The Rotary Balita no. 689 (January 31, 1952)

This Thursday's luncheon meeting will be in observance of a glorious historic occasion, the liberation of Manila on Feb. 3, 1945, from the Japanese. Seven years ago, advance elements of the U.S. armed forces and Filipino guerrille troops made a daring thrust into the city from two directions. The first group to hit the capital was the First Cavalry which liberated the internees in Santo Tomas University. Then followed waves of the liberating forces which subsequently freed the whole city after bitter fighting and after Japanese vandalism had left the metropolis in ruins; Japanese brutality had taken a toll of precious lives and wrote a bloody sage of inhumanity. The holocaust can never be forgotten. The price paid was awful and even in the joy of freedom found again our people had to bear the sorrow of loved ones lost, of homes razed. We console ourselves with the thought that those who perished did not die in vain, but we have also made a resolve that the tragedy must not happen again ever. How far have we gone in assuring ourselves that it will not and cannot happen again?