Tribune: "Japs start drive against Chungking" — crossing the Yellow River.

"Mountbatten's New Strategy proves a total failure in Burma." What strategy — except to wait for the U.S. Pacific offensive. At least they are drawing Japanese troops and equipment away from the Philippines.

Editorial: "Objective of Anglo-Saxon Bombings" — you can imagine: innocent civilians, hospitals, religious facilities....

People are trying to guess when the Americans will land here. The consensus is either August, the height of the rainy season in the northern half of these islands, or December-January. August would be best.

As the Taiwan Bank, the liquidator of the so-called Belligerent Banks, collects on loans of the latter, they allow account holders to withdraw limited amounts from time to time. At first, there was a rush of withdrawals, but repayments now exceed the demand for withdrawals by far, and therein lies a tale. It's expected that prewar money will be recognized as genuine after the war, so paying off loans with inflated [worthless] currency is desirable, if somewhat unethical. Liquidators have been urging — not forcing — those with overdrafts to pay up in installments. Payers are keeping meticulous records of such letters just in case their payments are invalidated after the war. You see, if they can prove that they paid only what was demanded, those payments might be recognized.

Now, a racket consists of someone arranging for the Japanese to write a letter demanding a larger than usual payment, which the Japanese are only too willing to do. The debtor gets to use his worthless currency to retire his genuine debt faster, and the arranger collects a fee for providing the service.

Real estate is being peddled at multiples of 10 to 15 times "assessed value." Sellers are demanding that a lower price be written in the contract to lower their income tax. In a recent case, a lady sold her property for P200,000, but insisted it be documented for only P100,000. Then she found out the property was really worth P250,000. Further investigation revealed the Filipina buyer's husband was Chinese — presumably the property was for the husband. Since aliens can't buy real estate in Manila, she sued to have the transaction blocked, indicating she was willing to give the buyer back her P100,000! The case is in court.