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THE GOOD FIGHT MLQuezon PDF
THE GOOD FIGHT MLQuezon PDF
to fight against the American people and their flag; who fought
bravely, who surrendered and gave his parole in Bataan, who
took to his heart the great democratic principles of America,
who inculcated them in his own people, and who forty years
later threw himself and his brave countrymen back into
the hell of Bataan and Corregidor when the American flag
was attacked by a treacherous enemy, This story is told in
President Quezon's own words.]
INfRODUCTION BY
General Douglas MacArthur
TO MY WIFE AND CHILDREN
I
AM honored to comply with the request of the author
of this book to write the introductory note. My only
regret is that, I must do so at a time when the pressure
of military campaign is such that I cannot give it the
leisure it deserves. For President Quezon’s book, about to
be published at this time, is an invaluable contribution to
the war effort of his country as well as to that of the United
States. It carries with it the message of a liberty-loving
people hurled against those who would trample under foot
man’s most precious heritage, freedom.
Manuel L. Quezon is the President of the Commonwealth
of the Philippines. He has been twice exalted to that eminent
position by the peaceful suffrage of the Filipino people. When
he speaks, however, he does not do so merely as the official
representative of his country. He speaks as the acknowledged
leader of a race that has raised him to dominance for the last
two decades. When he writes, therefore, of the stirring days
of American occupation of the Philippines, of the fruitful
DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
June 18, 1942
Melbourne, Australia
M.L.Q.
W. MORGAN SHUSTER
New York City,
August 18, 1944
Mrs. Quezon
The municipal government will continue to function with its police powers
reinforced by constabulary troops, so that the normal protection of life and
property may be preserved. Citizens are requested to maintain obedience to
constituted authorities and continue the normal processes of business.
The people of America and your own countrymen have been thrilled by the
gallantry with which you have been defending our country. I am grateful and
proud for the resistance you have offered against such tremendous odds. You
have performed deeds of heroism and valor which will live in the history of
these stirring days. The service that you are rendering to your people and
your country, to say the least, is the equal of that rendered by our fathers
who fought and died in the battles for our liberty.
The President of the United States, speaking for the Government and
people of America, in a recent proclamation addressed to the people of
the Philippines, solemnly pledged that the freedom of our country will
be preserved and our independence protected. He asserted that behind
that pledge stood all the resources of America in men and materials. You
are, therefore, fighting with America because America is fighting for our
freedom. Our salvation will depend upon the victory of American and
Filipino arms.
America will not abandon us. Her help will not be delayed. The
enemy’s temporary superiority in the air, on land and on sea cannot
last much longer. We must resist further advance of the enemy until
assistance arrives and I trust it will be soon. The outcome of the battle
of the Philippines will depend in very large measure on your firm and
unyielding resistance.
I have been mortified by the radio broadcast from Tokyo asserting that a new
government has been established in the Philippines, which government has
pledged its conformity with Japan’s New East Asia Policy.
We are before the bar of history and God only knows if this is the last
time that my voice will be heard before going to my grave.
My loyalty and the loyalty of the Filipino people to America has been
proven beyond question. Now we are fighting by her side under your
command despite overwhelming odds. But, it seems to me questionable
whether any government has the right to demand loyalty from its citizens
beyond its willingness or ability to render actual protection.
We decided to fight by your side and we have done the best we could
and we are still doing as much as could be expected from us under the
I have just received your message sent through General MacArthur. From
my message to you of January 30, you must realize that I am not lacking
in understanding of or sympathy with the situation of yourself and the
Commonwealth Government today. The immediate crisis certainly
seems desperate but such crises and their treatment must be judged by a
more accurate measure than the anxieties and sufferings of the present,
however acute. For over forty years American Government has been
carrying out to the people of the Philippines a pledge to help them
The Unites States today is engaged with all its resources and in company
with the governments of 26 other nations in an effort to defeat the
aggression of Japan and its Axis partners. This effort will never be
abandoned until the complete and through overthrow of the entire
Axis system and governments which maintain it. We are engaged now
in laying the foundations in the Southwest Pacific of a development in
air, naval and military power which shall become sufficient to meet and
overthrow the widely extended and arrogant attempts of the Japanese.
Military and naval operations call for recognition of realities. What we
are doing there constitutes the best and surest help that we can render to
the Philippines at this time.
By the terms of our pledge to the Philippines implicit is our forty years
of conduct towards your people and expressly recognized in the terms
of the Tydings-McDuffie Act, we have undertaken to protect you to the
uttermost of our power until the time of your ultimate independence had
arrived. Our soldiers in the Philippines are now engaged in fulfilling that
purpose. The honor of the United States is pledged to its fulfillment. We
So long as the flag of the United States flies on Filipino soil as pledge
of our duty to your people, it will be defended by your own men to the
death. Whatever happens to the present American garrison we shall not
relax our efforts until the forces which we are now marshaling outside
the Philippine Islands return to the Philippines and drive the last remnant
of the invaders from your soil.
Sincerely yours,
MANUEL L. QUEZON
HEADQUARTERS
U.S. ARMY FORCES IN THE FAR EAST
Affectionately,
DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
His Excellency,
The President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines
General MacArthur:
Your letter received and I accept your plan stop I need the three fast
boats in Zamboanguita tomorrow night stop If they are not available
send M/V Dumaguete which was at Iligan yesterday and the two fast boats
referred to in your radiogram just received.
Don
Not long ago, I sent you a telegram through the War Department
requesting that you try to get Roxas out of Mindanao. I reiterate that
request. To me it is of the utmost importance to save Roxas and bring
him to the United States. Of course, if he is alive I have no doubt that
he is doing a fine work wherever he may be, but I cannot conceive that
he can do anything nearly as important as what he could do in United
States at this time. When the time comes for our return, we would, of
course, take him along.
The news that Roxas fell into the hands of the Japanese has broken
me almost completely, for I suspect that after his insistent refusal to be
But oh, how proud I am of him! I almost envy him for he had occasion
to do just what I wanted to do myself—to tell the Japanese that we want
nothing from them.
If Roxas has been murdered he is the greatest loss that the Filipino people
have suffered in this war. He can’t be replaced and I don’t know how long
[before] the race will produce another Manuel Roxas.
He saved his people from eternal ignominy. Had he accepted the offer,
Japan might have already established a Manchukuo or a Nanking regime in
Manila, with him as the president and see how well informed those Japanese
are as to who is who in the Philippines! They did not offer the presidency to
Vargas or Laurel or Aquino or Yulo or Paredes—only to Roxas.
Let us hope for the best. Can we not make him a major general or give
him some decoration?
NR 50
WAINWRIGHT
FORT MILLS
“To the Filipino People and the Philippine Army: At the request of General
MacArthur, I have left the Philippines and joined him at his headquarters
in Australia. On previous occasions, suggestions have been made to me
that I leave the Philippines, but I have refused to do it, determined to
carry on with the affairs of Government in Philippine territory.
MACARTHUR
The fall of Bataan closes a chapter in the history of the Filipino people for
freedom as heroic, if not the most heroic, that we have ever fought. Side
by side with their American comrades, first under the personal leadership
of General MacArthur and later of Lieutenant General Wainwright, our
forces fought without air support against a foe that had, at all times, absolute
command of the air and the seas, and an overwhelming superiority in number
of land forces. This fight lasted as long as resistance was humanly possible,
for our forces gave up only after they had become exhausted from lack of
food and continuous battle. I am proud of the part that the Filipino forces
have taken in this epic battle and I am profoundly grateful to the whole army
which has thus vindicated honor and right of the Filipino people to become
an independent nation. Their country and countrymen will consider every
man who took part in this battle as a national hero and will feel undying
gratitude for the service they have rendered.
The loss of Bataan as not ended the war in Philippines. Corregidor, the
The Filipino people will stand by and with America and our allies to the
bitter end.
Melbourne
April 11, 1942
Melbourne, Australia
April 19, 1942
I am certain that, despite your new responsibilities and very high place
in this great conflict, your heart is still with the Philippine Army which
you have created, especially after the misfortune which has befallen it,
not for lack of courage or will and ability to fight, but because of lack
of means with which it could put up a winning battle. Remnants of the
Philippine Army are still in Mindanao waiting for you to come and give
them a chance to fight back victoriously. Until you are ready to return in
force, there will be very little that can be done for them except to send
them supplies. But there is a group there for whom something can and
should be done at once. I am referring to the Philippine Air Corps men
who are now in Mindanao. Won’t you pick a few those men and bring
them here and constitute a squadron with them so that they might do
their bit in the fight in the air that is going on? I am told that these boys
can hold their own against the enemy.
I would also appreciate it if you could give the Silver Star to General
Valdes, Colonel Nieto, Lieutenant Colonel Soriano and Lieutenant
Colonel Velasquez. Every one of these men have dared death in Bataan
and in the trips they have made with me. I know they have the courage
which deserves that decoration.
There are may Filipinos who are here in Australia, all of them either
officers and crews of ships that have been taken over by the USAFFE,
or Filipino soldiers. I hope the United States Government will take
care of them and pay their salaries until the war is over. Should there
be cases that the American Army cannot properly care for, I give you
full authority to order Lieutenant Colonel Jose McMicking, whom I am
appointing as disbursing officer, to pay such sums of money as you may
think equitable. I am leaving sufficient amounts in the Commonwealth
Bank of Australia to cover this.
Devotedly yours,
MANUEL L. QUEZON
I pray that our people may be spared the horrors of war, but if it comes
to us, I shall welcome it for two reasons: first, that we may show the
people of the United States that we are loyal to them; second, that
you may learn to suffer, and, if needs be, to die. For many years now of
the material prosperity which has come to our wealthy families under
American sovereignty, you have come soft—you think only of dancing
and cabarets. But only those who know how to suffer and to die in order
to be free are worthy of that freedom.
Sybil Alacar
Erickson Beco
Honey Cabanza
Jennyln Chua
Aubrey Diligencia
Joey Garcia
Janice Miguel
Lawrence Solis