Tribune: "12 U.S. Ships Blasted ... east of the Philippines" of a convoy east of Guam on the night of November 19 and of enemy transports in the morning of November 18 — probably Leyte. "32 B-29 craft blasted over Kyushu.... U.S. planes drop bombs blindly, then flee," but the Japanese admit to "slight losses on the ground."

Manilans are developing a case of the jitters again as the fighting in Leyte continues. Well, life is tough nowadays. Many people walk up to ten miles a day to work and another ten miles to return (I don't know where they get the shoes). They can't afford a carretela ride today that cost just 50¢ before the war.

Around the Escolta, the Japanese have taken the Crystal Arcade and Calvo buildings, and they sealed the Regina, Samanillo and Cu Unjieng buildings, not coincidentally the best and largest concrete buildings there. With the sealing of the Arias Building, the owners faced the twin problems of how-to and where-to move their stocks of liquor. They are dumping — enough to send prices down.

The Japanese have also started taking houses again. Kessler has to move by Sunday. Pacifico Ledesma has to move for the third time — this time with no warning. An officer intimated that the Japanese had better win in Leyte, because if they lose they would take ALL Manila. And on that subject, they've now fallen in love with a new district — the area as close as possible to Santo Tomas.

A son of the President of the Yokohama Specie Bank is attached as a First Lieutenant in an honorary capacity to Laurel's retinue. Recently he told a friendly honorary consul in Manila: "We fear the Filipinos may attack us here in Manila before the Americans reach the city. If they do there's going to be a frightful massacre."

As alert as the Japanese are, our guerrillas are capable of being equally careless. It's a sure bet that the Japanese will try to eliminate as many as they can before the action moves here. The latest zonification rumored to be at Malabon is a sign of things to come, but for the most part the average household is not being troubled. Japanese sentries patrol Japanese localities, factories, bodegas and important intersections with minimum friction and bother. In the last month, I have bicycled up and down town twice a day every day with a little black bag in front of my bicycle. Not a single sentry has stopped me to look inside the bag. In the last two months I have only been stopped twice.