An award for my father

I was happy and sad at the same time when I received the US Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of my father, Ramon S. Tulfo, and countless Filipinos who fought the Japanese during the Second World War in solemn ceremonies at the Officers Clubhouse in Camp Aguinaldo on Thursday, June 9.

I was happy for my father and his fellow patriots, many of whom died fighting for the United States, which was at war with Japan from 1942 till 1945.

I was also sad because the award came too late.

My father is gone, and so are most of his World War II contemporaries.

He survived the 100-kilometer Death March from Pilar Bataan to Capas, Tarlac and endured the inhumane conditions at Camp O’Donnell, a US military facility that was converted by the Japanese victors as a concentration camp.

In his recollection of his life at Camp O’Donnell, my Old Man said he once asked one of the jailers, a Japanese sergeant, why American and Filipino officers were treated badly – slapped, kicked and pummeled for small infractions like forgetting to salute a sentry – while privates, corporals and sergeants were treated gently.

The answer he got further humiliated him: It was because in the Japanese military culture, officers committed suicide in defeat. And since the US and Filipino officers surrendered instead of taking their own lives, they were treated with disrespect.

Of a handful of living veterans who attended Thursday’s ceremonies, the youngest was 98 – that would place him at 17 years of age when he took part in the fighting – and he was doddering, and apparently didn’t know what was happening.

We only have former US president Barack Obama to thank for signing the Public Law 114-265 passed in 2015 by the US Congress giving recognition (in the form of the Congressional Gold Medal – RTT) to all Filipino soldiers and guerrillas during the Second World War. That’s 70 years after the end of the War.

US president Harry Truman and the others who succeeded him didn’t recognize the blood, sweat and tears Filipino veterans shed in fighting side by side with the Americans, and the anxiety of waiting for the Liberation after the US left the Philippines to the Japanese for three years.

There’s a saying in Filipino, Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo (Of what use is the grass if the horse is already dead) fits the US Congressional Gold Medal.

My father, who died in 1985 at age 69, would have described the Award as consuelo de bobo or an idiot’s consolation.

But as an old cliché goes: Better late than never.

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Philippine Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Hjayceelyn M. Quintana is as unique as her name, if the report this columnist has received about her is true.

Quintana has banned the celebration of Independence Day, June 12 (that’s tomorrow), at the Philippine embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Quintana hasn’t given a reason for forbidding the celebration of the country’s important day. She just said she didn’t want any celebration, according to my source in the embassy.

Everything had been set for the party-celebration, which is sponsored by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), when the ambassador put a damper on it, said the source.

I called a top brass at the Department of Foreign Affairs to inquire what was behind Quintana’s decision.

The answer I got confounded me: Most ambassadors and those holding permanent positions in the DFA no longer follow orders from superiors because the current management will soon be replaced by a new one.

I think that’s what’s happening in other departments in the Duterte administration.

All the appointed officials are now considered lame ducks like President Rodrigo Duterte, whose term expires on June 30.

That’s a sad commentary on discipline in the Philippine bureaucracy.

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The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Central Visayas has issued a “work stoppage” or temporary closure of a food and beverage factory in Cebu for unsafe working conditions.

The work stoppage came after the factory, whose main office is in Pasig, would not allow investigators into the plant.

A worker was killed while cleaning the interior of a pulverizing machine in the factory. In short, the worker was pulverized to death.

The plant management has also disallowed police investigators into the compound.

The question is: why?

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That man who introduced himself as “from NBI” (National Bureau of Investigation) with a gun in his hand while confronting another motorist over a road-hogging incident is Ramil Diez.

The incident was recorded on video by the other motorist, who definitely is also a braggart like him. The other motorist introduced himself as “from Malacañang.”

Diez, a dealer in orchids, is not an organic member of the NBI. Somebody in the bureau just gave him an NBI identification card because Diez gave him free orchids.

For all we know, the other motorist who is “from Malacañang” was also given a Palace access ID.

Pareho silang loko-loko (They’re both crazy).

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What lesson do we get from the confrontation between the two crackpots over a minor road incident?

That the roads in Metro Manila are crawling with drivers who think the world owes them something, and woe to others who cross their path.

Be careful when you drive in the metropolis. Many people have been shot dead over a fight for a parking space or giving dagger looks at another motorist or driver.

If you’re hotheaded, don’t drive in Metro Manila. Your bad temper will find a match.