BOOK I

INVADED

Manuel Quezon

With tension at an all time high, Quezon’s war readiness program shut schools, put a stop to unnecessary social functions and expenditures, and advanced government salaries. In Baguio at the time, Quezon, with his usual nerve, summoned MacArthur to motor up to discuss the crisis. MacArthur, on his toes too, announced to the press that he would facilitate news coverage should war break out; that he supported full freedom of the press, EXCEPT, of course, when the news might be of value to the enemy.

An AP item on page one of La Vanguardia, our Spanish language newspaper, said an important Japanese fleet was navigating the waters between Formosa and Luzon. Time was running out....

Ramon J. Lacson’s column said there would be no war in the Pacific because Hitler didn’t want the U.S. involved. Pedro Aunario’s article wasn’t even on the war but on the red light district controversy. In the downtown cines, the Ideal screened a Dr. Kildare picture; the Lyric showed Sergeant York; the Capitol, Hold Back the Dawn; and the Times, Moonlight in Hawaii. It’d be bombs instead!

The Manila Daily Bulletin's headlines for December 8 were rolling hot off the presses: “Roosevelt’s Message Seen as Last Effort to Avert War.” But the war was already on.