Went downtown and found Manila quiet except for minor looting, though people hung around waiting for an opportunity to do so. The biggest crowd was outside F.C. de la Rama's bodegas at Legarda. Being on the blacklist of every guerilla organization in Luzon, people expect him to leave with the Japanese. Just in case, he made substantial "donations" of cash to every town and barrio he's been to. I saw the man when I passed by, stepping out of his bulletproof Packard protected by eight bodyguards and one high-ranking Constabulary officer. With a pistol tucked into his pants, he looked aghast at the people hanging around his bodegas.

At the Japanese Navy bodegas off Raon is a Filipino who has been a loyal stool pigeon for the Japanese ever since they came. To say he's a rich fellow is to put it mildly. The Japanese trust him enough even now to let him pack his own 38 caliber revolver, which yesterday he brandished for all to see while he defended his actions with mighty words. The pistol was there to claim the bodega the moment the Japanese left. "Here I am," he was saying in Tagalog, "and here I stay."

Sure I helped the Japanese, and why not? They have done me no harm. If the Americans want to know why, I'll tell 'em why. I have it all down in 14 pages, black and white. I can explain. Now the Americans had better not touch me.... I can take a couple [of them] along if I have to go.

The Americans may not know about him, but the guerrillas do — and they have definite plans for him — terminal, you could say.

Manny and I were the only strangers around besides a handful of Navy people who were still trucking out Coca-Cola, Tru-Orange and beer. The bodegas still hold imported whiskey and plenty of textiles. Refrigerators, textiles and radios are the best loot today, but the average Filipino is so poor he'll do an incredible amount of work just to get an empty oil drum that the Japanese used to pay fancy prices for before — and I doubt if the Americans will need them. Guinto is reported to have sealed a Japanese bodega for distributing to the poor. Meanwhile, the PC guarding the place are ... er, lifting a few things now and then.

continues...