THERE was a time in a very exasperating period of Philippine history that “Liberation Day” was considered the summit of ardent yearning of Filipinos, and pursued as the apex of their strong longings. The “Day” was then expected with excited certainty and gleeful anticipation.
Among other things, it then meant the release of the Philippines from the cruel clutches of the Japanese occupation, the extrication of Filipinos from the barbaric treatment by most Japanese soldiers, the freedom of men, women and children of the country from the many heinous crimes and abhorrent atrocities perpetrated against them by a good number of the members Japanese military forces – then relishing their “Philippine Occupation”.
Thus it was that the Filipinos then fervently prayed and anxiously waited for their “Liberation Day”.
Not really all of them, however. As expected, there was a sizeable number of them who proved to be Judases of those times. These were the known as the despicable Japanese “collaborators”.
Translation: For the feeling of some authority and the receipt of some favors, they betrayed nationalists Filipinos, naming or pointing at them with neither shame nor remorse.
But as evil is eventually conquered by the emergence of truth and the observance of justice, these Japanese cooperators were ultimately likewise brought to humiliation and submission when “Liberation Day” came.
In its proper context, the fact of this particular day of liberation had in fact three basic phases: First, its clear signs. Second, its expected start. Third, its fateful fulfilment.
Thousands of Filipinos had to die first. Hundreds of Filipinos had to be violated as well. Countless families with their elderly and children had to suffer hunger and want. The quest for justice was not only costly in terms of human rights but also dangerous in terms of human lives. And the desire for freedom was not simply extra-difficult but likewise super hazardous. No wonder therefore that “Liberation Day” was then eagerly sought and intensely awaited by Filipinos.
It is rather interesting that the Filipinos of these times are once again yearning and waiting for their own “Liberation Day”. They pine and crave for the truth behind the odious cheatings and atrocious deceptions, for justice in the one too many graft and corrupt practices, for the truth in the forced disappearances of dissenters, inclusive of extrajudicial killings, and for freedoms being “constitutionally” suffocated. There is also the big poverty and wise misery.
Needless to say, “Liberation Day” is what’s much awaited and yearned for by Filipinos./PN
