Pagbuay-buay sa daraga kan tiempo hapon A story of a town, 1941-1945

• Main Author: De Leon, Mercielen R.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4680
• Institution: De La Salle University

The Japanese occupation is the shortest but probably the most remembered colonial period in our history. However, several elderly Filipinos still have a rich experience which has not been recorded due to their lack of opportunity to document their history. Such is the case of residents in Daraga, Albay who have their stories to tell about the Japanese occupation. Efforts to preserve their stories of everyday life and survival shall do much in the preservation and enrichment of local history in the municipality. Thus, this study records the untold stories of everyday life by 18 surviving residents of Daraga, Albay during the Japanese occupation from December 12, 1941 to April 1945. Everyday life in this study pertains to shelter, food and food source, clothing, education, transportation, communication, work, courtship and marriage, celebrations and religious activities, relationship with fellow Filipinos, guerrillas and the Japanese colonizers, and personal or unforgettable experience/encounter with the Japanese. The stories are divided into three periods: starting with the landing of the Japanese forces in 1941 and the consequent flights to the barrios, life during the Japanese occupation, and the Liberation. The study uses the descriptive-analytical method supplemented by oral history in the documentation of the personal accounts of informants regarding their everyday life during the Japanese occupation in Daraga, Albay. The oral history is provided by the eyewitness account of informants. The interview technique was utilized to draw out the verbal testimonies of the informants. The requirements in selecting the respondents include residence, age, clarity of memory and health. The respondents were identified through reliable referrals. The prepared interview questions were both in Bikol dialect and English language, however, the language preference of the elderly-respondents was followed by the researcher. At least two interviews were made with the elderlies and it showed they were very consistent with their narration. The final interview was recorded through a digital camera in order to capture not only the story but also the facial expression and body language of the elderly. The Japanese occupation may be short but very eventful and deeply rooted in the memory of the respondents. The narration of the respondents different aspects of everyday life is a story of the Japanese occupation itself in the town of Daraga. Evident in the story is the capability to immediately adjust to the situation by the residents. Food was the most affected aspect of everyday life but the respondents were unified that though rice and their normal food preference had been affected, their ingenuity and diligence saved them from hunger. Basically an agricultural economy, the peoples affiliation with the land enabled them to plant root crops and vegetables as alternative sources of food. The residents capability to adjust their relations with fellow Filipinos be it non-combatants, guerrillas, or spies for the Japanese as well as with the Japanese soldiers defined their choice of shelter, occupation and livelihood, and even mobility during the whole period of the Japanese occupation. Tact, caution, diplomacy, and co-existence became the residents guiding principle in their relations. While aggression and oppression were basically perpetrated by the Japanese, there were also fellow residents who also committed such offensive acts there were also isolated cases wherein the Japanese also offered friendship and manifested humanness and compassion to the residents. How each of them defined their relations and conduct towards others had been motivated by their motives in their given situation. Simple lifestyle also called for simple needs. How the residents bore with the stiffness and discomfort of the puraw as an alternative fabric for their clothing reflected their resiliency. Education, though interrupted, continued to become a priority for the residents. While majority of those who evacuated in the upland failed to study, those in the poblacion took advantage of studying in the Japanese sponsored school and all immediately continued with their studies right after the Liberation. While the people were pre-occupied with their needs for survival, the need for recreation and enjoyment did not cease. Recreational activities such as dancing, singing and cockfighting, though simple and confined in the remote barrios, continued to be held. Religious celebrations, as well as courtship and marriage also continued. While attendance to Sunday masses and the Church stopped, religiosity and prayers continued to be observed in the confines of their homes. Most of the children-respondents at that time also recalled that they were not deprived of games and play as the Japanese were more tolerant with them. As a whole, the story of the Daraguenos different aspects everyday life is a story of survival, adaptive mechanisms and capability to co-exist in the fast paced, fear-dominated Japanese occupation. The residents resiliency enabled them to overcome the deprivations and difficulties as war transpired in the background of the non-combatant Daraguenos, they also fought their own war of survival. They fought courageously and succeeded to overcome the war they survived the war and everyday life continued.