It's Navy Day today with the usual parades and whatnot. "People called upon to dedicate thoughts to Nippon seamen." I've dedicated mine already.

"Naval defense of East Asia Impregnable. Enemy can never return to P.I.," says the Navy Chief of Staff in Manila. His premise: If the Germans can't cross the Dover Straits, the Americans can't cross the Pacific. "It is absolutely impossible for the Americans to return to the Philippines as long as the Imperial Navy stands guard over East Asia." The Scribe asked us to look at the map again — it's impossible for the U.S. to return, see? The Japanese know what we're thinking: that it's only a matter of time....

A relative of the Sotelos got a letter stamped "Censored by the USAFFE" from a friend hiding in the mountains in the Visayas. Despite all Japanese efforts, Visayan guerrillas are better organized than ever before. It's known that Japanese commanders in the Visayas are rotated out every few months. They start their assignments vigorously, soon tire of chasing shadows in the jungles, and finally yield to the soporific climate and the laissez faire attitude of their superiors — at least until the guerrillas bother them again.

The same thing happens in Cebu, though they are not as daring and organized as Negros, perhaps because of Confesor. The Japanese would sure like to get hold of him. Fermin Caram, the puppet Governor of Iloilo, recently fled to Cebu. Guerrilleros sailed by in bancas [outrigger canoes] one night and raked his house with machine gun fire.