A good crowd was about — plenty of people, plenty of flags, lots of vendors selling ice cream (not even the Astoria's tastes like ice cream anymore) and fruit — mostly bananas. Years from now I don't want to be called a liar, so I had a really good look at the faces of the men — none were smiling. As for the crowd, a very generous estimate would not top 300,000. The arches were astonishingly poor, and some looked like outright insults. A small German contingent marched in the parade and even gave Laurel a Heil Hitler salute. I'm beginning to feel this celebration was a complete failure except for propaganda purposes.

The local radio (now PIAM instead of KZRH) has begun a five-day program celebrating independence — all Filipino and Japanese songs, interviews, and skits. The radio said the crowd numbered 500,000; La Vanguardia said 800,000. I had a really good look at the pictures — no one was smiling — and there's no aerial photo from the 150 or so planes that passed overhead.

Propaganda will now be redirected towards crushing the sympathy of the Filipinos for the Americans. For the Japanese, it is imperative that they succeed before the Americans return, for they want us to oppose them. Even now, before I sleep, there is a hateful skit in the radio where a Filipino is shot and denied a cross over his grave by the Americans.