Biked over to Maurice's yesterday and boy did I get a surprise! Canvas-covered cases of munitions from Pinaglabanan have been strewn under every tree and beside every fence, wall and hedge in Prospect Grove Park. Parked twenty-five feet from Maurice's window are cases of rifles and bullets, even new old-style cannons with wooden wheels. A Chinese neighbor who found cases of ammunition stacked against the wall of his newly built air raid shelter is now spending a fortune to move it as far away as possible. Maurice is anxious to move to Manga Avenue and be done with the worry, but he'll stick a while just in case we're kicked out and need somewhere to go.

Tribune: "100 Enemy Planes downed in Taiwan" — by 1300 yesterday. Japanese losses are not mentioned.

"Philippines all set for Independence Day tomorrow.... President's Address will highlight celebration in Capital." The program looks like it will run for two hours.

Editorial: "Japan's Loan to the Republic" reads just like the editorial on the gift of rice. It may not be worth much, "but the significance of it, the moral intention, sincerity and spontaneity of its grant, the goodwill and sympathy that it represents ... will transcend all mathematical calculations." The article goes downhill from there. Of course the material benefits will be little — we're short of materials, not money.

This is an unreal period for just about everyone, somewhere between waiting for death and having a holiday. For some it's a grim battle for survival, for others it's a battle to escape boredom. Some are actually amused, waiting for the climax in a spirit of grand adventure, while others are terrified of the prospects ahead. The poor are waiting for their great redemption while some of the rich sit about and continually discuss the great sufferings they have already endured, the sum total of which might amount to nothing more than the inconvenience of having to move out of their home. A few drop-by to say: "I'm off to Baguio tomorrow, goodbye and good luck. Hope we'll be seeing each other again soon." It's said as if they're off on a jaunt — great fun y'know? Well, considering the various prospects in their true light, Manila could end up like Kharkov or maybe even Warsaw, but no one's moaning; the script is just too unreal. Everyone is being helpful to those in need, except the truly poor, that is. Who really helps the truly poor?

Dad, who trudged from Mindanao to Aparri 45 years ago and knows the provinces well, won't leave Manila except by force. On the other hand, this war sent us back a hundred years. Take the case of the Gonzalo Puyats (furniture tycoons). Mr. Puyat went with full equipment and provisions, including much food and 30 sacks of rice. Hardly had he settled-in when guerrillas paid him a "visit." You can imagine how things went when I tell you that he "gave" them 20 sacks of rice and other things, and after the guerrillas had gone, decided provincial life was not suited to him and returned to Manila with the whole retinue. The Pellicers were also robbed and beaten. The trouble with San Mateo is food scarcity; there can be no safety where others are hungry. So just as some are leaving Manila for safety's sake, others who left earlier are returning for the same reason!

Formosa Results: Halsey's Third Fleet on Thursday "destroyed 221 Japanese planes, sank 16 ships and damaged 19 others. American losses were 22 planes and no ships damaged." There's no need for comment; Japanese counterclaims are all wet. Halsey also bombed airbases in Northern Luzon last Wednesday, but didn't give us any details. And while all this was going on, Balikpapan got plastered again, not to mention the usual places like Ceram and Amboina.