91-yr-old vet recalls Bataan nightmare

91-yr-old vet recalls Bataan nightmare

91-yr-old vet recalls Bataan nightmare

By Maurice Malanes

Northern Luzon Bureau First Posted 06:23:00 04/09/2008

BAGUIO CITY—Before rising to become a police chief, a Benguet Corp. vice president and mayor of this city in the mid-1980s, Francisco Paraan lived through starvation, disease and the daily threat of being stabbed with a Japanese bayonet.

Paraan would now refer to the ordeal as his "nightmare," his "Valley of Death." In history books, though, Filipinos have come to know it as the Death March.
At 91, Paraan needs a hearing aid and takes 11 pills a day for his heart and urinary problems, and for other ailments traceable to the horrors he endured serving with the Allied forces during World War II.

Yet the battle-scarred veteran could still vividly remember the indignities and suffering which he and his comrades experienced during the infamous Death March of April 1942, the forcible transfer of some 90,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps in Central Luzon.

The Allied surrender leading to the march is being commemorated by the nation on Wednesday as "Araw ng Kagitingan" (Day of Valor), also known as The Fall of Bataan.
"Physically exhausted, psychologically devastated and without food and water, we only had 10 percent left of our strength and will to fight," Paraan said, describing the Allied troops' condition on the eve of their capitulation.

"During the surrender, a great wave of jumbled, confused and emaciated (Filipino and American soldiers) was pushed towards the south in Corregidor and Mariveles, Bataan," he said. "Units of the USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East) just melted away."

Paraan was a tactical officer of the University of the Philippines ROTC (Reserved Officers Training Corps) when the war broke out. He enlisted as a third lieutenant in the USAFFE and led 30 men, all ROTC cadets, to Bataan. (Six of his men were later sent home after it was discovered that they were under 18.)

Final stand

When American supreme commander Gen. Douglas MacArthur ordered all Filipino and American troops to move to Bataan and make what would become their final stand, Paraan helped establish a main line of resistance on Mt. Natib.

The main Japanese offensive on Bataan actually began on Jan. 9 (a week after the fall of Manila and three months before the surrender). By mid-February, the USAFFE lines have been pushed to the Pilar-Bagac area, past Balanga.

There was a lull in the battle from Feb. 15 to April 2, Paraan recalled in an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "Both sides suffered great losses, and many of us were sick and exhausted." "But the morale of Filipino-American troops was very high because we were able to frustrate the target of the Japanese, (which was) to capture Bataan immediately. The morale of the Japanese, we learned, was low," he said.

Word also spread that the Japanese forces led by Lt. Gen. Masaharu Homma had their share of massive losses and that many of the remaining soldiers were down with malaria and dysentery, the veteran added.

But when reinforcements fresh from Japan arrived, the offensive resumed on April 3, "unleashing their full military might, using air bombs, artillery shells and superior firepower," he said.

Paraan noted that many of the Filipino and American troops were so poorly armed that some were even carrying rifles of "World War I vintage."

On the eve of the surrender, the cornered troops even felt a strong "earthquake" hitting Bataan that day. "After sleeping a few hours on the night of April 8, we ... destroyed all our firearms. And from our jungle hideouts we, as ordered, went down to the highway to surrender the next morning."

Death March starts

Paraan and his contingent were first herded into a rice field in Barangay Cabcaben in Mariveles, where they stayed for a day without sleep and food. From Mariveles, the Death March commenced, covering an initial 80 kilometer to San Fernando, Pampanga.

"We formed a long line of hungry, sick and wounded Filipino and American soldiers," he said. "Those who were too weak or too sick to walk, those straying from line were beaten up, clubbed and bayoneted to death. We were denied food and water."

At one point, Paraan said, he got very thirsty and gambled with his life: He dashed to a nearby rice paddy and filled his canteen with water, completely eluding the attention of Japanese sentries. He slaked his thirst upon rejoining the line.

The next day, Paraan was ill with dysentery.

"It was literally a walk through the Valley of Death," he said. "All along the way, we saw corpses strewn about, some of them decapitated."

When the POWs reached Hermosa and Dinalupihan in Bataan, and later Lubao in Pampanga on April 10, residents came out to see them.

"Many of them wept as they took pity on us," Paraan said. Some of the locals tossed them food as the prisoners walked by.

"(They) gave us panocha (sugarcane molasses), fried chicken and steamed rice wrapped in banana leaves. (We ate them so quickly) it was as though we were just gulping down water."

Paraan said he later learned that many civilians who had given food to the soldiers were tortured and killed by the Japanese.

Reaching San Fernando, his group was met by truckloads of Japanese soldiers, "who taunted us and spat on our faces."

After spending the night at a warehouse at the San Fernando rail terminal, the POWs were then moved by train to Capas, Tarlac, the veteran said.

Packed in box cars

"We were packed like sardines in the box cars. Several (prisoners) died of suffocation," he said, recalling that at least three soldiers died in the car he was in.

From Capas, they marched for another 13 km to finally get to a concentration camp. After surviving Death March, however, Paraan was still down with dysentery. Prison food – a handful of steamed rice sprinkled with salt, served at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily – hardly helped in nursing himself back to health.

But Paraan surmised that, still, "God was good" because the Japanese failed to uncover his precious secret: He kept bills amounting to P300 (a substantial amount at the time) hidden in his underwear. With the money, he managed to smuggle food and medicine into the camp, not only for him but also for his younger brother and fellow POW, Ricardo, who was stricken with malaria.

Released on parole

"Without that money, my brother and I would have died at the camp," says Paraan. After six months at the camp, Paraan was released "on parole" and even had some money left for a train ride from Capas to Damortis, La Union, and then a bus ride to Baguio.

He was then contacted by officers of the 66th Infantry, USAF-Northern Luzon. After being treated for his dysentery by Dr. Ernesto Abellera, Paraan engaged in espionage, monitoring enemy movements and suppliers.

He eventually went back into combat, taking part in an assault on Bad-ayan Hill, a Japanese base in Buguias, Benguet, on Aug. 14, 1945.

Six decades later, Paraan said the Death March may have been a nightmare, but surviving it helped steel his will and character.

Leadership positions

"The experience gave me a lot of self-confidence, which prepared me for various leadership positions later," he said.

Paraan became Baguio City's chief of police in 1959 and earned an award as the country's most outstanding police chief during his term.

Paraan later moved to the private sector as security chief and later vice president of Benguet Corp. He served as Baguio City mayor during the Aquino administration.

Paraan, father of eight successful professionals and lolo of 22 grandchildren, is currently editing an autobiography that he finished writing last year. The book, he said, will contain his eyewitness account of the war.

Igorot discovers instant way to enjoy brewed coffee

http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20080405-128628/Igorot-discovers-instant-way-to-enjoy-brewed-coffee

Igorot discovers instant way to enjoy brewed coffee

By Maurice Malanes Northern Luzon Bureau

Posted date: April 05, 2008

BAGUIO CITY—A budding Igorot entrepreneur has found out that a revolutionary business idea comes in unexpected places. The challenge was translating the idea—a novel way for consumers to enjoy instant brewed coffee—into a profitable venture. During a break while exhibiting antique crafts at the World Trade Center in Manila in 2005, Peter Yangki (not his real name), a former antique craft trader, and a British client, took time out to sip coffee at the center’s cafe. Yangki saw that the coffee the waiter served them came from a reheated brew. He complained and told the waiter that ground coffee should not be reused and reheated. After an argument with the waiter, Yangki chose not to order coffee. The client settled for instant tea. As the Briton squeezed with a spoon his tea in filter bag in a cup with hot water, Yangki toyed with an idea and told him: If we can put tea leaves in a bag and we can have instant tea, why can’t we do the same with coffee? “That’s a revolutionary multimillion-peso business idea,” the Briton replied. “If you have coffee in your place, you can venture into that.” Buoyed by the Briton’s affirmation, Yangki thought hard about it and in no time embarked on what he said was quite an expensive trial-and-error experiment. The experiment paid off, and he went on to become the first Filipino to ever produce pure organic Arabica coffee in a tea bag. For the experiment, he availed of a P300,000 loan from the Department of Agriculture Young Farmers’ Program. He also rented coffee processing machines and packaging equipment of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for his experiment until he perfected packaging pure Arabica coffee in bags for an instant brew. Arabica, which grows well in high elevations such as the Cordillera, is the world’s most sought after coffee variety because of its distinct aroma and antioxidant qualities. As he was experimenting on and perfecting his product, Yangki, in 2005, established Cordillera Blend, his company based in Tuba, Benguet. He perfected his product in 2006 and registered it with the DOST and with the Intellectual Property Office in 2007. He also registered his product with the Bureau of Food and Drugs and is awaiting the bureau’s approval. He has begun marketing the product with the brand name Hagiyo! Brew. Yangki, who asked the Inquirer not to publish his real name, preferred that his product’s name be known rather than his identity. The brand name was derived from an Ifugao greeting, which means, Have a happy, long life! So what’s new with Hagiyo! Brew? It’s instant, but not the kind one dissolves in hot water. It’s instant but it is brewed coffee. Instant soluble coffee has undergone many processes and has a lot of what are called emulsifiers and artificial flavors. But Hagiyo! Brew instant coffee in filter bags comes from specially ground and minimally processed Arabica coffee without artificial flavors and preservatives, says Yangki. Yangki also takes pride in having sourced his raw coffee beans from naturally or organically grown Arabica coffee plants from Benguet, Mt. Province, Ifugao and Kalinga. The budding entrepreneur knows that freshly ground coffee must be packed and sealed at once to retain its delicate flavor and antioxidant qualities. Two coffee bags, each measuring five grams, are packed in an easy-to-reseal cellophane packet, before these are packed into a sealed foil sachet. Why two coffee bags in a sachet? There are moderate and heavy coffee drinkers,” says Yangki. A coffee bag is enough for moderate drinkers, but heavy coffee drinkers can use two in one cup. Local coffee connoisseurs, who sampled his product, swear the brewed coffee in bags could compare with that brewed in a percolator. Goodbye percolator And those who love brewed coffee need not invest in a percolator or a coffeemaker. They can simply pour hot water in a mug with a five-gram or 10-gram ground coffee in a filter bag, sweeten it with muscovado (unrefined sugar) or honey, and, as an added option, mix it with nondairy creamer. Hagiyo! Brew’s instant brewed coffee comes in two packages—one comes with a separately packed sachet of five-gram muscovado (unrefined sugar) and another separately packed nondairy cream. The other package has five grams of honey in a sachet instead of muscovado. The muscovado is sourced from Abra and the honey comes from an aviary of the Saint Louis University. The product is packaged with a strong pride of place, not only of Yangki’s home region of the Cordillera, but of his country. Inscribed in the box containing a dozen of sachets of the product is the text, “proudly Philippine-made organic brewed coffee for the world to taste.” Above it is an image of the Philippine flag. The product is also labeled as a super premium native brewed coffee brand of the Philippines. Brewing do’s and don’t’s Also included in the packaging are the three do’s and don’ts of coffee brewing. One, coffee should not be boiled, as boiled coffee tastes bitter. There is no need to boil roasted coffee beans as it is enough to extract an excellent brew from a cup with hot water. Two, coffee should not be reused. Three, coffee should not be reheated or continuously heated. Reusing, reheating and continuously heating brewed coffee would destroy the coffee’s volatile antioxidant properties. Continuously heating or boiling also gives a sour and flavorless brew. That insight during that morning coffee break when Yangki was disappointed not being served freshly brewed coffee became a turning point in his life as an entrepreneur. At that time he was doing quite good in trading antique craft and distinct furniture made of roots and vines. Business shift But this type of business relies heavily on the availability of forest products, which are already being depleted, he says. As early as 2005, he predicted that the antique craft and furniture would become a sunset industry. He also had a traumatic experience when he was trading antique craft and furniture. He was held up while transporting some items in Aurora. But the budding entrepreneur, a commerce graduate in his 30s, vows to follow in the footsteps of Filipino-Chinese entrepreneurs who prefer to remain low-key while continuously making innovations for a better competitive edge in an industry still dominated by big players. It’s time we Igorots learn to become employers, not just employees knocking at the doors of already established companies, he said.

How to starve indigenous communities

How to starve indigenous communities

By Maurice Malanes
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Posted date: April 08, 2008

BAGUIO CITY – The Igorot people now acknowledge their ancestors’ long-term foresight in ensuring the food security of succeeding generations by carving rice terraces, even in tough, challenging terrain, in the Cordillera mountains.

Even during World War II and a rice crisis in the 1970s, the rice paddies have helped sustain the local folk. During the lean months, they supplemented rice with camote (sweet potato) from the nem-a or uma (upland swidden).

In recent years, however, this relative self-sufficiency has been threatened by “modern agriculture,” which the government has pushed purportedly to increase crop production through high-yielding varieties (HYVs) and, lately, genetically engineered seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

A study by the private Montañosa Research and Development Center (MRDC) tells of a farmer from the village of Dandanac in Besao, Mt. Province, who brought home a hybrid variety of corn given by a municipal agricultural technician. Concerned villagers warned that the seeds might be a strain or associated with Bt corn, but the farmer insisted on planting them because of an assurance of high yield.

“True enough, the new corn grew and flowered, but it did not bear ears,” said the study.

The MRDC documented how other farmers had slowly replaced their traditional rice with HYVs. In 1996, only two of 18 rice varieties that the Dandanac farmers were using were HYVs. In 2004, 11 of the 27 rice varieties inventoried were HYVs, nine were introduced by other farmers and seven were traditional types.

Eventually, more people planted larger areas with HYVs, dominating the traditional varieties and those introduced by neighboring communities, the center said. The HYVs were maturing early and could be planted twice during the rainy season in rain-fed areas.

In such a short time, the farmers had more yields than before. But there was a problem.

The HYVs narrowed the germplasm (genetic material that carries the inherited characteristics of an organism) base, the study noted. Several traditional varieties are no longer planted and are now considered lost. As a result, the farmers lost control over their seeds. They have to buy the HYVs from agro-chemical stores or dealers each cropping season.

The new varieties weakened the community’s synchronized cropping schedule. As a result, pests increased, accounting for a 20-percent crop loss.

Moreover, the community’s cooperative self-help group, through which knowledge and exemplary practices were shared among farmers, has disintegrated.

The HYVs brought along a new technology alien to the community – the use of oil-based inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, which, in the long term, degrade and contaminate the soil. Pesticide use leads to a cycle of poison, as farmers tend to use more when pests eventually develop resistance to even the most potent poison.

Thus, farmers have been forced to buy everything from seeds to fertilizers and pesticides, which often leave them heavily indebted, the MRDC study said. Before, they could select and set aside seeds from their own harvests, simply use weeds and animal dung as fertilizers, and synchronize cropping schedules to keep pests at bay.

Debt trap

The findings were presented during the Third National Conference on Indigenous Peoples’ Food Security in Quezon City on March 29, which the MRDC and other development nongovernment organizations serving indigenous peoples attended.

Sponsored by the EED Philippine Partners’ Task Force on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, the conference was held at a time when official pronouncements blamed previous typhoons and, later, rising world food prices and rice hoarders for a crisis over rice, the Filipinos’ main staple. The EED stands for Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst e.V., a church-supported donor agency in Germany.

A similar research by the Southern Christian College (SCC) in Midsayap, North Cotabato, reinforced the MRDC study. The SCC discovered that Bt corn and F1 hybrid rice had proved to be counterproductive among indigenous farmers in Sarangani.

The high cost of producing Bt corn, which requires chemical fertilizers and pesticides, has buried many farmers in debt, forcing some to sell or mortgage their land, Prof. Elma Neyra of the SCC said.

Maria Pilar Castro, senior agriculturist of the Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya (Sibat), another development organization, reported about Bt corn contamination in B’laan communities in Mindanao, raising concerns on food safety.

Hunger, blood

Indigenous peoples also felt cursed because their ancestral domains have been targeted for big-scale mining and logging. These only brought “hunger and blood” to many indigenous communities in Mindanao, according to Manobo youth leader Yatz Ambangan of Carmen, North Cotabato.

Ambangan cited how the government often responded with more military operations when indigenous folk would protest against mining and logging operations.

As a result, indigenous folk have to evacuate, abandoning their upland farms, and many accused of being rebel sympathizers have been killed, he said.

The conversion of lands into plantations of banana, palm and lately biofuel plants will lead to “food insecurity,” he said. He noted how the plantations had displaced hundreds of indigenous folk, some of whom were forced to become farm laborers with meager wages that were not enough to provide them all their needs, including food.

Policy issues

The EED Task Force on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, which is a consortium of development organizations serving indigenous communities, saw the food problem, including the current rice crisis, as an issue of policy. “Indigenous peoples’ rights to their land and resources must be secured,” it said. “This is the fundamental basis of their food security.”

Government and international policies, it said, must respect and recognize the rights of indigenous peoples to determine their own development – be it in agriculture and other industries, including mining, and other land and resource uses.

It stressed the right of indigenous peoples to free and prior informed consent (FPIC), which is guaranteed by the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.