Name: Coleen Margarette A.

Yare Course and Year: BS Psych-1

Subject: Readings in Philippine History (GEC 12) Teacher: Mr. Kurt Casas

Reflection Paper on Fr. Edralin’s Memoir

I don’t have adequate knowledge about the history of World War II that happened
in Cagayan de Oro specifically. However, upon reading the memoir of Fr. Edralin, I was
enlightened about the horrendous treatment of the Japanese towards the Filipinos and
the experience of those victims during that period. Fr. Edralin’s experience during the
invasion of the Japanese in the year 1942, in my opinion, was unsettling because they
were never sure how their lives would turn out as the Japanese were really into
abusing, harming and killing innocent civilians and prisoners. One mistake can either
lead you to them [Japanese] beating you or put you in a death sentence, just like when
there were two soldiers who attempted to escape the concentration camp but they were
caught and they were sentenced to death as a consequence of their actions.

In Fr. Edralin’s memoir, the part that had struck me the most was where women
were being used as a comfort to the soldiers and they are termed as “Comfort Women”.
According to writer and researcher Evelina Galang that during the Japanese occupation
from 1942 to 1945, there were "possibly approximately a thousand women and girls
were abducted and forced into military sex-slave camps." Cheryl Diaz claims that Meyer
details the legalized practice of sexual slavery that existed in Japanese-occupied
countries during World War II, when women and girls were seized for days or even
years at a time to work in military brothels. The fight for historical inclusion, a formal
apology, and restitution in the Philippines, where the Japanese Imperial Army sexually
enslaved an estimated 1,000 women, known as "comfort women," through kidnapping,
coercion, and deception, continues even as the Japanese government quietly
undermines them. As a woman myself, it saddens me to think that they weren’t that
strong enough to resist to the sexual slavery that they were being forced to be in.
Justice and kudos to the women who were lucky enough to survive the nightmare they
experienced during the second World War.
 How can I use my learnings from Fr. Edralin’s memoir in promoting the
importance of local history? It is to spread information little by little by posting through
social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter. Not many Filipinos are aware of the
history of the places that they are living in, so to be able to be aware of how things are
right now it is to read articles online,read different kinds of sources that pertain to a
certain topic, etc. The process goes on and on if the information is spread and if it is
spread properly, legally, and appropriately, knowledge will be gained and useful for
future academic purposes.

References:
McCarthy, J., & Meyer, C. D. (2020, December 4). PHOTOS: Why These World

War II Sex Slaves Are Still Demanding Justice. npr.org. Retrieved October 4,

2022, from

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/04/940819094/photos-there-

still-is-no-comfort-for-the-comfort-women-of-the-philippines#:~:text=Press-,Philip

pine%20’Comfort%20Women’%3A%20Demanding%20Justice%20From%20Jap

an%20For%20WWII,the%20survivors%20in%20the%20Philippines.

Meyer, C. D. (2021, May 14). Behind the Story: The Legacy of Comfort Women.

pulitzercenter.org. Retrieved October 4, 2022, from

https://pulitzercenter.org/education/behind-storythe-legacy-comfort-women