LIFE IN MANILA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 28 June 1945, Page 3

LIFE IN MANILA

AFTERMATH OF JAP OCCUPATION TRAGEDY OF INTRAMUROS (R.N.Z.A.F. Official News Service) LOS NEGROS, June.lß. The wholesale devastation of Manila, the desperate state of its civic amenities, and the fantastic prices prevailing for food were among the impressions brought back by Squardron Leader Cecil W. Franks, of Wellington, who has returned to the Admiralties from a short business visit to the Philippines. Squadron Leader Franks who is supply representative for the R.N.Z.A.F. in the area, was formerly Equipment Officer with a New Zealand fighter squadron in Malaya. Nichols Field, where his aircraft landed, presented a scene at fascinating and depressing, said Squadron Leader Franks. The destruction was appalling and represented the desecration of modern warfare at its worst. Manlia, which was reached after a hair-raising drive through the strangest assortment of traffic—from military vechicles and modern limousines to pony carts and oxen-drawn conveyances—was a more amazing spectacle. “The Japanese demolished nearly all Manila’s public buildings and the modern prosperous business, community,” said the Squadron Leader. “One could gain some idea of the devastion if one imagined all of Wellington’s public buildings razed to the ground and the whole business area fired and destroyed. The Manlia post office, previously a beautiful structure, was a pitiful sight. The Japanese used it as a bank before putting it to the torch, with picric acid and dynamite.” The cemetery, grotesquely enough, received its full share of plunder and pillage. The Japanese used it as an ambush during the American Army’s drive into the city. Before that they had ravaged it for plunder. An ancient Oriental custom demanded that the rich be buried together with rare gifts for the gods. The Japanese excavated many imposing tombs to secure rich prizes of gold and silver. The remains of old caskets were to be seen nar the xcavations. Most ngrossing of all the sights was the Intramuros, the ancient and historic walled city of Manlia, in the heart of the metropolis, said Squadron Leader Franks. Built by the Spaniards in the 17th century, its high stone walls of up to 40 feet in thickness surrounded a Vatican City of the East. A city of churches, universities and private residence lay behind those moated grey walls. Once the main atttraction of Manila’s pre-war tourist trade, it stood now in complete ruins. This was the scene of the enemy’s last desperate stand bfore yilding Manila to the America liberators. SCREEN OF FILIPINOS More than a thousand Filipino civilians, interned after the capture of the city by the Japanese, met their death behind the ancient walls. The Japanese, at the point of the bayonet, had forced them on to the parapets during the American artillery fire, making the invaders task a heartbreaking one. When the end became inevitable the Japanese poured gasoline over the defenceless prisoners and burned them to death. Their charred bodies still lay amid the desolate ruins of Intramuros. Discussing conditiops witjiin the city Squadron Leader Franks said the position, though still desperate, showed signs of some improvement. Water was still the grestest problem. In their frenzied work of demolition the enemy had connected the city sewers with the main water supply. When he arrived in Manila the enemy still held Ipo Dam, the city’s main water source, but American forces has since captured intact. There was no telephone service and no lighting in the city. It was hoped that lighting would be restored by July. An emergency civilian postal service was operating. The main banks had resumed business on a limited scale. The effect of the war on retailers’ prices was startlingly shown by a few figures which Squadron Leader Franks quoted. Buns of very poor quality were on sale for one hundred centavos (3/2). Biscuits with a small jelly centre were 200 centavos (6/3). A steak, very rare but procurable, would cost 31/-. A pair of sunglasses, which in New Zealand would cost about 1/6 at a department store, cost 15/6 and an old wrist watch of doubtful serviceability had sold for nearly £l2. Money as yet had little real value. Japanese occupation money, peddled by street urchins at surprisingly respectable rates, littered the dusty streets of the capital. The night dubs at Cavite were well-patronised by the Americans and were very costly/ At two wellknown establishments Filipino liquors were dispensed at 1.25 dollars, or 7/9 a glass. Dusky hostesses followed the crazy evolutions of new dance routines at 1.00 dollar, or 6/3, a whirl. You could be entertained between times by the properous-look-ing Filipino proprietor relating vivid accounts of Jap atrocities. Considering his three years’* privations, however, the proprietor looked surprisingly well.