EDITORIAL - Day of valor

Today we honor once again the courage of the men who staged a last stand against Japanese invaders at the start of the Second World War. Their effort ended in defeat, with thousands of Filipino and American soldiers dying as they were marched off from Bataan to Tarlac. It is not the defeat that we celebrate every year, however, but the valor.

In these days of tumult and confusion, we also remember the national unity during that war. United, even in defeat, but still a nation united. Perhaps it will take a common enemy to unite this deeply divided country once again. Perhaps the power of prayer will work, as the nation joins Christendom in prayer today, welcoming Christ with palm fronds in the prelude to suffering and then redemption.

Back then, in that last Great War, Filipinos and allied troops, mostly Americans, resolved to delay the Japanese occupation that increasingly seemed inevitable. It is said that the delay ruined Tokyo’s timetable for the war, but the delay was achieved at grievous cost. The Japanese bombardment devastated Corregidor Island. Those who survived the bombardment were in for greater hell, shot to death or dying of wounds, disease and hunger during the infamous Death March.

The courage of those men inspired a guerrilla movement that lasted throughout the war. Undeterred by the prospect of torture and death, unimpressed by the Japanese concept of Asia for Asians and Tokyo’s plan to make the Philippines part of a prosperity sphere in East Asia, Filipino guerrillas kept hopes alive for the eventual defeat of the invaders.

Those guerrillas — and everyone, including women, children and the elderly who helped their cause — are also honored today for risking their lives out of love for country. We remember their courage, we remember their unity, and hope we can see that unity and valor again in these days of national despair.