Skip to content

December 10, 1941

Tonight the few interns stayed with us because they did not have any place to go, and the Fathers brought their things down to the ground floor. Fr. McGuiness and myself decided not to bring our belongings down, since we were very tired from the activities of the day.

The siren sounded twice. The second time it did not awaken me. Morpheus was stronger than the plaintive whining of the siren.

The government has advised the people to evacuate to the suburbs. The roads teem with thousands of evacuees and military traffic. Meanwhile, all means of communication with other provinces are disrupted, and for aliens, the only way of communicating abroad is by radiogram. There is no telegraph, no telephone, no radio communications. Fr. Honorio and Fr. Diaz boarded a boat for Negros together with the eight Arnaiz brothers and a number of interns. Luckily the boat official decided not to sail.

The Philippine government and the American High Command are trying to boost the people’s morale, recounting their achievements on air and land. They promise a complete victory. Washington will send help. But there are insinuations on the possibility and the near fact that the enemy is superior, that there can be infiltrations and landing in some parts of the country. The mercury of the people’s confidence lies low.