Hi st or y’s r eel

What is, is because of what was. History is a reminder of the past, the triumphs, the glory, the pain, and sacrifices made in order to attain what is now. In the 75th anniversary of the Second World War in the Philippines, only few people who have seen the chaos first hand, live.

With the International Conference on the 75th Anniversary of the World War II in the Philippines, Holy Angel University is screening six different documentaries about the horrors of the war— the men and women who have fought and sacrificed everything including their lives for the country’s freedom.

The week long screening of the World War II Documentary Film Festival and the Conference Week is being held at the Peter G. Nepomuceno Professional Schools Building, Holy Angel University, Angeles City, and is free of charge to those who wish to relieve history through film.

These documentaries not only relive the past, but also immortalize the experiences of those courageous men and women to serve as a reminder to the younger and future generations that war brings nothing good. One veteran of war featured in Manila 1945: The Forgotten Atrocities, says that at the end of a war there emerges a vanquished and a the victorious, but in reality both sides emerge as losers. Both sides have lost a great deal and continue to do so after the war is over as they strive to rise from the ruins of war.

Producer, Lucky Guillermo, mentions to the audience that as millennials, they are unfortunate to not have experienced war, which has made their generation stronger as a people. He also reminded the audience that in the presence of a veteran of war, one must pay his respects as a sign of gratitude for his service to the country.

During the opening day of the week-long commemoration, the audience was composed of students from the grade school to college level. Guillermo emphasized that we, as a people, should never forget the horrors of war, because forgetting and not giving importance to history means that those who have died for our country and the freedom of the Filipino people would have gone to waste, that their lives were given for nothing.— Anika Simbulan/ AUF Intern