02.09.08

More of the Philippines and on to Bataan

Posted in History, Uncategorized at 5:14 pm by Administrator

One dead giveaway that one is in the Philippines is this sight:

It’s been a long time since the last time I was in the Philippines (25 years ago!) Many things have changed, but many things have not. One thing that has remained the same is the crazy driving and the incredible numbers of Jeepneys barreling down the roads. Here’s another view of a Jeepney below.

Crazy looking things, aren’t they? Not only do they “look” crazy, but they drive crazy, too! Don’t try to cross the street in front of one as if the pedestrian has the right-of-way. That rule doesn’t seem to apply in the Philippines!

These Jeepneys are basically the local “buses.” People hop onto them from the rear, and the way to choose which Jeepney to ride is by the markings on the sides, which indicate which areas they cover. One might wonder who designed these flamboyant contraptions? Well, Jeepneys were actually developed after WWII. After the war, lots of military equipment was left behind by the U.S. that were either given or sold to the Philippines. The ordinary military jeeps were cut open and extended to allow for a larger seating capacity. Apparently, each Jeepney owner decorates his own jeepney whichever way he wants. The newer designs that I did not see many years ago are now airbrushed with cartoon characters or even movie characters. I didn’t have to ride on one during this trip because my uncle was gracious enough to provide us with a personal driver, so I don’t know what the current fee is for a Jeepney ride. But while the drivers are still pretty crazy, and the pedestrians are likewise erratically and dangerously crossing and roads, at least the roads have improved a bit since my last visit. That is, there are less dirt roads to get muddy during the intermittent rains, and thus less potholes to look out for. I remember one of the experiences I had during my previous trip to the Philippines was riding in a private jeep on a dirt road in the country when we got stuck in a mud hole. We all had to get out and push. Lots of fun in the rain and mud! Ha!

Even though Jeepneys seem universal in the Philippines, there are other vehicles which share the roads. In the Pampanga area we found a large number of “tricycles” zipping all over the place. Pampanga is actually the province where my mother is from, so that was a treat to see (not to mention my mom was excited to see her province again after many years). This was my first trip through Pampanga. We passed through it to get to Bataan, where we were headed to visit the Bataan Memorial. Here’s a shot of some of the tricycles.

Here is a pic of part of the countryside with the Bataan Memorial far off in the distance on the top on a small mountain. The Memorial is a cross on the top of the mountain on the mountain peak closest to the center of the picture. It looks like a tiny stick in this shot.

We passed quite a few rice fields on the way along with many roadside stands selling mostly food stuffs like coconuts and other fruits and snacks. There is a bit of a winding road to get up to the Memorial with a small entrance fee of about 150P per person. Just for a little perspective, the current exchange rate while we were there was 40P to $1. The U.S. dollar is losing value, so I’m not sure what it is now. At the entrance we were asked if we were all local for some reason. . ., but since my parents and aunt and uncle are fluent and native Filipinos, they said, “Yes, we’re all local.” My sister, my son, and I all smiled quietly and shook our heads in agreement, ha! No need to let them hear our English accents. I think that’s part of how they determine the fee, yikes! Once at the memorial, the cross is actually quite large. It was too big to fit in one shot from my vantage point, so I just took the top portion in this shot. There are reliefs all around the bottom of the cross depicting parts of Philippine war history. Here’s an shot of one side of the cross below with part of the relief. Notice the Muslim buildings, which depicts the Muslim influence in Philippine history. While much of the Philippines is currently Catholic, other portions of the islands like Mindinao and Palawan still have strong Muslim influence.

For those not familiar with Bataan, in military history, it was famous for the Bataan Death March in WWII. Basically, about 60,000 Filipino soldiers, 1,000 Chinese-Filipino soldiers, and about 12,000 American soldiers were taken over by the Japanese and forced to march 60 miles on foot in the tropical heat without food or drink. Many men died as a result of that and the reported brutalities inflicted upon them by their captors. More about that can be read here and just another example of the many atrocities of war.

I have since found that there is a Bataan Memorial in New Mexico. It’s called the Bataan Memorial Military Museum and Library. There is even a Bataan “March” scheduled this March 30, 2008 in the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico which offers two routes, one being 26.2 miles and the other being 15.2 miles. I also found a website of a Bataan “survivor.” For anyone interested in reading more about that, here’s the link.

From the base of the Memorial, there is a nice view of Bataan. Here’s one shot looking over the horizon.

Here’s another pic of my sister and me putting in a little time to help the groundskeepers keep the Memorial tidy. . . And yes, those “brooms” did work pretty well as rakes!

After visiting the Memorial, we drove down to Mariveles, which is the beach front from where the Bataan march is believed to have begun. Along the way we found markers which would indicate how many kilometers away it was from the starting point of the march. Standing here I could just imagine the beach full of thousands of soldiers, hungry, tired, and injured being forced to start marching. I look at my son, now 19 years old, and think that those soldiers were thousands of boys like him forced to endure such hardship. This is only one of many, many wars in times past and times to come.

Just before we left, I took another shot of the tricycles there in Mariveles, Bataan.

These actually looked safer than what I saw in Manila. In Manila, not only did the tricycles have the side passenger compartment, but also a side “bench” behind the driver. So many things I saw go on on the roads in the Philippines I know would just not fly here in the states, or at least here in California. You’d get pulled over so fast! Ha! Not only did some of the vehicles look unsafe with passengers precariously perched on the vehicles without safety restraints, a couple times I even saw “dogs” on the roofs of the tricycles while they drove down the street, ha ha ha! Oye. . .

Well, that’s probably enough for one post. More to follow later. . .

Marlakins

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