EXHIBITS
There Were Children on the Battleground: Japanese and Filipino Youth in the Second World War: Food Insecurity in the Philippines
Array
(
[0] =>
)
Food Insecurity in the Philippines

A starved girl clutches a box of rations as smoke from Manilla rises in the background.
(Courtesy of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries)

This is an excerpt from Kuwentong Bayan: Noong Panahon Ng Hapon: Everyday Life in a Time of War that describes how World War II and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines affected the food situation.
[click the image to enlarge; click the image again to browse all pages]
(Courtesy of the University of the Philippines Press)
Similar to Japan, most Filipinos faced starvation as a direct result of the war. Before the war, despite being an agriculturally productive society, the Philippines did not produce enough food to feed its own population. Foreign powers such as the United States and China invested heavily in luxury items such as sugar, rather than rice and other grains, and thus the Filipino economy became centered around sugar and coconut production.[1] Rice was still a major industry, but not large enough to supply the population, so the Philippines imported food from other Southeast Asian countries. During the Japanese occupation, Filipino trade was cut off by U.S. blockades who were preventing Japanese forces from transporting resources to their own country. [2] This damaged the food situation in the Philippines drastically, as not only was the Philippines responsible for feeding itself but Japanese occupation forces were also leaching off the Philippines and its people.
Teodoro A. Agoncillo gives this image of an urban area towards the end of the war:
“Along vast stretches of dust-covered streets, the dead could hardly be counted. Some were covered with newspapers, others less fortunate were with the rubbish, almost naked, eyes staring at the skies, limbs broken and faces showing traces of agony. All, however, had thin faces as weird as masks…Those who could move about ambled to the pile of garbage rummaged through it for any rotten banana, mango or tomato. Children, dark, unkempt, and undressed, with bulging stomachs, ransacked overflowing garbage cans for anything they could eat.”[3]
Agoncillo further explains how children were so hungry they fought over eggshells which a seven-year old had found and was licking “with much gusto.”[4]
Tropical Ulcer and Malaria

“Battling Disease and Starvation” is the personal account of Lilia Verano Brewbaker, who was a child during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. This account provides an example of the food insecurity in the Philippines during World War II.
[click the image to enlarge; click the image again to browse all pages]
(Courtesy of Ely Javillonar Marquez and F.T. Marquez)
Because of malnutrition, children and youth were more susceptible to tropical diseases such as malaria and jungle rot. Ely Javillonar Marquez describes how she and other children developed “scary” boils on their feet that were crater-like and filled with pus.[5] This was most probably tropical ulcer, more commonly known as jungle rot, which is more likely to occur when a person is malnourished and walks barefoot.[6] In The Fateful Years, Teodoro A. Agoncillo also mentions how tropical ulcer plagued young, starved children.[7] This condition did not seem to affect adults as much as it did children. Malaria was also common, but medicine was in short supply. Lilia Verano Brewbaker explains that she and her family all contracted malaria, but her parents only used the quinine tablets on the children, electing to take the full impact of the sickness themselves so they could heal their children. Sickness had a profound impact on Filipino civilians because it made it impossible for them to work, thus increasing the effect of starvation.[8] While Japanese children did experience sickness as a result of malnutrition, they did not suffer from the same tropical diseases that Filipino youth had to face.
Response to Hunger

This photograph is included in the book The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines: A Pictorial History edited by Ricardo T. Jose and Lydia Yu-Jose. In this photograph three children are peddling goods to make money during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. During World War II, food and supplies became more scarce so Filipino youth resulted to laboring to help support their families.
[click the image to enlarge]
(Courtesy of the Ayala Foundation)

This photograph is included in the book The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines: A Pictorial History edited by Ricardo T. Jose and Lydia Yu-Jose. In this photograph three children are peddling goods to make money during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. During World War II, food and supplies became more scarce so Filipino youth resulted to laboring to help support their families.
[click the image to enlarge]
(Courtesy of the Ayala Foundation)