Manila is abuzz with rumors of evacuation and martial law. Everyone's checking the plans of others before making their own. Should they go? Stay? Split-up? Join others? Meanwhile, the government is stalling. If they evacuate, those that remain will be at the beck and call of the Japanese — meaning forced labor in airfields, in trenches, at the front or in the rear lines. Our lives won't be worth a nickel when the crunch comes.

That's the situation today: nervous talk; excitement; bewilderment; houses subject to search or confiscation; personal goods, treasures, stores left behind — in short, everything that happened to Belgium, parts of France, Poland, the Ukraine.... Only this time it's our turn! This latest wave of panic began in and spread rapidly from government circles last Saturday. The raging, merciless scythe of war is finally and irrevocably about to descend on us — here, in this charmed and God-protected country we innocently hoped it was. We can but only wait and hope to survive. We know the Japanese will not surrender. That means house-to-house fighting, fires, and a scorched earth policy.

It's all right to leave in a hurry away from an advancing army, under the protective wings of your own government — your own people. But our government? BAH! It's said that Laurel in Malacañan is often seen with both elbows solidly planted on his desk and his head bowed low, buried in his hands. It's said Vargas left for Tokyo at the point of a pistol! Our government? What government? The Japs are our overlords.

The cost of hiring a 3-ton truck for a single 267-km. trip to Baguio is P10,000, if you can find one. Should you send the family away? No, no! shouts one with experience. You'd die a thousand deaths of separation, worry and despair. Yet one hears of people leaving or planning to. The Zobels leave for their Hacienda in Batangas on the 15th — with much arguing in the family. Don Ignacio, the cleverinsky, has his evacuation place ready; nipa hut built; stores cached. All he's waiting for is the bell. The bet is he'll get a short count and not be able to get away in the last moment.