I'm not certain if I said it right in Spanish but this two guys are just awesome!
My recent visit to the Antipolo church has brought back one of my fondness memory of mahal na araw rituals - the lenghty hike from our residence in Makati to its hilly footway. A spiritual cleansing through physical distress. I've only done it once but who could've forget such an exhausting tread at very a young age.
one of his book how it was bitterly fought for, the Recollects protesting the appointment of a creole clergy in the 1860's, this only goes to show how strategic and rich the church was then.So far I have only two other members since I started this group a month ago. I hope I could increase the numbers once I get the club published in our company's weekly journal. I've also requested for a regular article the would primarily focus on interesting history facts.
I found what look like to be a fortification or a small bridge below the present bridge in Poblacion, Muntinlupa. I was curious enough to take this picture and ask some people around what's this structure. No one seems to know.
I went to this place under the cover of wanting to take the boat ride to the falls but the history nerd that I am-of course was more interested in finding sites that would be of interest and it was not hard to find one for Pagsanjan is such a historic place. This was last year and I was reminded of this place today while driving and seeing one of the buses with its ad showing Pagsanjan (and its current Mayor) as a tourist destination.
Located at the end part of the local cemetery in Bilibid one can find this peaceful haven. A shrine memorial dedicated to the Japanese soldiers who died in Muntinlupa and the neighbouring towns. The shrine is a cemetery for it houses the 17 Japanese soldiers who were actually executed in the hilly areas of what is now known as Katarungan.
The olive drab U.S. military cap, size 7 1/2, was the one removed from the head of Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita on the island of Luzon around 1 a.m. on Feb. 23, 1946.
Moments later the officer known as the "Tiger of Malaya" and two other Japanese soldiers were hanged for war crimes.
"My husband said he took it off the general so he could put the black hood on him," Claudia says. "He just stuck it in his back pocket and forgot about it, what with everything that was going on."
"My dad hung three gentlemen that night," says Steven, also an Army veteran. "He was only 20 years old."
It's an interesting story, one you wont find in the history book.
But in the last years of his life, Robert Alkire, who died in Medford on August 24, 1996 at the age of 73, and was buried in his native Taft, Calif., had been working on the book tentatively titled, "Under a Hood of Black."
A staff sergeant in the Army, he had been appointed provost sergeant in 1945 for the Philippine Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Los Banos. His job, for which he received commendation, included watching prisoners as well as tracking escapees.
On Jan. 5, 1946 he was introduced to a Lt. Francis, a new arrival who had a curious habit of looking at the neck of the person he was talking to. His previous employer was San Quentin Prison in California where he was a hangman.
Francis brought his rope.
"I was concerned because one of my duties was as provost sergeant was assisting in any executions performed at the prison," Robert Alkire writes. "I was not looking forward to acting in this official capacity."
That's where the manuscript ends.
"He introduces you to the hangman, then that's it," Steven says. There is nothing in writing that we have found that says he had orders to hang Gen. Yamashita . . . but we have everything else."
That includes Claudia, Robert's wife for 43 years.
"He said that it was something to shoot at someone who is shooting at you but when you put a rope around a man's neck whose hands and feet are tied . . . ." she says, her voice trailing off.
"He liked Gen Yamashita," she explains.
He had come to know Yamashita necause he saw him every day. He served him food and talked to him.
One of the photos she has is of Robert Alkire and the hangman by the scaffold. Thirteen steps lead to the trap door.
"My husband said Yamashita walked up the steps with military bearing and stood in front of the trap door," she says. He turned to my husband and asked which direction was Tokyo.
"Gen Yamashita turned the direction my husband pointed, bowed, didn't say a word and stepped onto the trap door," she adds.
That's when my husband removed the cap.
"The hangman put the noose around him and my husband put the black hood over his head," she says. "The hangman dropped him through."
It was 20 minutes before the stocky general was pronounced dead, she says. Robert and several others buried the three men in an unmarked grave.
"All three were wrapped in blankets -- they were not put in boxes," she says. "There were no markers, nothing. Then they camouflaged the graves so they could not be found."
Now Steven Alkire wants to complete the task his father started, putting the story together. He hopes to gather more information, perhaps even present the cap to Yamashita's family as his father intended.
In a recent visit to the Alberto house in Biñan. I was awed by its beauty but at the same time regret its present condition. This classic stone house displayed the prominence and style of the family that once lived here. You could feel by observing the house that the occupants are no ordinary Filipinos add to this is the location of the house which is right at the heart of the Biñan, on its left is the municipio and in front is the rotonda.
With its solid built utilizing the most durable construction materials that I'm certain only a rich builder can afford during those days, its no wonder that this house has stood the test of time. Its unfortunate that no matter how strong a house is built it would eventually, if not well preserve succumb to deterioration. This house has seen its better days. Below is a brief history of the owner of this wonderful 'bahay na bato'Jose Alberto an uncle of Rizal, had been educated in British India, spending eleven years in a Calcutta missionary school. This was the result of an acquaintance which his father had made with an English naval officer who visited the Philippines about 1820, the author of "An Englishman's Visit to the Philippines." Lorenzo Alberto, the grandfather, himself spoke English and had English associations.
The great Binan bridge had been built under Lorenzo Alberto's supervision, and for services to the Spanish nation during the expedition to Cochin-China-probably liberal contributions of money-he had been granted the title of Knight of the Order of Isabel the Catholic, but by the time this recognition reached him he had died, and the patent was made out to his son.
An episode well known in the village-its chief event, if one might judge from the conversation of the inhabitants-was a visit which a governor of Hongkong had made there when he was a guest in the home of Alberto. Many were the tales told of this distinguished Englishman, who was Sir John Bowring, the notable polyglot and translator into English of poetry in practically every one of the dialects of Europe. His achievements along this line had put him second or third among the linguists of the century. He was also interested in history, and mentioned in his Binan visit that the Hakluyt Society, of which he was a Director, was then preparing to publish an exceedingly interesting account of the early Philippines that did more justice to its inhabitants than the regular Spanish historians. Here Rizal first heard of Morga, the historian, whose book he in after years made accessible to his countrymen. A desire to know other languages than his own also possessed him and he was eager to rival the achievements of Sir John Bowring.
In his book entitled "A Visit to the Philippine Islands," which was translated into Spanish by Mr. Jose del Pan, a liberal editor of Manila, Sir John Bowring gives the following account of his visit to Rizal's uncle:
"We reached Binan before sunset .... First we passed between files of youths, then of maidens; and through a triumphal arch we reached the handsome dwelling of a rich mestizo, whom we found decorated with a Spanish order, which had been granted to his father before him. He spoke English, having been educated at Calcutta, and his house-a very large one-gave abundant evidence that he had not studied in vain the arts of domestic civilization. The furniture, the beds, the table, the cookery, were all in good taste, and the obvious sincerity of the kind reception added to its agreeableness. Great crowds were gathered together in the square which fronts the house of Don Jose Alberto."
