Collaboration, at least for years after World War II, remained a contentious issue. We can hem and haw, and maybe even agree with, the decision to offer a sort of all-is-forgiven amnesty, but the medium-term effect was a lingering animosity towards those who profited during the Japanese Occupation. In a sense, we can even link the successful political careers of Senator Ninoy Aquino, President Cory Aquino, and current President Noynoy Aquino to that choice.

Benigno A Aquino celebrated his birthday yesterday (September 3, 1894); the father of Ninoy and grandfather of Noynoy. He was also one of the most prominent collaborators during the Japanese Occupation, serving as Speaker of the “National Assembly” under President Jose P Laurel from 1943-1944. Of course, by “National Assembly” we refer to a puppet government operating under the auspices of the Imperial Japan. He also served as the Director of the KALIBAPI, the sole political party allowed by the Japanese government; it was a fascist party in which enrollment was practically mandatory. It oversaw the Preparatory Committee for Philippine Independence, a sort of constitutional assembly that gave birth to an ‘independent’ Philippines; by independent of course we mean completely subservient to Japanese authority. It was on September 4, 1943 that the Preparatory Committee adopted a ‘Constitution,’ again subservient to Japanese imperial interests. The Constitution ‘legally’ brought the Philippines into Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere; a vision of an inter-linked Asian power bloc, under Japanese rule of course.

All this was going-on while Filipinos were fighting and dying to preserve their country and stem the tide of Japanese military movements. We forget again that over one million Filipinos were killed by the Japanese; most were civilians, slaughtered for no other reason other than they did not want to be under Japanese rule. It is a forgotten imperial era in our history; and in truth the most immediately brutal and unforgiving. 

Ah but then maybe that why it is forgotten. A generation, that generation, did not want to remember the atrocities they witnessed and experienced. Who would? Just as a generation of collaborators, who betrayed their country men and sought profit and power with the Japanese, wanted others to forget as well.

Benigno Aquino Sr died of a heart attack in 1947 while watching a boxing match, while awaiting trial for treason to the Filipino people. The memory of his collaboration, must like Jose Laurels’ and so many others, forgotten in their death and after the passing of time.

Image of Jose P Laurel’s 1943 Speech inaugurating the Philippine Constitution