Americans and Filipinos fought with all their might but the Japanese Imperial Air Force crushed Bataan. It was the start of Japanese invasion and colonization in the Philippines during World War II. The town of Malabon was not spared. Japanese occupied the town and claimed everything. Men are captured and women are forced into white slavery. Homes became their barracks and churches became prisons. A small church in Malabon with the Immaculate Conception as the patron was one of the converted churches. The icon was dated in the early stages of Christianity in the Philippines and believed to have performed many miracles in the community. Since majority of the Japanese are non- Christians, they had no beliefs of what so ever in the Christian faith and sad to say also, that they showed no respect to these churches during those times. On the first day the Japanese soldiers occupied the Parish of the La Purisima Concepcion the community fought back but their bladed weapons are no match with the guns of the Japanese soldiers. Even the parish priest was not spared. After the priest refuses to bowed to the Japanese soldiers he was kicked in his knees, and because of the heavy and tough boots of the soldiers the priest’s bones are crushed. Inside the church the soldiers urinated and bowelled at the altar. They also make fun of the Immaculate Conception. They picked the nose of the Virgin and laughed about its pointed nose. But an unexpected and unexplained phenomenon happened. Instantly, soldiers who picked nose of the Virgin, their fingers became stiffed and cannot be moved. Physicians cannot find any reason for the paralysis. During the night the soldiers became even more baffled and scared. The serpent at the feet of the Immaculate Conception became alive and bitten the soldiers. Many soldiers died but not one prisoner was harmed. When morning came those soldiers who were still alive told their superiors what they had witnessed The Japanese decided to abandoned the La Purisima Concepcion parish completely.
Americans and Filipinos fought with all their might but the Japanese Imperial Air Force crushed Bataan. It was the start of Japanese invasion and colonization in the Philippines during World War II.
The town of Malabon was not spared. Japanese occupied the town and claimed everything. Men are captured and women are forced into white slavery. Homes became their barracks and churches became prisons.
A small church in Malabon with the Immaculate Conception as the patron was one of the converted churches. The icon was dated in the early stages of Christianity in the Philippines and believed to have performed many miracles in the community.
Since majority of the Japanese are non- Christians, they had no beliefs of what so ever in the Christian faith and sad to say also, that they showed no respect to these churches during those times.
On the first day the Japanese soldiers occupied the Parish of the La Purisima Concepcion the community fought back but their bladed weapons are no match with the guns of the Japanese soldiers. Even the parish priest was not spared. After the priest refuses to bowed to the Japanese soldiers he was kicked in his knees, and because of the heavy and tough boots of the soldiers the priest’s bones are crushed.
Inside the church the soldiers urinated and bowelled at the altar. They also make fun of the Immaculate Conception. They picked the nose of the Virgin and laughed about its pointed nose. But an unexpected and unexplained phenomenon happened. Instantly, soldiers who picked nose of the Virgin, their fingers became stiffed and cannot be moved. Physicians cannot find any reason for the paralysis. During the night the soldiers became even more baffled and scared. The serpent at the feet of the Immaculate Conception became alive and bitten the soldiers.
Many soldiers died but not one prisoner was harmed. When morning came those soldiers who were still alive told their superiors what they had witnessed The Japanese decided to abandoned the La Purisima Concepcion parish completely.
My Great Great Grandfather is Placido Gino who just passed away when I was a toddler. I am his first Great Great Grandson. The stories and ideas of him was just narrated to me by her daughter, Aunt Amada. Grandfather Placido did not have a formal schooling but manages his financial well. He has three fishing boats and manufactures Pineapple weave textiles. He had a hundred employees. His sport was bird hunting. They use blowguns to kill the birds. Together with his two friends they hunt the mountains of Montalban, Rizal. One season while they were concentrated and busy tracking the birds they lost track of time. They must return to civilization since their supplies are all consumed. They trailed the forest as fast as they could but the night was even faster. Soon darkness and fog blanket the forest. While trying to trace the trail they found themselves in front of an old nipa hut. You would think that it was abandoned without the small gas lantern lit near the window. They knock and asked for help since they were lost in the forest. The door opened and three beautiful women where inside. They explained their situation and the women gladly accept them to stay for the night. The women are very hospitable. They always kept a warm smile on their face even though they were ready to sleep in their kamison and tapis when my grandfather and his friends disturbed them. After a few conversations the women offered them food. A hot bowl of sopas was served on the table. They were ready to eat the soup and scooped the elbow pastas with the wooden spoon when they were surprised with what they saw. Together with the elbow pastas were little fingers of children. They tried not to panic for fear of the women. They secretly dropped the fingers to the bamboo floor and into the splits the little fingers fell to the soil below. When they were done the women showed them their room to sleep for the night. They did not sleep but attentively listen to their surroundings. They heard noises like of big roosters clapping their wings. They cautiously and silently went up and searched the hut. Below the hut they found big pots containing gold bars and near it with amazement they saw three pairs of legs from stomach down wearing the tapis worn by the women. They think fast and decided to put salts to the intestines. They know about these creatures from Philippine mythology. They are called Mananangal. An evil being, were from human form transforms by splitting his or her body into two. The upper part had wings and fly to hunt humans for food. The lower part of the body was hidden because they were venerable. After scattering the salts all over the intestines my grandfather and his friends hide. Soon the three mananangal returned. They cried after they saw what my grandfather and his friends did to their lower extremities. The women beg them to remove the salts because no matter how they try to land and put back together their bodies they failed. They explained that they have not done them any harm. They told them that when the sun rises and still they are not with their lower bodies they would burn and die. They bargained for anything. Pleasures or treasures, just remove the salts from their intestines. My grandfather and his friends became more afraid since the three female beasts became desperate. If they will not help them they might just kill them too. They asked the three women to leave them while they remove the salts so that they could also have time to run for their safety. After they removed the salts they ran as fast as they could and never again returned to that place.
My Great Great Grandfather is Placido Gino who just passed away when I was a toddler. I am his first Great Great Grandson. The stories and ideas of him was just narrated to me by her daughter, Aunt Amada. Grandfather Placido did not have a formal schooling but manages his financial well. He has three fishing boats and manufactures Pineapple weave textiles. He had a hundred employees. His sport was bird hunting. They use blowguns to kill the birds. Together with his two friends they hunt the mountains of Montalban, Rizal.
One season while they were concentrated and busy tracking the birds they lost track of time. They must return to civilization since their supplies are all consumed. They trailed the forest as fast as they could but the night was even faster. Soon darkness and fog blanket the forest.
While trying to trace the trail they found themselves in front of an old nipa hut. You would think that it was abandoned without the small gas lantern lit near the window. They knock and asked for help since they were lost in the forest. The door opened and three beautiful women where inside. They explained their situation and the women gladly accept them to stay for the night.
The women are very hospitable. They always kept a warm smile on their face even though they were ready to sleep in their kamison and tapis when my grandfather and his friends disturbed them. After a few conversations the women offered them food. A hot bowl of sopas was served on the table. They were ready to eat the soup and scooped the elbow pastas with the wooden spoon when they were surprised with what they saw. Together with the elbow pastas were little fingers of children. They tried not to panic for fear of the women. They secretly dropped the fingers to the bamboo floor and into the splits the little fingers fell to the soil below. When they were done the women showed them their room to sleep for the night.
They did not sleep but attentively listen to their surroundings. They heard noises like of big roosters clapping their wings. They cautiously and silently went up and searched the hut. Below the hut they found big pots containing gold bars and near it with amazement they saw three pairs of legs from stomach down wearing the tapis worn by the women. They think fast and decided to put salts to the intestines. They know about these creatures from Philippine mythology. They are called Mananangal. An evil being, were from human form transforms by splitting his or her body into two. The upper part had wings and fly to hunt humans for food. The lower part of the body was hidden because they were venerable. After scattering the salts all over the intestines my grandfather and his friends hide. Soon the three mananangal returned. They cried after they saw what my grandfather and his friends did to their lower extremities. The women beg them to remove the salts because no matter how they try to land and put back together their bodies they failed. They explained that they have not done them any harm. They told them that when the sun rises and still they are not with their lower bodies they would burn and die. They bargained for anything. Pleasures or treasures, just remove the salts from their intestines. My grandfather and his friends became more afraid since the three female beasts became desperate. If they will not help them they might just kill them too.
They asked the three women to leave them while they remove the salts so that they could also have time to run for their safety. After they removed the salts they ran as fast as they could and never again returned to that place.
Everytime I went down the stairs of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT1), I can’t help it but to cry. It just breaks my heart to see this little girl around six years old without her right arm. She waits patiently for passers to drop coins in her tumbler. Sometimes she reads (I don’t know if she could really read or even went to school.) and sometimes plays her old, dirty and also missing the right arm doll. I don’t know if it’s just incidental. She is not alone in this train station. There are toddlers that if not running and playing are begging for money. One of the babies was being carried by a teenager while begging because the baby has a hydrocephalus. I don’t know if that baby is still alive while I am writing this. And where are their parents? There are adults in the vicinity of the stairs. They are the vendors, beggars or just the people who sits and smoke there all day. Their exact location is in the stairs of Gill Puyat South Bound Station, Light Rail Transit (LRT1), Manila. PHILIPPINES. I tried to find help in the two giant networks in the Philippines namely ABS-CBN and GMA. I thought their programs XXX and Imbestigador could coordinate with DSWD and help this little girl find a new home but a month passed the girl still suffers there in the station. I just want to take her with me and give her a decent meal and home but surely the adults there would react and could harm me. Just yesterday I saw her again in the staircases of the Gill Puyat train station. She was silent but I could hear her in my heart saying, "don’t give up on me". If I could speak to her I will say, "I promise I will not". After I posted this all over the Internet I will call all the government agencies and private institutions I could find to beg to save this little girl. "If you could save one life you saved the entire world". Just think for a moment if she’s your daughter or sister wouldn’t you cry too.
Everytime I went down the stairs of the Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT1), I can’t help it but to cry. It just breaks my heart to see this little girl around six years old without her right arm. She waits patiently for passers to drop coins in her tumbler. Sometimes she reads (I don’t know if she could really read or even went to school.) and sometimes plays her old, dirty and also missing the right arm doll. I don’t know if it’s just incidental. She is not alone in this train station. There are toddlers that if not running and playing are begging for money. One of the babies was being carried by a teenager while begging because the baby has a hydrocephalus. I don’t know if that baby is still alive while I am writing this. And where are their parents? There are adults in the vicinity of the stairs. They are the vendors, beggars or just the people who sits and smoke there all day. Their exact location is in the stairs of Gill Puyat South Bound Station, Light Rail Transit (LRT1), Manila. PHILIPPINES.
I tried to find help in the two giant networks in the Philippines namely ABS-CBN and GMA. I thought their programs XXX and Imbestigador could coordinate with DSWD and help this little girl find a new home but a month passed the girl still suffers there in the station. I just want to take her with me and give her a decent meal and home but surely the adults there would react and could harm me.
Just yesterday I saw her again in the staircases of the Gill Puyat train station. She was silent but I could hear her in my heart saying, "don’t give up on me". If I could speak to her I will say, "I promise I will not". After I posted this all over the Internet I will call all the government agencies and private institutions I could find to beg to save this little girl. "If you could save one life you saved the entire world". Just think for a moment if she’s your daughter or sister wouldn’t you cry too.
