Evening star., 1942-02-01

The Filipino character is in the cru
chile The Filipino soldier under Gen.
Douglas Macarthur has suficiently
proved his love for liberty with his gal
lantry against the enemy and his loyalty
to the United States. but the Filipino
non -combatant must still show whether
he can stand Japanese Establishment
and brutality.
If their China incident" has taught
the Japanese anything, they probably
will lean over backward to appear be-
nevolent and brotherly to the Fflipinos.
They most likely will avoid inflicting on
Filipinos the kind of atrocities which
gained them in China only bitter hatred
and bad reputation among Far Eastern
peoples.
Japanese Establishment, however, may
prove to be more enervating to Filipino
resistance than japanese brutality,
actual or threatened. Well-trained jap
snese propagandists have been flooding
Philippine population centers with leaf
lets processing the invaders Asiatic kin
ship and solidarity with the Filipinos
and their lack of the racial superiority
affected by the longtime white rulers of
the Far East.
u. S. May Well Be Prepared.
Filipinos are grateful no end to the
United States for all she has done for
their country in 43 years. But the in
vaders might be able to convince the
Filipino masses that Japan could hold
the Philippines for long time and that
meantime somebody had to run civil
government to maintain law and order.
Whether the Filipinos will finally sue
cunb to the japanese efforts to wean
them away from the United States re-
mains to be seen. But the American
people may we'll be prepared for what
ever step the unarmed war-weary Fill
pino civilians may be compelled to take
to end further bloodshed and property
destruction.
Already the Japanese are laying the
foundation for a vassal government In
Manila. With either rosy promises or
dire threats, they have succeeded in get
ting a number of major Filipino po-
liticos to collaborate with them.
Their major catch so Tar is short,
plump tennis playing, 5l-year-old Jorge
B. Vargas, lawyer and longtime hard
driving bureaucrat Until the time OF
the invasion he was trusted friend
and right-hand man of Commonwealth
President Quezon. That japanese set
UP Vargas as Mayor of occupied Manila.
Vargas stood so high with Quezon
that when the commonwealth chief
evacuated the besieged capital he was
appointed head of a four-man emer-
gency cabinet to run the government,
with the imposing title of prime minis
ter. AS such, Vargas, who was only
private secretary to Quezon and an
ex-ofhcio member of his cabinet, with
out portfolio, outranked Commonwealth
Vice President Sergio Osmena, who was
named only member Of the emergency
cabinet.
Quezon Beyond Japs' Reach.
The japanese undoubtedly would have
preferred to catch Vargas boss himself,
but Quezon had been taken by Mac
Arthur to a place of safety beyond the
reach of the invaders. With extraordi-
narily popular Quezon collaborating with
the Japanese, Filipino resistance against
the invaders would not last long. PreSi-
dent Quezon last Thursday proclaimed
the continued loyalty Of his people and
their defiance of the japanese invaders0
Quick thinking Vargas once did the
japanese a good turn. In 1884, when
Japan was confronted with losing face
because some Far Eastern countries
chose to 60 along with China in refus-
ing to recognize Manchukuo as dis
tinct country at the Far Eastern Olympic
games at Manila, Vargas, then presi-
dent of the Philippine Amateur Athletic
Association, recognized the vassal state.
The Japanese recently announced that
they were quite aware Of the past atti-
tude Of Vargas and other Filipino COL
laborators toward Japan. but that they
were more interested in their present
attitude
Another member of Quezon's cabinet
mentioned by the Japanese as co-operat-
ing with them in establishing vassal
government is Secretary of Public In