway, is part of the cemetery the Japanese retained in 1946, just after WWII in 1945. They built the shrine similar to the Americans’ “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig and other parts of the country.
On the other side of the highway was what used to be a Japanese garrison. Construction diggings in the area have unearthed war derelicts such as tanks, trucks, and vintage bombs.
“Most of the property, several hectares of it, were reportedly given back to the Philippine government as part of war reparations during the administration of the late President Elpidio Quirino. They only retained this small area in memory of their war dead,” said Nestor Parone, 55, childhood friend of the Valenzuelas and a long-time transmitter technician at the neighboring Radyo ng Bayan station.
Benigna, 69, Aida’s younger sibling, said the remains of young Japanese students, who died in a malaria epidemic that infested the Japanese community in the area during the war, are also kept in the shrine.
Aive Santiago, 46, Aida’s neighbor, said Japanese-looking tourists would arrive at the shrine in buses or in vans and pay respect to their dead.
“A group comes to visit, six persons or more, at least once every month,” said Santiago.
“They come bringing Japanese sake, flowers, and joss sticks and light them up in their (dead’s) honor,” said Aida.
“After embassy officials and their Filipino staff with them sing the Philippine national anthem, they sing the Japanese national hymn Kimigayo – ‘The Emperor’s Reign,’ one of the world’s oldest national anthems adopted in Japan in 1888,” said Aida.
The visitors would then walk around the “obelisk,” light joss sticks, clasp their hands, and bow in prayer to their ancestors.
Relatives of the dead are seen shedding tears while in prayer at the shrine.
‘We will stay’
The shrine is just next to the seven-hectare property being occupied by the government-owned Philippine Broadcasting Service (PBS), which runs the Radyo ng Bayan.
The Valenzuelas, some 30 of whom are Francisco’s descendants, have lived on the right side of the compound since 1960.
The area, they said, have drawn the attention of local officials who wanted to convert the place into a theme park or tourist spot.
“Many city officials have come. Some wanted us out of the property (which is Japanese-owned), but they have so far failed,” they said.
Aida said she and her family understand city officials, but the real owners of the place would rather give her family the privilege of entrusting their dead to them.
“This place is sacred to them (Japanese) and they won’t allow it to be touched,” she said in the vernacular.
Benigna said embassy officials told them they were not greedy (for money).
Workers at the shrine get a monthly stipend for their services from the embassy. She said the officials have also allowed them to stay and build their houses inside the compound “indefinitely.”
The Valenzuelas are into their fourth generation of taking care of the shrine. They told The STAR they would only leave the place if the Japanese embassy would be the one to tell them.
They don’t know it, but they could very well turn to the Kimigayo, the five-line, 31-syllable poem that is also the Japanese national anthem.
The English translation goes: “May the reign of the Emperor continue for a thousand, nay, eight thousand generations and for the eternity that it takes for small pebbles to grow into a great rock and become covered with moss.”
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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