The Rapture of the Philippines

In every scar, there lies a story. For I am a Filipino defending my country.

Jiw Prudente

The Result

Japanese men would take Filipino women and use them for their own comfort... what would happen to them after that?

Celine Roque

Do As They Say

The Japanese were so powerful and violent that one mistake against them could mean death.

Celine Roque

Japayuki

Due to poverty, Filipinas work as entertainers and sometimes, as prostitutes in Japan to earn a living.


Regine Ong

My Child

A number of Filipino children were taken away from their families helplessly as they were not provided with a chance to choose their future.

Jiw Prudente
Francine Landrito

Prohibited

You can see everything but you can't do anything.

Denise Esteves

Heed

Whenever her children feel pain, thy mother land whimpers and sheds her tears for them.

Jiw Prudente

Drowning

During the invasion, the Filipinos were in a period as if they were drowning. They stood immovable between an epoch where they are living and dying at the same time.

Jiw Prudente

Our Flag

Friend or foe, to whom do you turn to?


Denise Esteves

A Woman's Role

A Filipina stands before her enemy with teary eyes.

Jen Alviz

Punishment

As he receives his brutal blows, a flame of hope still lingers.

Jen Alviz

The Attack

"Manila feels the mailed fist of the invader."

Jen Alviz

Agony

She seeks freedom but she cannot escape the fate our country holds.

Jen Alviz

"We Are Not Barbarians"

"The Japanese aide-de-camp replied: “We are not barbarians.”




Thousands died en route from disease, starvation, dehydration, heat prostration, untreated wounds, and wanton execution."

Jess Limcangco
Regine Ong

Near Worthless

"Many survivors of the war tell stories of going to the market laden with suitcases or "bayong" (native bags made of woven coconut or buri leaf strips) overflowing with the Japanese-issued bills. 75 Mickey Mouse pesos, or about 35 U.S. dollars at that time, could buy one duck egg. In 1944 , a box of matches cost more than 100 Mickey Mouse pesos."


Jess Limcangco

Shards of Broken Trust

Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

-Romans 5:3-4

Ravenna Sevilla

When Lady Liberty Falls

So long as the little children are allowed to suffer, there is no true love in this world.
-Isodore Duncan

Ravenna Sevilla

Bound

They tried to bind us so tightly that blood almost stopped flowing through our veins.


Jess Limcangco
Krizza Marcelino

Sacrificing Lives

The Filipinos sacrificed many lives and suffered so much to have their freedom.


Krizza Marcelino

Torture

"That, for all the Japanese knew, finished all of us in the room without exception.
More shootings went on around the rest of the building. From where we were we could hear victims in their death agony, the shrill cries of children and the sobs of dying mothers and girls ...."

- Dr. de Venecia


Pia Bautista

Survival

The Filipinos fought for our independence even in the hardest of times.

Pia Bautista

Pain

We were crushed.


Aise Hernandez

Grief

Who in this world could not feel the grief of losing so many loved ones?


Aise Hernandez

Domination

The Filipinos struggled against the Japanese domination.

Pia Bautista

Sorrow

She has been taken once again and chained to the dark.

Aise Hernandez

For Your Comfort

"The women cried out, but it didn't matter to us whether the women lived or died. We were the emperor's soldiers. Whether in military brothels or in the villages, we raped without reluctance."
- Yasuji Kaneko


Jess Limcangco

Nagtatago

Fort Santiago is finally captured.


Jess Limcangco

Fight To The Death

"But there is suffering in life, and there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it's better to lose some of the battles in the struggles for your dreams than to be defeated without ever knowing what you're fighting for."

- Paulo Coelho

Ravenna Sevilla

Suffering In Their Hands

The Filipinos' fate was clearly in the hands of the Japanese during the Second World War.

Regine Ong

Bataan Death March

The American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines from Bataan peninsula to prison camps were forced to march for nearly a week without food and water.

Regine Ong

Bataan

Let the indomitable spirit of Bataan and Coregidor lead on... In the name of your sacred dead, strike! Let no heart be faint. Let every arm be steeled."

-Gen. Douglas MacArthur.


Francine Landrito