A monumental failure of memory

MONUMENTS are tributes to people who have done us great good. Historical markers are attached to structures to remind us of decisive events that occurred in a certain place, like a mountain pass where a gallant battle was fought, the birthplaces of heroes, or where they gloriously offered their lives for love of country. Monuments and historical markers should honor those who tried to save us, but never those who wanted to destroy us.

That preamble brings to my mind certain monuments in the Philippines which I feel should be pulverized and demolished. These are monuments built to commemorate Japan's "honored dead." There is a glaringly offensive monument in Mabalacat, Pampanga dedicated to the memory of Kamikaze pilots. What did they do for the Philippines? They were Japanese pilots who swore to give their lives for the Japanese emperor by serving as human bombs. They were "suicide pilots" who deliberately crashed their Mitsubishi or Nissan manufactured fighter planes into battleships carrying American soldiers bound for the eventual liberation of the Philippines.