MINDANAO

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 64, Issue 4536, 13 February 1942, Page 6

MINDANAO

SECOND LARGEST ISLAND OF THE PHILIPPINES GROUP (By W.H.8.) Behind the accounts of the Japanese military invasion of Mindanao, the second largest 1 island of the Philippines, and their landings at Davao, its principal town and port, lies the story of a more insidious invasion over a period of years—the story of the peaceful penetration of Japanese capital and colonists Which now provides the “ fifth column ” betraying and hampering the American and Filipino leaders. With the idea of the “ New Order in Asia ” already germinating in the minds of her rising industrialists, Japan soon after the last war applied herself to the task of obtaining a secure economic foothold in the Philippine Islands. Her astute and so evasively courteous business men were much more than a match for the rathei- indolent and naive Filipinos, and they soon monopolised a very important section of the islands’ commerce and industries. JAPANESE “ DUMMYING ” Protective legislation was of little use. A decree that all new business concerns should be at least fifty per cent Filipino-owned was easily circumvented by the Japanese putting up Filipino dummies, through whom they exercised effective control. The Government of the Philippines, belatedly recognising the menace of this Japanese saturation, with the tacit approval of the United Stated of America, in 1940 . passed laws limiting the number of. immigrants of any one nationality to a maximum of 50.0 persons a year. This action brought from the Japanese authorities many protests of injured innocence. Among other things they claimed that “ the common racial origin of the Japanese and Filipinos should remove the necessity for any limitation of Japanese immigration.” Their intentions, they protested, were strictly honourable. However, the control of immigration had come too late. The 1918 census gave the total number of Japanese in the whole of the 7083 islands which comprise the Philippines as about 8000. To-day in Mindanao alone there are at least twice that number of Japanese colonists. They have invested considerable capital in plantations, mines, and other industries, and exercise a dominating influence on the economic life and development of the island. COMPETING CURRENCIES In Mindanao, visited a short while ago, there was little to indicate to the casual observer that this was an American, and not a Japanese, colony. It was surprising to discover that Japanese currency was as readily acceptable as the “almighty” dollar at the shops in Davao. Travellers returning from Japan were overjoyed at the unexpected opportunity of unload-

ing the Japanese. “ yens ” and “ sens” left on their hands after the last Japanese port of call. They indulged in an orgy of small-change spending. With a handful of Japanese copper coins there could be obtained excellent examples of Moro wood-carv-ing. The Moros are among the most interesting of the Filipino races. Converted to Mahometanism before 1400, centuries of sSpanish rule were unable, to persuade them to adopt Christianity. They still hold fast to their ancient faith. They are famous for their fine metal work, wood-carv-ing, and weaving. Most of the shops in Davao’s main street are very dirty and uninviting, a complete contrast to Manila’s modern American-type department stores. The exception is the Nippon Yusen Kaisha general store, conducted by the N.Y.K. shipping line. Our vessel, the Kamo Maru, had brought a thirdclass cargo of youthful Japanese immigrants to work in the Japaneseowned hemp and copra plantations. As well as general merchandise, she was unloading homeland delicacies for the nostalgic colonists. Prominent among these latter articles were casks of soya-bean' sauce and crates of bottles of “ saki,” the potent Japanese rice spirit which is drunk “ warmed up.” The night before our arrival at Davao the migrant passengers held a farewell dance in their quarters in the hold. Tn what seemed a monotonous and stilted manner they stepped a measure accompanied by the tedious twanging of the “ samisen,” a threestringed instrument like a guitar. Not all the Japanese left at Davao. A few travelled on to Thursday Island, where one hopes they are being attentively looked after to-day. * TWO DAVAOS Davao itself is uninviting with its general air of neglect, its stretches of spongy black mud and refuse heaps right on the main street, its heat, and, above all, its smells. A drive inland, however, reveals a very different picture—green, cool-looking banana and coconut plantations, houses thatched and hidden beneath luxurious spreads of boui'gainvillea and begonia, clumps of scarlet hibiscus, and, almost tempting the traveller to disbelieve his sight, a profusion of ex-pensive-looking orchids growing wild, and in great variety. But, for all the Japanese love of flowers, these are not the magnets which have attracted them to the attempt to attach Mindanao to the Son of Heaven’s dominions. They are drawn by the lodestone of greed. They covet the mineral resources of this southernmost of the Philippine Islands, whose 37,000 square miles, much of it wild and mountainous, have scarcely yet been explored and prospected. They covet the vast iron deposits, the coal, the gold, and the platinum, which they consider essential to Japan’s imperial expansion; and to encompass their designs they have planted and carefully nurtured for years a cancerous growth in the bodies of their friendly and unsuspecting neighbour States —a growth which suddenly gives proof of its true nature as a treacherous ally to the enemy without.