Rebuilding Manila

It’s Wednesday evening, the 9th of April, as I write this piece, and going by reports from a constantly-turned-on television set in the other room, the "liberation" of Baghdad may be over by the time you read this. This war is different from any other the world has seen, in great part due to the fact that we have seen its up-to-the-minute progress in detail for the past three weeks. The whole world has been kept abreast via the magic of satellite TV, and the curse of 24-hour news networks, that have kept many of us as sleepless as the generals who orchestrate the battles and the Kevlar-protected grunts who march on the ground.

This particular war, especially the assault on the capital Baghdad, is reminiscent of the Second World War, as the Philippines and Filipinos – and Manila and Manileños – experienced it. Watching the nightly reports on the progress of the coalition forces, which include video and satellite pictures of strikes, brought back similar images of chaos, destruction and suffering that saw our own parents and grandparents caught in the crossfire over half-a-century ago.

Stranglehold of history

It has been three weeks since the start of the War on Iraq and coalition forces are now putting a stranglehold on the regime. The retaking of Manila took all of one month, from start to bloody finish. From the 3rd of February to the 3rd of March, 1945, the US armed forces battled the remaining force of Japanese marines who was left or trapped to defend the city while the main Japanese forces were quickly retreating to the north. It was hell for all, combatants and non-combatants alike.

The two battles are different in the nature of the enemies confronted. The Iraqis are being "liberated" from an oppressive internal regime, while Manila was being freed from the yoke of an external aggressor. The nature of battle in both wars is similar though, in the physical aspects of the two cities involved. In both, the targets of the liberating forces lie along a major river, with command and control centers located in palaces, government buildings and old parts of the city… and civilians were everywhere.

In both wars, the US Cavalry is a major player. The pictures of tank columns, making their way through city streets, are similar. The US 1st, 8th and 12th Cavalry tanks made their way from different sides of Manila to the center where the bloodiest fighting was to occur. Manila was the only urban battle the Americans fought in the Pacific theater of action and there was great difficulty maneuvering in Manila’s tight streets.

Unlike Iraq, however, American forces in Manila quickly had ground troop support from the 11th Airborne and the 37th Division from the south and the north of the city, respectively. There were no satellites then to guide them but they had fearless pilots in small single-engine planes circling above and giving directions. They also had the help of Philippine guerilla scouts who gave better information than today’s CIA operatives (who have not, as of this writing, managed to locate Mr. Saddam — sa dami siguro ng doubles).

Overwhelming pinpoint destruction

General Douglas Macarthur’s direction to the assaulting forces was to "free the (American POW) internees at Santo Tomas, take Malacañang Palace and the Legislative Building." These objectives were accomplished quickly within the first two weeks. The scenes of entry into palaces and the destruction of government buildings are similar. Malacañang was easily taken while the Congress building suffered almost complete destruction, like some Fedayeen HQ building leveled by a bunker buster.

The two wars are also different in the fact that, while the Iraq war boasts pinpoint destruction by way of smart bombs, the liberation of Manila was a sledgehammer affair with one hundred percent "dumb" bombs and artillery shelling. The Japanese were cornered south of the city. They blew up bridges, set districts on fire, raped and massacred in unspeakable carnage as they sought final refuge in Intramuros.

The last two weeks of the assault concentrated on this final standoff. The Americans bombed from the air and then shelled the walled city relentlessly. All but one of the 17 churches and convents in Intramuros stood standing when the explosions stopped. Almost everyone trapped inside perished. Manila was still burning as the last corner of Japanese resistance was crushed. After the dust in Manila cleared, most of the city lay in ruins and collateral damage caused injury and death to roughly 200,000 Filipino civilians and 2,000 US combatants. Such a figure would be considered outrageous today.

Warsaw of Asia

Manila was described as the Warsaw of Asia. Full aid and reconstruction was promised by the Americans but only a tenth (according to some accounts) ever reached us. While the Americans pushed on to Japan, the city was turned into a depot for materials and a layover for fresh troops. Road and building infrastructure took close to 10 years to be rebuilt to pre-war levels while transport systems devolved to make-do modes that have become our colorful legacy from the era – the jeepneys (more on that in a future article).

Much later, a US congressional report described this post-liberation state: "…reports, photographic evidence and statements of those who have seen the ruin and destruction are unanimous in asserting that, of all the war-ravaged areas of the world, the Philippines is the most utterly devastated from the standpoint of the ration of functional construction, on functional economy, social facilities of the nation, and the effect of war damage on the capacity of the nation to rebuild and repair."

Maybe if we had oil, our luck would have been better. (We had gold, but somehow that immense cache disappeared.) Regardless, what has happened, according to many, is that we have never fully recovered physically or socially from the trauma of war. The Iraqis have had to live with war and fear for close to two decades. But of course, we had Marcos.

The Iraqis will eventually benefit from global and American aid in a huge humanitarian effort that will benefit from being monitored closely by the whole world. The Philippines was only one of many colonies that lay in the path of warring nations then. Japan recovered faster than us and is now one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

The complexion of war

Life does not seem fair when you look at the fortunes and misfortunes of war. I am not even going to try and figure out why we have to resort to the use of force. It seems that if we cannot figure out solutions to larger problems of global inequity, we may be doomed to repeat this cycle of violence, terror and suffering every few decades or so. The United Nations must reunite and reassert order for all other options may lead to the Balkanization of the world.

Based on our own experience, we should really figure out how to finally recover from our numerous traumas, both from the past – the Filipino-Spanish, Filipino-American, Japanese and Martial Law traumas – and the present terrors of extreme politics and religious extremism. We must fix our own house first before we venture out and take on the world (which may be difficult since more and more of us have to go out to earn a living). Still, we have no option but to try. SARS and other terrors may eventually bring us all back anyway.

The complexion of geopolitics, war and nations’ internal conflicts may have changed but, laser-guided or not, unilateral or not, the force to correct these should be applied as much as possible though peaceful means. Amid modern multi-media realities, images of war can become perversely attractive, making voyeurs of tragedy of us all. The greatest tragedy is if we do not learn the greatest lesson of war … and that is to never let it happen again.

* * *

Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at citysensephilstar@hotmail.com.