The province of Tayabas, which later was named after President Manuel L. Quezon, suffered extreme hardship during World War 2. Many Tayabasins still remember the brutality, harassment, and humiliation they suffered from the invading Japanese Imperial Army. Most telling was the brutal treatment of guerrillas and prominent citizens who gave up their lives for freedom.
Still fresh in the collective memory of Quezonins are particular war crimes committed by the Japanese against the people of Quezon. One incident in particular was the massacre of 77 civilians in Agdangan town on Oct. 15, 1944 following the ambush of a Japanese courier in the place.
The whole town of Tayabas was leveled to the ground following a devastating bombing raid that killed scores of residents and caused huge fires.
Inspired by deep nationalism, Quezonins tried to destroy the Malagonlong Bridge with explosives to slow the Japanese advance. Spanish-era structures in Tayabas were destroyed, such as the Puente dela Princesa.
Quezon is just one province, and more provinces and cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao were victims of the brutal Japanese occupation. This is reason enough for many Filipinos to remember the atrocities of World War 2.
These war crimes were the reason why after Japan’s defeat, the Allied Powers who won the war insisted on a pacifist Constitution for Japan; that they are allowed to have an armed force but only for self-defense.
But Japan now under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is veering away from its pacifist foreign policy and mocking its own Constitution with a contemptuous “samlang” sneer.
Many believe that Takaichi is doing this with encouragement from the United States, as she was the first to visit US President Donald Trump when the United States and Israel started their war of choice in West Asia.
Last April 8, more than 40,000 Japanese people gathered outside the parliament building in Tokyo to protest government moves that undermine the country's pacifist constitution, including the deployment of long-range missiles and attempts to ease restrictions on lethal arms exports.
Protesters held placards reading "Protect Article 9," "No War," and "Takaichi Government Step Down Now," while chanting slogans such as "No to constitutional revision" and "No to war," calling for safeguarding Japan's pacifist constitution.
The rally, held in front of the National Diet Building, was organized by Japanese civic groups standing against constitutional revision.
It should be noted that missiles are weapons designed to attack and their deployment could not be justified as self-defense. The demonstrators pointed out that Japan, the only country in the world that had suffered atomic bombings, should have the vow of "never waging war again" engraved in its history, and exporting weapons that could fuel conflicts is unacceptable.
Japan's constitution, which took effect in 1947, is often referred to as the pacifist constitution because Article 9 states that the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.
On March 31, Japan deployed long-range missiles with "enemy base strike capabilities" in Kumamoto and Shizuoka prefectures. Japanese media have also reported that the government led by Sanae Takaichi plans to revise the "three principles on transfer of defense equipment and technology" and its implementation guidelines by the end of this month, and is considering allowing exports of lethal weapons.
A word of advice to Takaichi — do not hinge the future of your country with the hegemonic ambitions of the US, as Trump is known to abandon allies at the first signs of trouble.
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