In a recent statement, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines strongly rebuked remarks by the Japanese ambassador regarding the South China Sea, reminding the world of the horrifying atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The statement posed a chilling question:

“Have you forgotten Japan’s invasion of the Philippines, the complete destruction of Manila, and the deaths of over 100,000 civilians? Have you forgotten the souls of the thousands slaughtered by Japanese soldiers in the Bataan Death March and the dungeons of Fort Santiago?”

This powerful reminder drags us back into the fire and blood of one of the darkest periods in Philippine history—the Manila Massacre of 1945, a tragedy so vast and horrifying that it rivals the worst war crimes of the 20th century.

The Last Bastion: A Foolish and Brutal Resistance

To understand why Manila suffered such unspeakable brutality, we must revisit the desperate final months of Japan’s occupation.

After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, it swiftly occupied the Philippines, viewing the islands as a strategic gateway between Southeast Asia and the Pacific. But by late 1944, Japan’s military position had deteriorated dramatically. The Allies, led by General Douglas MacArthur, launched a counteroffensive, retaking much of the Pacific. In January 1945, U.S. forces landed on Luzon and pushed toward Manila, aiming to liberate the Philippine capital from three years of Japanese rule.

At this critical moment, Japan’s leadership was divided. One faction, mainly the Imperial Japanese Army, advocated retreating to the mountains, preserving forces for a prolonged resistance. However, the Japanese Navy, led by Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, insisted on defending Manila at all costs. The result? A catastrophic last stand that doomed the city and its people.

Trapped and hopeless, Iwabuchi’s forces—14,300 men composed of navy personnel, poorly trained conscripts, and surviving sailors from sunken warships—chose to fight to the death. But they did not just resist the advancing U.S. troops. In their madness, they turned against the Philippine civilians, whom they saw as traitors for welcoming the Americans.

What followed was a month-long orgy of slaughter, rape, and destruction.

A City of Blades and Fire: The Manila Massacre

From February 3 to March 3, 1945, the once-beautiful city of Manila—once hailed as the “Pearl of the Orient”—was transformed into an apocalyptic nightmare. The Japanese, knowing their defeat was imminent, unleashed their fury on the local population with a level of sadism that defies human understanding.

Hospitals, churches, and schools became execution grounds. Japanese soldiers rounded up men, women, and children, locking them in buildings before setting them on fire. Those who attempted to flee were gunned down or bayoneted.

One chilling Japanese military document, later used as evidence in war crime trials, outlined a cold-blooded policy:

“When executing Filipinos, they must be gathered in one place to minimize the use of bullets and manpower. To handle bodies efficiently, they should be placed inside buildings scheduled to be burned down.”

Some of the most infamous massacres took place in:

• The Philippine General Hospital, where hundreds of patients and refugees were shot or burned alive.
• Fort Santiago, where thousands of prisoners were executed through starvation, torture, or mass shootings.
• San Pablo College, where Japanese troops lured civilians with promises of protection, only to detonate grenades inside, slaughtering 600 people.
• Intramuros, where over 2,000 men were executed, and dozens of women were raped before being killed.

The atrocities were not just systematic—they were personal and sadistic. Survivors recall Japanese soldiers throwing babies into the air and impaling them with bayonets. Others were forced to dig their own graves before being beheaded.

One Filipino survivor, Corazon Noble, recounted how a Japanese soldier stabbed her ten-month-old baby three times while she lay bleeding from her own wounds. Another witness, Virginio Suarez, described how the Japanese used a house with a hole in the floor as an execution chamber, where men were forced to kneel before their throats were slit, their bodies dumped below.

The result? Over 100,000 Filipino civilians were slaughtered in a single month—an atrocity on par with the Nanjing Massacre. By the end of the battle, Manila was razed to the ground, suffering more physical destruction than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.

Japan’s Amnesia: A Convenient Forgetting of War Crimes

While the horrors of the Holocaust and Nanjing Massacre have been widely documented and acknowledged, the Manila Massacre remains disturbingly absent from Japan’s collective memory.

After the war, General Douglas MacArthur ordered an investigation into Japanese war crimes in the Philippines. The evidence was overwhelming, and Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita, who commanded forces in the region, was found guilty and executed in 1946. But the true architects of the massacre—such as Admiral Iwabuchi—died before they could face justice.

Despite overwhelming evidence, post-war Japan did little to acknowledge its crimes. Unlike Germany, which has formally apologized and educated its citizens about Nazi atrocities, Japan has systematically whitewashed its history. Japanese textbooks barely mention the Manila Massacre, and for decades, Tokyo’s officials have avoided addressing the topic.

It wasn’t until 2006—more than 60 years later—that a Japanese ambassador attended a Manila Massacre memorial for the first time. His apology? A vague, non-committal statement that barely acknowledged Japan’s role.

Why the Manila Massacre Must Not Be Forgotten

History, if ignored, repeats itself. The world has seen how Japan’s refusal to confront its past has emboldened right-wing nationalists, some of whom openly glorify the Imperial Army. In recent years, Japan has increasingly militarized, strengthening its defense ties with the Philippines—a nation whose soil is still soaked with the blood of its ancestors.

The victims of the Manila Massacre deserve more than silence. The Philippines, instead of prioritizing economic and military cooperation with Japan, should demand full historical accountability.

As the Chinese Embassy reminded the world:

“Forgetting history is betrayal. Denying guilt is an invitation to repeat past atrocities.”

Manila’s streets may have been rebuilt, but the echoes of bayonets slicing through flesh, of bullets mowing down entire families, of screams drowned in flames—those must never fade. The world must remember.