Memorial Day - May 29, 1995 - Felix Sibayan

Let me digress from my topic and write something about Memorial Day.  I am thinking about my not half-, but full-brother, Felix, who died in the Capas Concentration Camp in May 1942.  He was born May 18, 1920.  He was single.

When I went to Manila in 1993 to attend my son Tony's promotion to Commodore, I visited Elix's grave in Ft. Bonifacio.  On the cross marking his grave was a name Benigno Aquino.

I guess I am the only one thinking of him today, although our step-mother, Anicia Sibayan, second wife of father, is receiving a pension as Elix's beneficiary since 1946 because we were both minors when father married her in 1933, one year after mother's death.

If Elix were alive, he would be 75 years old now.  W would not know what career he could have taken, but like me, I know he would now be a PENSIONADO.  That was our ambition when we were small kids.  We were going together to the slaughterhouse to buy "lomolomo" for breakfast and I asked him what he would like to be.  I gave examples as: lawyer, doctor, engineer, teacher, etc.  We both agreed to become PENSIONADO.  Why?

Because at the end of the month our neighbor Mr. Guesson would pass by and father would tell him: "Naimbag kapay giem ta agawawatika ti cuarta nga saan nga ag tartarbayo." (You are very fortunate my friend because you are receiving money without working.)  I asked father why, and he said because he is a "pensionado."

We thought that "pensionado" was a profession!  Hence we decided to become a PENSIONADO!

I helped him enter the service as a private before the war in the Ordnance Service.  He died as a Corporal, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, as a POW.

We saw each other in Bataan twice, first when he came to my office in the G-2 Section Hq 29 Regular Division (PC) USAFFE near Bauto Pt., across Corregidor.  There I gave him food to eat because he was very tired and hungry coming from the front lines.

He promised to come back with a springfield rifle to be our souvenier when we go back to Manila.  When he came back with the rifle and it's bayonet, he was quite thin, buty with his spirits because of the news about a "one-mile convoy" headed for the Philippines from America to liberate us.

I fed him again with crackers and condensed milk, which he liked very much.  I even gave him some dried carabao's meat and sugar to take back to the front lines.  That was our last meeting.

After our surrender in April 9 1942, I met his boss, Col. Hugo Cunanan, near Corregidor Island and I asked for my brother.  He said, "They are behind, following us."  I delayed my trip to Monvieles trying to look for Elix.  Col. Cunanan was with several officers then.  He left his men behind.  (I found out after the war that they boarded a boat to cross Manila Bay, but they were straffed by Japanese planes.)

I failed to see Elix in the Death March or when we were going down Little Baguio.  I could have escaped by riding a banca on Hagonoy River to Bulacan if not for Elix's sake.

Darkest Christmas Night

Instead of Christmas carol, the radio was blaring with martial music, making the war jitters more intense. We hardly slept that night planning what to do after I left for Bataan. I promised Pat that I will go back for her as soon as I find a lodging place and get settled in our new Headquarters, not being aware of the fact that we were headed for the jungles of Bataan where there were no homes but forest trees!

In the city not a single flicker of light was noticed. There was "total blackout" despite the fact that it was Christmas eve. That was the darkest night during Christmas in my life. It also started the Darkest part of Philippine History.

One evening before my departure, I arrived in Kamuning without any light. All the newly built Project homes were alike, like "cats that look alike in the dark."

I entered the house and grouped my way to the bedroom. then I was surprised to hear the voice of my neighbor's wife saying "naimbagman ta immayka." (How nice of you to come) She was Sgt. Juan Aquias's wife that was inside the mosquito net. I was surprised!

Without any word I retreated speedily and then told the story to Pat. That was the first time we started laughing. I found out later that Pat told Manang Isid that it was I who groped into her bed. She was very much relieved after that. She thought it was a ghost or someone else.

Our parting was like a movie drama. With martial music as a background, and Pat sobbing uncontrollably, and not allowing me to leave her; I assured her that I'll be back for her. We parted after intense kisses. My face was wet with tears.

Her mother and sister assured me that they will look after her and that they will pray for me.

As I turned the curb towards the bus stop, I waved back to Pat. That was the last time we saw each other on Dec 25. 1941 until I was released as a sick POW on August 4, 1942 in Manila.

World War II Broke Out

Pat's mother and her older sister, Aning, with her two children Rudy & Ruth spent their weekend with us from their apartment in Rizal Avenue, Manila.

I left them for my work on Monday morning of December 8, 1941 not knowing that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japs.

Upon arrival in the Army Hq., the news about the surprise Jap attack surprised all of us and so I went to the PX, bought a sack of rice, sugar, salt, and lots of canned foods, took them by bus to Kamining and confirmed the war news to Pat and her family.

While with them the air-raid alarm sounded and planes appeared overhead.

I saw and heard Pat's mother telling her daughters in a shaking, trembling voice not to fear.

There being no air-raid shelter, I started digging a dug-out under our house. It was solid rock and so I had to chip bit by bit until we can squeeze inside because our chalet house was built very low with only four steps on the stairway.

It was getting harder to go home from Manila to Q.C. (Quezon City) as all buses and jeeps were scarce and the few were fully loaded.

Capt. Jose B. Reyes, Sec. Gen. Staff and I were the only two military personnel in the office. It was red alert and nobody could go outside of the Headquarters.

Baguio was bombed, Clark Air Base was bombed, Sangley Point was bombed, and I actually saw a bomb dropped on the front of the walled city but it did not explode.

I could see the U.S. Army anti-aircraft guns in the sunken gardens firing but the shells were exploding way below the Jap planes that were between 18,000 to 20,000 feet overhead.

After bombing Sangley Point, the Jap planes strafed Manila. Machine guns were mounted on top of our Hq. but they were ineffective against the strafing fast-flying Zero Jap planes.

Anticipating the next plane target will be the Hq. Phil. Army, we evacuated to the Far Eastern Univ. Bldg in Espana St, Manila. That was closer to Q.C. and I was able to ride a bus now and then to see Pat at night time.

Then came Christmas, the date that was set for our evacuation to Bataan. Before that date Pat and I went shopping in Manila. People were on a Pre-Christmas shopping spree such that the sidewalks were filled with pedestrians.

Suddenly two unidentified planes dove towards the center of the city where most of the shoppers, including us, were concentrated. Pandemonium broke loose as the people panicked and ran like scared chickens seeking cover elsewhere.

Pat and I walked to the fire station for a ride but all vehicles were loaded to the top and some were clinging on the sides. It was very hard for Pat to squeeze in with her bulging 6-month pregnant stomach, but somehow we made it for the last trip. PTL!

The planes ended up being American planes, but the air-raid siren was sounded by mistake.

Hello Again

It's been 10 months since I've posted, but life has a way of getting in the way of our most cherished projects. I'm even busier than ever nowadays, but these stories need to get out and no one else is going to do them except me.

So I'm starting again and that picture up there is why. That's my mom and my lolo and my youngest son Tristan. Tristan needs to know about his great-grandfather and reading this blog sometime in the future is probably going to be the only way he'll know him.

Tristan and Branden. This is for you.