Interview of Laura Villarosa Brilliantes [Filipina Civilian]
By Dani Fishman
Dani Fishman: How were you involved in WWII?
Laura Villarosa Brilliantes: I was never involved really because I was still young. I was only 14 or 13 during the WWII. My father [Villarosa] was the one involved. He was a leader of the guerilla movement. He was…was…was working underground for the…for the guerilla movement. He was against the Japanese government. I myself was not involved because I was still young. But…speaking of involvement and all…all we do is hide [laughs]. Hide from the enemies…because they were looking for my father…so we always go underground…what do you call it? Under…under air raid shelter…so the Japanese planes wouldn’t bomb…the…the area and all.
DF: Was your father part of the government?
LVB: Yes, in the underground government.
DF: What kind of things did the Japanese do when they arrived in the Philippines?
LVB: Oh…when they arrived in the Philippines…well…they set up their own government. But I know that they were so…so cruel because the killed…they killed so many people…if they find…if they know people hurting the government…or helping the guerilla…the guerilla warfare…so they killed those people and the family. They’re so cruel…that…I don’t know…your Lolo [means grandfather in Filipino] he even witnessed the shooting and the killing of so many civilians…they have their own government and there are so many people also that…that like the Japanese government because they are working and they can receive pay and feed their families and all…but otherwise they could maybe working for the sake of working or else they will be killed if they will be…be siding with them.
DF: Going back to the bombings…what did you and your family do when they were bombing?
LVB: Oh…when they were bombing…We always have several…several what you call it…air raid shelter…and they are so big that they could accommodate 20 or 25 people…once we see…we don’t have sirens like that…because…we use to…we use to live in the mountains…and we had to hide from the Japanese…and…once we hear the planes flying over and all…we just go…underground…we go to our air raid shelters and sometime we have to stay there…there for nights…because besides the bombing there were Japanese troops going around the place…we couldn’t afford to get out and do cooking or anything because if they if they see fire or smoke or anything they’ll go to that place…so we stayed underground for days.
DF: Did you see or get captured by the Japanese?
LVB: I have not seen the Japanese (laughing)…I mean from afar…sometimes when we are hiding…we are crouching behind bushes…or…or…under water because we used to stay under water…and we can see them passing by…but I’ve never seen anybody being killed…but I know that they’ve been killing…killing people.
DF: What kind of places did you and your family hind in, and you know the locations like the geography of it?
LVB: Location…yea I know…we know that we were in the mountains…but when I was young I would not know the geography or the location...later on and right now at my age and all that…I have read and studied the geographical locations…I would know where…but at the time I would not know…my parents would know…and then my uncle…we were such a big family that sometimes its just fun…you would not think that the Japanese aren’t looking for us and there’s no bombing and all…it’s fun also…staying in the mountains…it’s…I’m already going away from your question…but we lived in a beautiful place in the mountains (laughing)…and you can see the natural …natural water falls…and then my grandfather used to hunt deer and wild pigs and there are so many monkeys hang on the trees (laughing)…and different kinds of birds…just like in the movies…sometimes have you seen the movies in Thailand or in Bonallo?
DF: Yeah.
LVB: It’s something like that also…the Philippines is like that…in the forest there are so many beautiful flowers…the most beautiful thing I love is the water fall…and the brooks there are so many brooks to go around…and then beautiful clear water and we used to take…take a dip inside and looks like a pool…and the water running through it…beautiful.
DF: What were the conditions that you endured when you were in hiding?
LVB: Conditions…well the unsanitary conditions…sometimes when you are hiding…it’s so hard because you have to get out of the air raid shelter…because you can not just do any…toilet [laughs]…toilet facilities…there’s none…so sometime you just have to get up…we open…somebody opens the door for you and…and you just do your thing outside and…and then you knock and go back inside again…it’s awful…especially at night…but in the daytime it’s not so bad because it’s bright and all…and you wont be afraid…back to the conditions…it’s really bad…like the sleeping facilities and all…we just sleep on the plain…plain…plain wood and all that…and then we would just have blankets and all…blankets are our most prized possession…when ever we run away or transfer for one place or another…we always have to bring…bring our blankets…see we have been running from the Japanese for…for almost four years…staying in the mountains.
DF: What was one of the scariest things that you remember from when you were in hiding?
LVB: Scariest thing was the bombing…I mean the machine guns of the plane … trying to machine gun our place…and then…we were so lucky that we were...that nobody in the family has ever been hit…but once they see something like smoke or fire the planes will come over and…start machine gunning the place…and sometimes they drop bombs…but then…then not so…so much of the bombs because…because they would be wasting so much that they would not know what they are bombing so they just fly a plane over us and start… start … machine gunning us … for us … and that’s the most scary thing because you’re afraid sometimes because you can not go under the air raid shelter you…you just go in the house and all…you can see … bullets flying all over … and that’s the scariest thing and even now I that I’m … I am have a paranoid of…of guns…and the…and the sound of the…and the sound of what that?...guns…when you tape me…you’ll let me listen…listen to your tape?...can you do that?
DF: Uh huh.
LVB: Oh…really?
DF: Yeah.
LVB: Oh…how nice.
DF: You are being recorded right now.
LVB: [laughs]…I am being recorded…oh God.
DF: How often did you go without eating?
LVB: Oh yeah…sometimes we don’t eat for a day but then…you know we always have that…my mother always prepare everyone of us a small bundle…like a survivor kit…that’s what they call it now…before we don’t even know…we just had a bundle…and then…everyone of us…there was rice and there was a bottle of water and there’s a little candy or sugar and salt…or…or little pieces of…of whatever we can…we have at that moment…we always have it…and then when…when it’s time for us…somebody…a guard would say,” Go inside the Japanese…the Japanese troops coming….going around the place.” And then all of us start…start hiding…going under air raid shelters…and then they cover again the air raid…as if it was like…trees and nothing…so we have a surviving kit…but most of the time we go hungry.
DF: When you were able to eat, what did you eat?
LVB: Oh…we usually had cooked rice…that’s all…rice and the dried fish…that’s the staple food all the time and sometimes we have also corn…no fruits no nothing…no can good…because of at that time you could not go down to the city and get food.
DF: What food did you like or dislike?
LVB: What…what sorry?
DF: What food did you like and dislike?
LVB: The food?
DF: Yeah.
LVB: At that time you can not afford not to dislike any food [laughs]…you would have to eat anything being given to you…sometimes when we go to the deep forest…and there are some wild food…and we have some wild berries…so many beautiful…so many things to eat…and one thing that I can always…I can never forget…mushrooms…mushrooms growing all over the place…it’s so good…my mother used to cook them in banana leaves…and broil them…do you like mushrooms?
DF: No!
LVB: [laughs]it’s so good…that’s one thing very abundant in the forest…mushrooms.
DF: Did you eat any animals?
LVB: Yeah we did…wild pig…and then wild duck…and what do you call it?...frog…frog legs I remember…and then you would have plenty of the shell what do you call it…the French love to eat that…escargot…the snails.
DF: Yeah, escargot.
LVB: Escargot yeah…we used to pick them from the brooks…it’s so good because it’s a clean…it’s clean…and we used to steam it or boil [laughs]…escargot is good and try that…and then my dad also used to shoot monkeys and then they don’t tell us what they’re feeding us…they say it’s rabbit…but in fact it’s a monkey…it’s good [laughs]…yeah we eat wild ducks, wild chicken, wild pig…their meat is so flavorful…I mean it’s a little sour because they only feed on those fruits that are just falling on the ground…there’s always meat around us…I mean that there are always animals…like wild pigs and duck and…and rabbits
DF: I forgot to ask this earlier but, when you were in hiding who was with you?
LVB: The whole family…see my grandparents were still alive and they are AFA children…my grandparents…and then they were all married…and all have children…and it’s like living in a big compound…and there are so many of us…and then inside their own house…we build our own house…the Japanese will…will be told by some spies that our family lives in that area…and then they go there again and then we transfer to another part of the forest…and then build again…it’s such a terrible thing…we always change our…our…where we live ever now and then…always changing…we have also men that my grandparents…they have so many around to help us transfer and do the hard work for us.
DF: Experiencing what you went through did it change you a lot as a person?
LVB: Yeah it did…it did change me as a person…I am more…I think I attribute my…my life to…to God…God has been so good to all of us…he was able to put us threw the war year…and know body was scared during the war…and we were sick every now and then but not really…like being in sickness that requires surgery or anything…no we not have that…it pains me to being just…I thank God all the time for giving me a long life and seeing me through the war.
