Comfort Woman : a Filipina's Story of Prostitution and Slavery Under ...

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Comfort Woman
times in our house, sometimes in another place. I met many members
of the organization, mostly men and a few women. Their ages ranged
from eighteen to forty-fi ve. Many of them had guns, but I did not
hold a gun nor become a combatant. Once a month I collected some
medicine from Huk sympathizers, some of whom were drugstore
owners. My father contributed. He owned a pharmacy in Angeles,
and he knew that I was with the Hukbalahap.
Sometimes I saw his children, but they never acknowledged that
I was their half-sister.
Despite my resemblance
to Don Pepe, they
refused to believe that
their father could have
an illegitimate daughter.
They were part of a rich
and famous family in our
town. They were very
proud of their father and
did not want his repu-
A Hukbalahap meeting.
tation damaged. They
probably also thought I
might claim a share of their inheritance.
But I did not let their attitude worry me. The happiest moments in
my life were when I was with the Hukbalahap, collecting the medicine
that I knew would be a big help to the guerrillas.
There were many who joined the Huk. I was not the youngest
participant. Boys as young as seven to ten years old served as couriers
for the organization. They were brave. I also befriended the guerrillas
who came to our house and some of the women combatants whom I
saw during meetings. They initiated encounters with Japanese soldiers
in order to seize guns and ammunition.
The Hukbalahap had a song which I can still sing today. Its lyrics
are in Pampango:
Pamisan metung a panig mitatag ya