On Aguinaldo being a Japanese collaborator

by Tommy Matic IV

Things to consider about the "Aguinaldo was a Japanese collaborator" accusation:

When WW2's Japanese occupation happened, Aguinaldo (who very understandibly bore a grudge against the Americans) sided with the Japanese. Artemio Ricarte, who never swore allegiance to America - one of the very VERY few heroes that didn't, not just Aguinaldo - returned and sided with the Japanese. So why don't we damn Ricarte as a traitor along with Aguinaldo? That's inconsistent.

Another thing - the Filipino people are, essentially, very weird for hating Aguinaldo for siding with the Japanese against the Americans insofar as he was technically siding with a nation that had, in 1898, been the ONLY nation that was even the least bit sympathetic to the Filipino cause against the Americans. It's not a surprise Ricarte went there - the Japanese represented a very real possibility in 1898 for international recognition or at least clandestine support. Many of the rifles that Revolutionary Army soldiers fired were Japanese Murata rifles, an indigenous copy of western contemporary bolt-action rifles.

Consider that the Japanese in WW2 treated their prisoners savagely and their treatment of Indian prisoners of war, notably in the Malaya/Singapore campaign of 1941-42 was no exception. When the Japanese Imperial Guards Division destroyed the British Indian Army's 45th Brigade along with some Australian troops fighting alongside, the prisoners, most of them Indian, were kicked, beaten with rifle butts, tied up with wire and then lined up on the edge of a bridge so the Japanese could shoot one and the whole group would fall into the river and drown, machine gunned some, sliced off the balls of others and otherwise mutilated them, doused badly wounded men with gasoline and set them ablaze while still alive and ran them over with trucks until their corpses were unrecognizable. And that was just at Parit Sulong. Further atrocities occurred with the Indian 17th Division was caught at the Sittang River debacle. The POWs that survived were kept in Japanese Prison camps where Indian Nationalists under Chandra Bose were trying to get them to join the pro-Japanese Indian National Army. Many Indians actually joined the INA which was like the Pinoy Makapilis. Those that didn't starved, died of disease, were worked to death building the 'Kwai Railway of Death' and those that survived - get this - those that survived were and are looked at as TRAITORS by the Indians of today because they fought for the British and not the pro-Japanese INA. Those that betrayed the British and fought for the pro-Japanese INA became HEROES of Indian independence. That's like saying the USAFFE of 1941 were traitors to the Philippines because they fought for America while the MAKAPILIs were the heroes because they fought against America. It's no wonder MANY Sikhs, Indians, etc. that fought in the British Indian Army emigrated to America, Britain and Canada - their own nation was saying that they were traitors.

Yet the Filipinos call Aguinaldo a traitor for being friendly to the side that fought against the Americans.

When MLQ left the Philippines he ordered several of his cabinet, notably Jose P. Laurel and Manila mayor Jorge Vargas to remain behind and 'take care of the Filipino people'. He also gave them the impossible command 'Don't swear allegiance to the Japanese' and essentially threatened them with the death penalty if they did.

Question, President Quezon - how the hell do you "Take care of the Filipino people" and "not swear allegiance to the Japanese" at the same time? The Japanese of WW2 were among the most ruthless and inhumane conquerors of the Twentieth Century. Jose Abad Santos and Josefa Llanes Escoda discovered pretty quick that you could not "take care of the Filipino people" without swearing allegiance to the Japanese outside of working with the guerrillas. JP Laurel and Jorge Vargas furthermore had been instructed by Quezon to serve as the functioning Filipino government to protect the Filipinos. How were they supposed to do that and not swear allegiance to Japan? Quezon essentially condemned his friends and colleagues to eternal infamy as traitors.

Furthermore - many people including Fernando Poe Sr. worked for the Japanese and yet supported the Allied cause behind the Japanese's backs. The whole 'traitor' issue in WW2 is really insanely difficult to sort out and it is never wise to look at it in black and white terms.

Furthermore, whatever happened AFTER the war have no bearing UPON the war because we are discussing the Revolutionary period, not the period after it. If you want to call Aguinaldo a traitor for being supposedly 'pro-Japanese' you have to be consistent and say Ricarte is a traitor. And once again, whatever Aguinaldo may or may not have done AFTER the war are irrelevant to what he did BEFORE and DURING the war.

It is very easy for Filipinos today, enjoying and taking for granted the blessings of freedom to judge Filipinos of the past for the sins these heroes committed when in their place, these same modern Filipinos would be crapping their pants.