THE PHILIPPINES AND "CO-PROSPERITY"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 251, 23 October 1944, Page 4

THE PHILIPPINES AND "CO-PROSPERITY"

THE Voice of Freedom again resounded through the Philippine Islands on Friday, carrying General Mac Arthur's stirring and dramatic message of resurgence to the Filipino nation. The "Voice" had been stilled for over, two years, ever since the gallant defenders of Bataan and • Corregidor, overwhelmed and , decimated, the last of their munitions and supplies gone, laid down their arms. It was over the Voice of Freedom that General Mac Arthur's last defiant challenge to the Japanese, his promise that he would return, was made known. That promise he has splendidly redeemed, and to the seventeen millions cf people in the islands .he has given the call to join in the : fight for liberty. It is over forty years since the" standard of revolt agjainst Spain's oppression was raised in the islands. American soldiers fighting side by side with the Filipinos routed the Spaniards and drove them frcm their Eastern empire. America then found that she had taken up the white man's burden, that the Filipino,: split into fifty tribal and ethnographic units, was totally unable to govern himself and to keep the peace in the archipelago. " So a protectorate was established, a protectorate which led to years of bloody guerilla fighting, until the native peoples, realising that the splendid work which America was doing for their mental, moral and material uplift was entirely in preparation for. their complete liberation, accepted the gcod faith of the United States and collaborated in what. ex-President Quezon called "a. practical solution for working out the future destiny of dependent peoples." The solution can be made into a world standard of treatment for the small and backward natioris if the Filipino wishes it. With the landing on Leyte he can begin to show his appreciation of America's wise governance and his detestation for the methods of the Japanese. For nearly three years now the invader has been doing his utmost to undo the work of forty years. He has premised freedom and independence under the "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Plan." The Filipino has found that while the Quislings have prospered .the people have been ruthlessly and systematically plundered, have been the victims of torture and mass execution, of-political and economic disruption and disaster. They are a fighting" race, and it will be very surprising if the Americans do not find that .they have powerful allies in every one of the seven thousand islands as their invasion spreads. The possibilities of success in the group are tremendous; their effect, if the Filipinos show the spirit that is expected of them, may well be a-rude and complete destruction of Japan's dream of world conquest. • -