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15. 0n
12 February 1945, at noon, twelve Japanese came to the home of Mr.
Florencio Homol, a calesa driver, at 150 V. Cruz, Manila.
The Japanese soldiers closed the doors and windows and told the
people to stop eating their meal and raise their hands.
They then took their watches and all their belongings and carried
them away. The people,
twenty-two in all, taken upstairs into the bedroom.
The Japanese then gathered bed sheets and poured gasoline on them
and ignited it. The Japanese
watched for every person passing by the house and began shooting at them.
While the house was burning, the people began breaking down the
doors to escape into the streets.
The soldiers began shooting at them and striking them with
bayonets. Only four out of the
twenty-two survived. Mr. Homol
was bayoneted. He was brought
by Americans to a first aid station and then to San Lazaro Hospital.
The names of some of the persons killed were:
Mr. and Mrs. Perez Rubio, the owner of the business firm in
Escolta, Mr. and Mrs. Fox, British and all of their thirteen servants.
(See Exhibit “B-12”.)
16. On 7
February 1945, about midnight, the Japanese began burning homes of people
near the home of Mr. Alberto
Manansala,
219 Guadaleyse, Makati, Rizal.
The people gathered all women and small children together.
They were taken to a building, while Mr. Manansala and his brother
were left in the house. The
soldiers
came
back and
for no reason thrust a bayonet in his side and arm.
He pretended that he was dead and they left. Their house was
burning at that time, causing his face and neck to be burned.
They then crawled to a ditch twenty-five meters away from the house
where a neighbor found them on the following morning and brought them to
the nearest first aid station.
The youngest brother who was thirteen is now missing.
Other people (number not determined) who were killed are: A Chinese
couple; Yo, Chan; and Alipio Augustin, Jr.; and, Mr. and Mrs. Feliciano
Lozaro. (Exhibit “B-13”.)
17. On 6,
February 1945, Mrs. Helen Drinidad, 186 Ruby street St. Andrew
Extension, Manila, had her two daughters behind her house after the
American soldiers were in the neighborhood.
While crossing a street they heard a machine gun being fired by two
or three Japanese from a house.
The thirteen year old daughter was hit by a bullet.
Another
child who
was with
them was Renesus Perez. The
bullet hit her and Mrs. Drinidad’s child.
The next morning an American soldier took them to the San Lazaro
Hospital. (See Exhibit
"B-14".)
18. On
Saturday, 10 February 1945, at 3:00 PM, Mr. Jose Cabanero, 1404
Remy, Singalong Subdivision, Manila, Acting superintendent of Postal
Savings Bank, and his brother Felicisimo Cabanero, his cousin ,Jose
Disini, were accosted by a Japanese officer and three soldiers with fixed
bayonets in the vicinity of
his house. They
were requested to, came along to be used for forced labor, and taken to an
area not far from his house.
There they found some two hundred persons, all residents
of the vicin1ty.
They were not suspicious
of the Japanese actions for they were given cigarettes and
promises of rice
rations after a few hours of
labor. Later, all
were lined up and hands tied.
Simultaneously ten of them were pulled out of the row and herded
to a place
known
as a
paper
factory where the people were being beheaded.
Later, five of
the group from the other end of the row were marched out and taken
before a group of Japanese soldiers and shot one by one by rifle fire.
Among those were Felicisimo Cabanero, Jose Disini, Miguel Bonifacio
H. Polard, and others. All
were shot. There were no women
in the group. Mr. Jose Cabanero had no chance for escape as he would have
been a target, but he managed to loosen his bonds and took a chance of
running for his life. While
running to an intersection of
streets, a Japanese officer overtook him and hit him with a
sabre which brought him down.
Then he kicked him and gave him another blow on the face with the sabre.
Before he left Mr. Cabanero, who was still moving, the Japanese
officer gave him another blow on the back
of the neck and
then gave him two other
final blows.
Believing him dead,
the Japanese left. Mr. Cabanero
was
bleeding and lost his senses, but
before
everything
became obscure he treated his wounds to prevent the flow of blood.
After an hour, his consciousness returned and he made a final
effort to crawl to
a hut where he was assisted and his wounds treated.
For a long
time
in
that
condition
he was unable
to get
medical treatment because no men were allowed on the streets.
The doctors would not risk their lives attending to patients.
After two days the Americans rescued him and took him to Santa Ana
aid station and then to San Lazaro Hospital.
(See Exhibits “B-15” and C-5”.)
19. On 10
February 1945, about 10:00 AM, Japanese told Mr. Remedios Entao,
1382 San Andres, Manila, that
his
place
might soon be burned because some
of the
surrounding
houses
had already been burned. The
in habitants of the house carried their belongings about thirty meters
away from the house. That
morning the Japanese gathered the men together for forced labor and
carried them away to a place unknown.
While Mr. Eantao was in his house, his sister was in an open court
where they had laid their things.
The Japanese soldiers saw her and others there and threw hand
grenades at them. Another
sister, Francisca, died after being hit in the back.
The sister, Lourdes, was hit in the lower lip and jaw by the
grenade explosion. She is
eighteen. The lower part of
her lip and her jaw were blown away (See Exhibit “C-6”).
The girls hid an air raid shelter which was filled with dead
bodies. At three the next
afternoon the United States troops rescued them.
Another girl named Armando Estacio was also killed.
(See Exhibits “B-16” and “C-6”.)
20. On
February 1945, at 6:00 PM, Mr. Ricardo J. Macale, 100 San
Marcelina, Manila, his uncle and his sister tried to go to a place where
their house was
burning,
to
assist in getting some food which they
had
left
there. When they were about
two hundred yards from the place, they met about forty Japanese soldiers.
Mr. Macale tried to speak to them to tell them that he wanted to
get some food left in the burning house.
They pointed a pistol at him, and one of them gave Mr. Macale a
blow on the head, making him somewhat dizzy.
After telling his uncle and sister that they had better go back,
all tried to run. Mr. Macale's
sister was left behind. She
tried to hide behind the vines.
He was
shot in
the foot as he ran. He fell
flat on the ground, pretending to be dead.
He tried
to get up, but was
unable to walk.
He was
then
carried away to another place and was brought to San Lazaro Hospital on 12
February by Americans. There were three men shot, names not
known.
(See
Exhibit "B-17".)
21. On
Saturday, 9 February 1945, in the afternoon, the Japanese approached
various houses in the neighborhood of 684 Extremudra, Manila, the home of
Mr. Godofredo G. Rivera, an employee of the Asiatic Petroleum
Company,
asking for men for labor.
The Japanese
checked
every house as a possible hiding place.
About two hundred fifty people were assembled.
The Japanese tied the men’s hands behind their backs.
They were then taken to an open field a short distance from the
house where they were to be executed.
Mr. Rivera believes the Japanese
were
afraid American
planes would
see them, so
they
were brought, to a hiding place.
About 5:00 PM, the Japanese started taking groups
of ten to another
place where they were to be cut with a sabre and annihilated.
Where Mr. Rivera was, the men were shot one by, one while knee1ing
down. His brother and brother-in-law were such victims.
Mr. Rivera pretended that he was dead, and when it was dark he
crawled and went back to the house for treatment.
In the afternoon their houses were burned. They could not find any
place to stay. The next
morning the Americans came and took them to the San Lazaro Hospital.
During this action there were five Japanese officers with machine
guns, and others had pistols and rifles.
Mr. Rivera was shot intentionally. (See Exhibits “B-19” and
"C-17”.)
22. a. In
March, 1943, upon being released from Santo Tomas as an internee, Mr. H.
Ford Wilkins, a formerly employed by the Manila Daily Bulletin, University
Apartments, Manila, lived in a refugee community with the Jesuit Fathers
at the Ateneo de Manila. He
had a pass which permitted him to go about the city in a limited way.
On the eighth of March while going to a doctor’s office near the
Escolta for treatment, he was arrested by Japanese Military Police and
placed in a truck, and after a two hour
wait
was
taken to Fort Santiago. There
were about eighty others similarly arrested in a general pick up for
purposes of investigation.
These included young and old women, and children, and persons in all
physical condition, some hardly able to walk.
After many delays he was taken for individual questioning by the
Japanese. He was asked questions concerning personal history, business
connections, etc., and finally asked how much money he had.
Upon saying he had no money, they said, “Let us see your wallet.”
He showed them his wallet in which was a total sum of fourteen
pesos in notes which the Japanese investigator counted out and handed back
to Mr. Wilkins.
The
investigator was angry and asked why he had lied to him.
Mr. Wilkins
told
him that
it was not his money. He was
then asked where he got the money.
Mr. Wilkins told him that he had borrowed it from a friend.
The Japanese insisted upon the name of the friend which Mr. Wilkins
refused to give. The
investigator picked up a cane which Mr. Wilkins carried, being lame, and
hit him over the head with it, hard enough to raise a lump.
The Japanese officer had a probable rank of first lieutenant.
Mr. Wilkins still refused to give the name and the investigator
then tried other tactics such as pleading and promising no mistreatment
would come to his friend. He
then beat him over the head several times, probably seven or eight, with
words of pleading and threatening.
Finally, the investigator gave up and called in a man named Ohashi
from the staff of the Commandant of Santo Tomas Internment Camp. To
Ohashi, Mr. Wilkins said he received the money from Fathers connected
with
the
Jesuit Order. He was them
allowed to join other interned prisoners when they were taken back to
Santo Tomas after a fifty hour period of imprisonment.
Mr. Wilkins was kept in the internment camp until liberation under
special restrictions which allowed him no contact with any persons outside
the camp, of any nature, in writing or by word of mouth. He
testified that he knows of several other persons who were arrested with
him and were similarly, beaten and mistreated, some being given jail
sentences up to ninety days on various charges, the nature of which were
not given. One of the men on
whom severe atrocities were inflicted was Mr. Roy C. Bennett, former
editor of the Manila Daily Bulletin, at Fort Santiago.
Mr. Bennett nearly starved to death
for no other offense than
writing editorials and articles, prior to hostilities, which were
displeasing to the Japanese Embassy and other agencies of the
Imperial government.
b. Mr. Wilkins has seen at various times instances of face slapping
among Americans and Filipinos and other Allied Nationals who were
interned. There were beatings
with leather. straps, sticks and other imp1ements known to all internees
as common occurrences. Mr.
Wilkins has seen Filipinos tied to trees, and without food or water made
to stand for many hours in the hot sun.
Mr. Wilkins testified that it was a common experience to all
internees to be told by the Japanese, when first picked up for
internment, as in his case on 6 January 1942, to take only enough,
clothes and personal belongings and a little food
for two or three days.
He left behind all household possessions in an apartment on Dewey
Boulevard. The Japanese
asked him to place a value on this material.
He gave a rough estimate in writing of 2,000 pesos.
Mr. Wilkins has never seen any of these personal belonging since,
in spite of repeated efforts to visit the place and salvage
whatever he could find. Hundreds of other Americans were treated likewise,
some of whom were allowed to repossess all, or a part
of their personal
property. There were others
like him, however, who saved only what they could carry with them to Santo
Tomas. Mr. Wilkins cited the
case of Dr. L. Z.
Fletcher, now at Santo Tomas but not available for interview, where the
Japanese military personnel started collecting and moving out of Dr.
Fletcher's house, all of his furniture, valuable Oriental rugs, and other
expensive articles of household equipment collected over a long period of
years, within an hour or two after the family had been taken from the
house located on Taft Avenue.
The Japanese had a general practice of denying sufficient food and proper
medical care, etc., to internees at Santo Tomas Internment Camp,
increasing the practice since 1 February 1944, when the Japanese army took
over the camp. Food was
allowed into the camp in diminishing quantities until their release when
they had virtua1ly nothing to eat except the official Japanese ration
amounting to 8 ½
ounces of cereal daily for
adults, and half that ration for children under ten years
of age. The
experience was, common to all internees.
In his case this treatment resulted in Mr. Wilkins’ loss of
weight from a normal weight of
130 pounds to 99 ½ pounds.
Other larger persons lost as much as one hundred pounds of flesh or more
due to that treatment. He
knows that charitable agencies in Manila, some connected with the
Catholic Church and others
with
the
YMCA, attempted to send relief supplies through official Japanese channels
and were denied that opportunity. To
Mr. Wilkins’
knowledge there were many complaints made to the Japanese authorities,
both in writing and orally through various internee agencies.
The internee executive committee protested many times on the
inadequacy of the
rations furnished the internees, with absolutely no results whatsoever.
The camp doctors protested in writing and orally to the Japanese
Military Prison Association, receiving no acknowledgement and no results.
The Parents' Association protested in writing to the Commanding
General of the Japanese Army in the Philippines on behalf, of all
undernourished children
in the camp.
No
answer
was
received.
c. In the early days of the internment camp at Santo Tomas, there were
several reported instances of Japanese soldiers entering women’s toilets
in the camp building. The
practice was stopped upon urgent appeal to Japanese authorities by camp
administration officers.
d. On the 12th of February 1942, three internees escaped
over the wall of Santo Tomas Internment Camp and were later caught by the
Japanese military police and returned to Santo Tomas where they were
severely beaten and finally killed in the North Cemetery in Manila.
These men were Henry Edward Weeks, Blakey B. Laycock, and Thomas
Fletcher, all of British or Australian nationality.
Mr. Wilkins saw these men when they were brought back to Santo
Tomas after their capture.
Their hands were tied with rope and they were led in single file with a
group of internees who stood in the hallway outside and listened to sounds
issuing from the room while they were being beaten.
The blows were heavy and repeated, sounding like leather or wood on
flesh. Shouts and screams of
pain followed. One Japanese
soldier came out and filled a bucket of water, then he re-entered the
room. The three men were taken
kept in the room for a period of several hours before being released and
removed to another location.
Those who saw them go out, said their faces were horribly beaten and
marked, that two of them limped badly and all were in obvious physical
distress. Mr. Laycock’s shirt
was splattered liberally with blood.
Mr. Wilkins was further informed by reliable witnesses that the
following took place in the cemetery: “The three men were allowed some
sort of spiritual attention by priests or lay clergy, all very brief, and
then were marched to an open pit or grave and stood beside a mound of
earth blindfolded. A number of
Japanese soldiers with pistols stood on the other side of the hole from
then and shot at them on a given signal with small caliber pistol fire
until they had crumpled or toppled into the hole.
Japanese soldiers went up and put more bullets into them at close
range. An explanation of the
whole affair was made, upon instructions of the Japanese military, to all
internees by our executive committee in the following word; ‘The Japanese
Commandant has ordered that the three internees be informed that the
penalty for escape from the camp is death by shooting, and that the three
internees who recently attempted to escape have been tried by court
martial and sentenced to death.’
The executive committee submitted a written petition to the
Commandant advising the Japanese
high
command that the internees are deeply shocked
at
their
decision and urgently requested that reconsideration be given
to the
verdict. All such petitions
and requests for leniency were ignored with the results previously
described.” (See Exhibits
“B-20”, and “J”.)
23. On 18
February 1945, at 1000, a Japanese soldier came into the De LaSalle
College on Taft Avenue where Miss Emiliana Gonzaga of Paco, Manila,
a maid in the house of Don Enrique Vasquez Prada was taking refuge from
fire and shelling, and asked for a glass of water.
After asking for water he left. Suddenly a Japanese officer came.
He kicked the Japanese soldier and afterwards called up his men, about
twenty, and ordered them to inspect
the
rooms of the college for people who
might
be hiding. The people were
told to file into the corridors and raise their hands. The soldiers fixed
their bayonets and then cut all
of the men. There were about eighty people in there.
The family for whom Miss
Gonzaga worked
were among them, having also taken shelter
in De LaSalle College.
Dr. Cojuangco
and
family,
Mr. De
Carlos
and famiiy, and Dr. Elchico and family
were there. Miss Gonzaga was standing between two Brothers of the college
when the first Brother was struck by a bayonet. He
fell dead on her,
and
then the
Japanese struck
Miss Gonzaga with
a
bayonet on the back. After
bayoneting the whole group, the Japanese soldiers left.
Miss Gonzaga was
unable to give the names of
other
people
killed. (See Exhibit “B-21”.)
24. On 5 February 1945, the Japanese were gathering
the guerillas
in the place near Talipapa, Caloocan, Rizal.
A farmer, Pedro Herrera, thinking that the Japs would stop
at his house, left the place and went to another house a short distance
away.
He saw
Americans machine gunning
the Japanese.
The Japanese were not all killed, but the Americans left.
He went back to his place.
On the way, the Japanese saw him and started
to shoot him and his companion who died.
Mr. Herrera was shot twice in
the body, both shots going clear through. (See Exhibits “B-22” and “C-8”.)
25.
On 10 February 1945, when the Japanese began to burn the house near
the home of Mr. Enrique Soriano, Guadalupe, Makati, Rizal, a
watchman for the National Distributors Corp., and to machine gun
civilians, he and his family took shelter.
They met a group of Japanese who told them to stay in groups of
went. The Japanese made them
lie on the ground, and then they threw hand grenades at them one of which
went over Soriano’s head. He
lost consciousness, but when he regained it, he saw about him some
twenty-three people with their children.
The names of those killed are unknown to Mr. Soriano, except his
wife, Felicidad Cutaran. There
were three Japanese officers present in this action.
The Americans rescued Mr. Soriano about an hour after the shelling
began. (Exhibit “B-23”.)
26. On 10
February 1945, at 3:00 PM Japanese took five men
consisting
of
three
uncles and one servant
of
Mr. Aquilino Rivera, 1177 Dart, Paco, Manila, Dart, a student, from
the
house at
that address. They were told
to stand
in
front
of the house. When
they came out
there
were
fifteen to eighteen other Filipino men there.
They were told to go forward to other houses about a block away
from their house. They were to
be taken for forced labor. The
Japs took their jewelry and valuables and two other Japanese went to get
more men. The Japanese then
tied their hands behind their backs and told them to go with those who had
been tied before. About three
hundred were thus tied up. Guerillas were hidden in the bushes and began
shooting at the Japs none were hit.
Then the group was
told
to go
into another block. About
5:00 PM that day the Japanese began to take the men in groups
of ten along one line, and one by one along another line
the groups of ten
were shot. Mr. Rivera saw his
uncle shot and killed, together with about fifty others.
He saw many dead bodies of Filipinos.
Those who were taken one by one had their heads cut off.
Mr. Rivera was in the line of one by ones and the first to be cut
by a sword. There were three
performing the executions by sword while only one was doing the shooting.
Mr. Rivera was cut in the neck and stabbed with a bayonet, and then
pretended to be dead. He was
not blindfolded, nor were any of those in the line of one by ones.
Then the Japanese left and Mr. Rivera crawled over dead bodies back
to his house about a block away.
He saw three Japanese so he hid in a coconut grove until they went
away. He later saw another
Japanese who shot at him, but missed.
After he got into the house by climbing up the fire escape ladder,
one of his aunts came and attended to his wounds.
Her name is Filomena R. Famuaco.
Americans rescued Mr. Rivera and told him and others to go to the
Singalong Church. Mr. Rivera
does not know the names of people who were killed. (See Exhibit "B-24".)
27. On or
about the 15th of February 1945, exact date not recalled by the
witness, Mr. Luis Trinidad, over 1,000 men, women, and children
were brought into the San Agustin Church, Intramuros (Walled City),
Manila, P. I. There were
others in another church who were held there for another two days.
The Japanese separated the men from the women and children.
The men were taken to Fort Santiago while the women and the
children remained in the church.
For twelve days the men in Fort Santiago were without food or
water. Some of the men had dug
a small hole and the people drank water from it when the Japanese were not
around. Later, some water was
given to some of the people by the Japanese.
Those who drank it died, so it was believed the water was poisoned.
On 12 Febraury 1945, at about twelve noon, the men were put in
different rooms by the Japanese and then barred the doors and windows.
They then poured gasoline on the floors and set fire to the
buildings. When this was done,
some of the men did their best to break away and jump up the windows.
When the Japanese saw the escaping, they threw hand grenades at
them, shot some, and bayoneted others.
Mr. Trinidad was bayoneted and burned badly.
(See Exhibits “B-25” and “C-9”.)
28. On 13
February 1945, between nine and ten in the morning,
Miss
Consuelo
Yillo
was bayoneted by a Japanese soldier without cause.
She was living at 1077 Celestino, Aragon, and her family consisted
of her mother, a brother, a sister, a niece and nephew.
There were only two who were not hurt – the brother, age 14, and a
nephew, age 20. The mother and
niece were killed right there. In that neighborhood it is estimated that
about one hundred were killed by Japanese, as they were taking people from
every house. The Pellicer
family of thirteen was all killed.
Many others were killed and wounded near
Miss Yillo’s
house with
rifles,
bayonets, or machine guns.
Names of others are unknown to her. (See Exhibits “B-26" and
“C-1O”.)
29. At about
noon on 18 February 1945, Mr. Benigno
Hicayen,
formerly a
resident
of
Cebu
City,
Cebu, age 18, a cook, was shot by a Japanese in the Philippine
General Hospital on Taft Avenue, Manila.
Mr. Hicayen had left his ward, #17, and two Japanese saw him in the
corridor and shot him. Mr.
Hicayen fell down and the Japanese went away.
When
they left, he managed to get
back to ward #l7.
Later, two Americans rescued him in the basement and
took him to San Lazaro Hospital. (See Exhibit
“B-27".)
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