Were All World War 2 Veterans Really Got Compensated?

After hearing the news in CNN confirming that World War II veterans can now get their benefits or lump sum money from the United States after a bill has been approved. Personally, it was really good news to hear that World War 2 veterans, especially here in the Philippines have finally got what they have hoped for. After waiting for decades for this great opportunity to materialize since World War 2 ended.

The question is that, were all the war veterans have been really compensated? What if they lack the papers or evidence that were required before they are given such benefit? Well, that is another big question and issue these veterans must face.

Hukbalahap Guerrillas - Are They Covered?

I know that some of the veterans, especially those who were with the HUKBALAHAP (Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon) have not been considered to receive such benefit. Those who were entitled must have been enlisted in the US Military or USAFFE and they possess their US Military ID to present.

For those Hukbalahap guerrillas who have been fighting in the mountains and in the city proper that has served as Information Officers or Couriers were used by US Military Officers in the mid-part of the war and after the war, they were not been officially enlisted in the US Military office that is why they were not compensated up to this time. But still they have served a great part of rescuing American soldiers and officers during World War 2 and their fighting skills were amazing. If ever their stories got the chance to be heard but most of them have died and it was never been published.

The worst part here is that they were even been accused as hoax or having a false identity and making up stories. I really pity these old people since most of them lived poorly in different parts of our country.

There was a time when my father, Dr. Ernesto V. Romasanta Sr. gathered all their applications that he submitted in the US and hoping that these applications may be re-considered as US beneficiaries as World War 2 veterans and that happened early 2000 and two years after that my father has died.

A Glimpse of an Accomplishment by Hukbalahap Guerrillas

From my previous postings, I mentioned that Dad had been a Hukbalahap guerilla (a.k.a. Commander Ivory) who killed the notorious Japanese officer, Colonel Tanaka in Manila downtown area and this event was one of the greatest assassination plot in World War 2 history here in the Philippines that was carefully planned by Hukbalahap guerrillas, together with a US Military officer. Since Colonel Tanaka was one of the most notorious Japanese officer who killed thousands of women, children and US military personnel during World War 2.

Assassination Plot for Colonel Tanaka

It happened in Manila, where Colonel Tanaka used to drink in a bar and the group planned the assassination plot through a 1 month surveillance led by Commander Ivory (Dad). Everyday, Colonel Tanaka was in this local bar in the afternoon accompanied by two Japanese soldiers who stayed in the car while Colonel Tanaka is inside the bar to drink.

During the day of assassination, Commander Ivory, who was in his early teens during that time and two other Hukabalahap lookouts started the plot and waited for the exact hour when Colonel Tanaka started to go out of the bar and sat at the front seat of his vehicle beside the driver seat. Commander Ivory approached the vehicle from behind the back of the car and went to the spot where he can see the face of Colonel Tanaka seating at the front passenger seat. He started to pull out his .45 caliber handgun and aimed the gun right in front of the Colonel's face and started firing shots until he consumed all the bullets from his handgun. While this was happening, two of his comrades who were lookouts (boys ages 9-12 years old) went to the back of the vehicle and after hearing the first shot that rang out from Dad's gun, they started firing at the two Japanese soldiers and emptied their handguns as instructed, killing the two soldiers on the spot.

After confirming that Colonel Tanaka is dead and the assassination plot was successful, the ladies from the adjacent bar where Colonel Tanaka used to drink, grabbed all of the boys, looked around the street and saw no one in site and started to bring the boys inside the bar and pointed them a way out in the back to escape unnoticed. The ladies even gave them food to bring during their escape.

The news spread out in the neighborhood very fast and all of them were celebrating in silence. They tried to know who did the assassination plot by asking the ladies who helped them eradicate Colonel Tanaka. But they remained silent and told them they never knew who killed Colonel Tanaka and just saw him dead when they went out the bar. They were eager to know who it was because they wanted to thank whoever it was who did the assassination  because they have helped them serve justice to thousands of victims being murdered by this Japanese officer and some of them have been members of their family.

But they never knew who he was until now that I have made this story public since my father is gone too. I just don't know if anyone of those who knew that event would have the chance to read this blog and finally knew who was their hero at that time. I guess it was just time to share this untold story in memory of my father. I believe that at this point, it was time to tell one of his heroic deed that has never been told since World War II ended.

Yamashita Treasure: Myth or Real?

There have been many treasure hunters all over the world who have been seeking the Yamashita Treasure here in the Philippines since World War 2 ended. Most of them have lost their hope and ended their search with empty pockets but some were successful enough and got away with some gold, diamonds and jewelries but those treasure hunters never went out in the open to tell their success.

National Geographic, Discovery Channel and most international documentary researchers tried to dig the truth and interviewed many leads that can tell the true story of the great Yamashita treasure and if does really exist. But all they ended up are tell tales and some previous treasure hunters (who never got any evidences) were interviewed but all they can say that this was a myth and that the story was just a hoax.

Maybe all of them got the wrong leads or if ever there were persons who knew about the Yamashita treasure, I believe that they could not tell the whole story because of fear of loosing their lives and even their whole family. Therefore, holding the truth as a secret is the best thing to do to avoid risking their lives.

But how did the late President Ferdinand Marcos knew about this and during the early years of his term, there were numerous treasure hunters that were given the license to dig for this treasures in different locations in the Philippines since the 1970's. Actually, I did came across some sites that can serve as a reference to some historical background of the Yamashita treasure and most of them are scams, just trying to attract investors and milk out their money and in the end, no gold bars have been found. I hope that foreign investors would be warned against these scrupulous activities. Even if they have posted pictures of Japanese maps and the area wherein they have found "markers" that can verify that it does exist still these were just copied from other sites that have posted them and made stories out of it. Here is one site that I believe the pictures were extracted: Yamashita Treasures Photo Collections.

Here is a sample forum thread that discusses: Yamashita Treasure Secret Exposed but I do not recommend or endorse anything that was discussed in that link and that there are no solid evidence to verify that all their statements are correct. My purpose is to let my readers see some views and excerpts about the Yamashita gold but have not verified any of the pictures, maps or videos seen from the links above and we do not recommend any of these sites.

What I can contribute about this topic is that it is true that there have been gold treasures that were found here in the Philippines and that is a fact. It is not a myth as most foreigners assumed it to be. Actually, Marcos did get some of the Yamashita gold treasures in some of the spots but still one of the biggest gold treasure from the list is still out there somewhere.

What Marcos did with the gold is that he was supposed to use it to develop the Philippines during the 1980's and the first act was that he have to deposit the gold out from the central bank and in Swiss accounts in different names. After a year, he would be using the interests accumulated from these accounts and that will be the fund to develop the entire Philippines. But this never happened since that was the time when the first EDSA Revolution happened and this was a bad timing for President Marcos since he wanted the Philippines to be one of the most developed country in Asia before his death but that dream was shattered into pieces at the outbreak of the revolution.

He could have instructed the military to bombard the two camps where the soldiers are located and killed them all. But he loved the Filipinos so much and did not want any mass killings anymore at that time. In his mind he may thought that killing more Filipinos just to pursue that dream is not worth the sacrifice.