Valor and heroism: Filipino soldiers' stories from the Korean War

(Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 8, 2012)

THERE WAS A GREAT NATION in the 1950s that thought nothing of assisting an oppressed people whose country had been reduced to dire poverty by its brutal colonial occupier.

This great nation did whatever it could to assist this foreign race: it put forward a proposal at the United Nations that led to the general elections that created the new country called the Republic of Korea on 15 August 1948.

It was the first Asian country to open diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea.

It continued to provide South Korea with food and financial assistance to help ensure South Korea’s survival in the turbulent years following the birth of that state.

And, in an astonishing act of humanity and selflessness, this great nation sent its soldiers to defend South Korea against a massive communist invasion despite its having to contend with a communist rebellion of its own, and the painful challenge of rebuilding an economy crippled by the Second World War.

It was the first Asian country to send combat troops to the Korean War that began on 25 June 1950. Its soldiers protected South Korea until 1955.

All this the great country called the Philippines did for its protégé, the Republic of Korea.

These monumental achievements are badges of great national pride for all Filipinos.

Sixty one years ago, the first Filipino warrior set foot on Korea at the port city of Busan on 19 September 1950. The 10th Battalion Combat Team (BCT) was the first of five BCTs that would serve in Korea until June 1955 under the flag of the elite Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea or PEFTOK.

Quiapo, Manila from Quiapo Bridge in the 1950s

An extensive account of the Philippines’ role in the Korean War is on the Internet at www.peftok.blogspot.com.

Over 7,400 officers and men of the Philippine Army served in Korea. Five of these warriors—all in their 80s—recently returned to Korea for the first time since the Korean War. The Korean government sponsored their visit as part of the “Revisit Korea Program” for Filipino Korean War veterans and their families.

These veterans were accompanied by 15 other Filipinos, who were either their children or grandchildren. Their host was South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

These veterans were all astounded at the massive progress Korea had made over the past six decades, and rued the Philippines’ paucity of progress in that same time. One veteran noted that our present economic situation is the reverse of what it had been in the 1950s.

The Philippines then was Southeast Asia’s leading economic and military power and Asia’s second largest economy after Japan. From being one of the world’s poorest nations in the 1950s, South Korea is now one of the world’s 30 richest in per capita gross domestic product.

A most dangerous man
“I can’t believe how fast South Korea has improved since the Korean War,” said Jesus Dizon, who at 86 is the oldest Korean War veteran among the Revisitors. “It’s a tribute to the Korean people.”

His unit was the 20th BCT, the second Filipino BCT deployed to Korea. Dizon was a Forward Observer or FO, the most dangerous of Allied soldiers, whose job was to identify targets for the six 105mm howitzers of the battalion’s field artillery battery.

105mm howitzers of the 20th BCT open fire.

FOs got their deadly job done with a field telephone; a pair of powerful binoculars, maps—and a great deal of courage. They normally occupied well-hidden positions on hilltops or other dominating terrain near the enemy and spent days searching for enemy activity. The power of life or death held by an FO was terrifying.

In North Korea one morning, a large number of communist Chinese soldiers suddenly appeared below a ridgeline Dizon had been observing for some time. Dizon located the enemy unit on the grid map spread before him.

He calmly picked up his field telephone and called-in the target coordinates to the fire direction center of the battalion’s artillery battery emplaced a few kilometers behind him.

“Fire!” he ordered.

A single high-explosive 105mm round exploded away from the Chinese unit. Dizon noted the fall of the ranging round through his binoculars. He reported the adjusted range over the phone and commanded the entire battery to open fire.

Six 105mm howitzers manned by Filipinos unleashed shell after shell into the Chinese. Dizon saw the bewildered Chinese engulfed by horrifying explosions as murderous blasts tore apart their unit.

The inferno was over in about a minute. A dirty pall of dust and smoke from the barrage lingering over the tragedy served as the gravestone for dozens of dead Chinese.

Dizon put down his field telephone and stared at his handiwork.

Wounded-in-action
“All of this was flat,” exclaimed Luminoso Cruz when referring to the thriving and crowded city of Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul. “It was flat and gray. This city was totally destroyed.”

Suwon was where Cruz’s unit, the 10th BCT, spent its first Christmas in Korea. That was in 1950 and the 10th was the first of the five BCTs that served in Korea.

Cruz, a member of Recon Company, was the gunner of an M24 Chaffee light tank armed with a 75mm cannon. He took a shrapnel wound to the head along the banks of the Imjin River and was visibly moved as our bus crossed the river north during our visit to the Demilitarized Zone.

“This was where I was wounded,” he said, pointing to the bank of the Imjin, while suppressing his tears.

He fought in a two-man foxhole at the great Battle of Yuldong, which he recalled as a night of incredible terror.

“The Chinese attacked us in waves all night. My buddy and I just kept firing and firing our rifles,” he recalled of this gory battle, which was fought on 23 April 1951.

He doesn’t know how they survived the murderous hell of Yuldong. But his buddy had to be sent home afterwards. His nerves had given way under the terror of too much savage combat.

They called it “shell shock” then. We call it “post-traumatic stress disorder” or PTSD today.

The Battle of Yuldong was the greatest Filipino victory in the Korean War. A mere 900 Filipino fighting men withstood the night attack of an entire communist Chinese army that numbered 40,000 men at peak strength.

In standing their ground at Yuldong, the Filipinos fatally slowed-down the largest Chinese offensive of the war, and probably helped prevent the destruction of the United Nations forces and the communist conquest of South Korea.

The 10th BCT fends-off the communist Chinese 12th Army at the Battle of Yuldong.

One man's handiwork
Amiable and talkative, Florendo Benedicto served in both the 10th BCT and the 20th BCT. He decided to “re-up” or re-enlist in the 20th BCT because he loved combat.

Benedicto stands almost six feet tall and in the Army at the time, tall men generally wound-up becoming gunners in the belief they could carry heavier loads.

Benedicto’s weapon was the M1919 Browning .30 caliber medium machine gun that could fire up to 600 rounds a minute. The gun itself weighed 14 kilograms and it was Benedicto’s job to lug the gun onto the battlefield and fire it at the communist enemy. He did this on many occasions in two years of fighting.

Browning .30 cal.machine gun crew await the Chinese.

Today, however, Benedicto has rediscovered Jesus Christ. He spoke fondly of his Christianity, and quoted Bible verses during some of our conversations.

He believes that South Korea’s enviable economic blessings are due mostly to the strong unity pervading South Koreans.

“Their national unity is worth emulating,” he said. “Filipinos should learn from the South Koreans.”

And how can Filipinos achieve the great economic success of South Koreans?

“We have to establish love in the heart of every Filipino,” he answered. “We must love one another.”

It is a startling transformation for this formerly fierce warrior. It is all the more surprising if one knows what he did in the Korean War.

“I know I killed about 200 Chinese,” he said calmly when we talked about this. “I probably killed 300 more.”

Is he certain he killed 200 Chinese?

“I counted their dead bodies,” he replied.

Benedicto’s feat is all the more astounding since only 112 Filipino soldiers died in three years of combat in the Korean War despite almost constant fighting.

Happy birthday, Korea
Constancio Sanchez turned 24 on the historic day the 10th BCT arrived by ship at Busan on 19 September 1950, less than four months after the start of the Korean War on 25 June.

Knowing this, his officers allowed Sanchez to become one of the first Filipino fighting men to set foot on Korean soil. His mates then treated him to a merienda at one of the restaurants in the port city then being besieged by the communist North Korean People’s Army.

Sanchez served in the Headquarters & Headquarters & Service Company, the command group of the 10th BCT. The battalion was founded and first commanded by Col. Mariano Azurin. Col. Dionisio Ojeda replaced Azurin in the spring of 1951.

Of all the dangers he faced in the war, Sanchez remains awed by that phenomenon alien to Filipino experience called winter. It was December 1950 and the battalion was in Pyongyang when the communist Chinese intervened, and hurled the United Nations Command (including the 10th BCT) out of North Korea.

The winter of 1950-1951 was Korea’s coldest in two centuries but this did nothing to dispel the savage fighting that actually intensified with the Chinese intervention.

“We were shocked when the Chinese came and advanced so quickly,” he said. “We had to withdraw rapidly to avoid encirclement and it was terribly cold.”

Filipino warriors march amid snow covered fields.

Things would have been far worse for the battalion if the Chinese had attacked earlier, Sanchez believes. The onset of winter a month earlier immobilized most of their motor vehicles.

The intense sub-zero cold froze the water in engines and shattered engine blocks. This paralyzed most of the battalion’s vehicles, including those in the transport-heavy HQ&HQ Company.

Adding antifreeze to the water solved the problem, however, so that when the Chinese came, the battalion’s trucks, jeeps and armored vehicles kept running despite the intense cold.

“We probably wouldn’t have escaped from Pyongyang if we had to march on foot through the snow.”

Friends and God
Prudencio Medrano served in the HQ&HQ & Service Company of the 19th BCT, the third PEFTOK unit deployed to Korea, and re-upped for another year with the 14th BCT. And this was because of his friends.

“I re-enlisted because we were ‘buddy-buddy,’” he said. “Five of my buddies in the 19th BCT decided to extend. They asked me if I wanted to extend and I did because they were my buddies.”

In both BCTs, Medrano served as a radio operator of their battalion commanders: Col. Ramon Aguirre of the 19th and Col. Nicanor Jimenez of the 14th.

With the 19th, Medrano recalls he was often in the advanced command post with Col. Aguirre. His job was to transmit and receive voice messages and telegraph messages via Morse Code. Lives depended on the accuracy of his messages.

PEFTOK radiomen at headquarters.

Medrano rediscovered God amid the horror of the Korean War. The long spells between action and boredom along the static front line gave him time to reflect on things spiritual.

His search for meaning led him to what he called his greatest accomplishment during the war: joining the Iglesia ni Cristo in 1955.

* This is the original of the story published on Page 1 of the 8 July 2012 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Make your car healthier and safer

Notice how wads of crisp, newly printed P1,000 bills or the interior of a brand new car emit certain odors that make you giddy with delight?

The scent of clean, new money is a wonderful “pick-me-up” caused by chemicals in the special inks used in printing these bills. You could literally call the effect produced by these inks “a million peso high.”

The odor emitted by the interior of a brand new car, on the other hand, comes from the many chemical compounds used to make practically everything inside the passenger compartment.

Those chemicals, baked by the heat inside the closed compartment, produce that distinctive “new car smell” that assaults your senses once you open the car door. You could also describe the effect as a “million peso high” since many new cars in this country cost over a million pesos.

Unlike the harmless giddiness produced by money, however, that “new car smell” comes from toxic gases—and could be dangerous to your health.

PBDEs and phthalates
In 2006, a groundbreaking study released by The Ecology Center showed that interiors of cars and other motor vehicles contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. The Ecology Center is a membership-based, nonprofit environmental organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan that keeps tabs on toxic car chemicals.

Its 2006 report entitled, "Toxic At Any Speed: Chemicals in Cars and the Need for Safe Alternatives," reveals that many materials producing that “new car smell” are made from toxic chemicals known to pose major public health risks.

Car interiors are made from different kinds of plastics or “plasticized” leather. According to health experts, these plastics constantly emit toxins vaporized from the different plastic components in the car’s interior.

New cars carry 250 pounds of plastic on average. Most of these plastics are used in arm rests, door panels, steering wheels, dashboards, interior seat cushions and switches.

This toxic chemical climate in automobile interiors is normally caused by “PBDEs,” (chemicals used as fire retardants) and “phthalates,” (or phthalic acid esters, which are chemicals used to soften PVC plastics). The study found PBDEs and phthalates in dangerous amounts in dust and windshield film samples.

Phthalates chemical structure

PBDEs or Polybrominated diphenyl ethers are organobromine compounds used as flame retardants. The European Union has banned the use of PBDEs and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) in electric and electronic devices out of health concerns.

PBDEs and phthalates are considered volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are carbon-based chemicals that can evaporate into the air under the right conditions such as high temperatures caused by sunlight.

The most prevalent VOCs found in new cars are benzene (a human carcinogen); ethylbenzene (a systemic toxic agent) and acetone (a mucosal irritant).

“Off-gassing”
The Ecology Center described cars as “chemical reactors” that release toxins in a process called “off-gassing.” It said PBDE, phthalates and other chemicals are inhaled or ingested by drivers and passengers through dust and air, potentially causing allergic or other acute reactions, and long-term health problems such as birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity and cancer.

Off-gassing is triggered by high interior temperatures caused by sunlight, a process that accelerates in cars parked under the sun. The combination of higher temperatures caused by windshields and windows, and UV exposure from sunlight can cause PBDEs in cars to become up to five times more dangerous than in homes and offices.

The study also showed significantly higher levels of PBDEs in vehicles studied compared to levels in homes and offices measured in previous studies, making “in-car pollution” a major source of indoor air pollution.

The study said toxic chemical exposure inside vehicles is a major source of potential indoor air pollution since the average American spends about 1.5 hours in a car everyday. Children are the most vulnerable to off-gassing.

U.S. automakers, however, believe that chemicals such as the PBDE flame retardants are needed to protect people in crashes. They claim these chemicals have been shown not to pose a risk to occupants.

“Safe” plastics
The Ecology Center’s website at www.healthycar.org provides a wealth of information about the dangers of off-gassing. HealthyCar.org tested some 450 of the most popular vehicle models in the U.S. from 2006-2009.

It noted that two car makers had made significant improvements since the original findings and had joined another company as the three leaders in using “safe” plastics for indoor auto parts. The trio also widely uses bio-based materials; is improving interior air quality and reducing PVC use.

One maker developed an eco-plastic made from sugar cane or corn and is building a pilot plant to produce it. Another is developing a soy-based foam and a bio-fabric for its car seats.

Japanese car makers, however, became the first to set an industry-wide goal of reducing VOCs in passenger compartments. They agreed to cut levels of 13 VOCs (including styrene and formaldehyde) to match Japanese requirements for homes.

A separate study on VOCs, PBDEs and phthalates conducted by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) discovered extremely high levels of these substances in new cars.

It found that total VOC levels were very high in two locally made cars that reached the market one to two months after manufacture. These levels decreased some seven-fold in the first month, but still exceeded Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council indoor air standard.

While there is no comparable study in the Philippines, it is probably safe to assume that Filipino drivers and passengers face the same dangers from off-gassing as do their American and Australian counterparts.

One must remember, however, that exposure to VOCs, PBDEs and phthalates does not automatically mean one will get sick.

Among the many factors that determine if new car owners and their passengers may become ill from off-gassing include exposure to one or more individual VOCs or VOC combinations that create another compound; length of time of exposure and personal characteristics such as age and general health status.

Tips for a healthier car
Filipino car owners will also benefit from these tips on how to minimize the dangers from off-gassing and make their cars healthier:

• Vacuum often; 
• Use solar reflectors often; 
• Ventilate the car interior often;
• Park in the shade or away from sunlight as much as possible

Peace: the greatest gift

IN THIS “Season of Peace” that is Christmas, be thankful for the blessing of Peace.

It isn’t a perfect Peace. None will dispute that. There are frustrating wars against communist and Muslim insurgents who persist in their failing campaigns to bend the government’s will.

In this “Season of Peace,” grieve for the 40,000 Filipinos who have died in a communist insurgency that renewed its campaign of violence a day after Christmas in 1968.

Mourn for the 120,000 other Filipinos who have perished in Mindanao since Filipino Muslims decided to right perceived wrongs against them by force of arms in 1972. Lament the thousands physically wounded and those emotionally scarred by these wars, and the millions displaced from their homes.

In this “Season of Peace,” say a prayer and try to do something for our countrymen who have suffered and continue to suffer from these wars. And remember the child victims of war.

The dreadful toll of Filipinos taken by these wars illustrates war’s perverse and preferred role as an arbiter of conflict among human beings. War is as old as man. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of war or the employment of organized armed violence dating back 12,000 years.

War is pervasive. As far as can be determined, there has been a war every year somewhere on our planet for the past 3,000 years. And this rush to war seems to have been hastened by the rise of the “civilized” state 5,000 years ago.

One report claims there have only been 26 days of peace from 1945 to 2005. The year 1945 saw the end of World War II in which 70 million persons died, history’s bloodiest death toll from any war.

That's only 26 days of peace out of the 22,000 days from 1945 to 2005. And it’s fairly certain there hasn’t been a single day of peace from 2006 until today. Mankind stubbornly refuses to give Peace a chance.

War is enduring. Sadly, war has been—and remains—a common arbiter of disputes between states and among armed groups. It’s also the least effective since it sows, as it so often has, the bloody seeds of the next conflict and the one after that.

Witness World War I, the "War to End All Wars" that ignited the bloodier World War II, which then led to the proxy wars between democracy and communism that, in turn, saw Muslims take up the sword in the conflicts that batter today's world.

And if one gazes at the 19th century, one witnesses our own revolution against Spain, one of the many wars for independence fought by enslaved peoples against European empires, chiefly those of Britain, Spain and France.

Why does man avidly forsake Peace? The answers are as complex as the causes of war. But whether one believes the Biblical comment wars begin in men's hearts, or take into account the opinion most wars are ignited by greed, one cannot escape the reality of war's stranglehold on mankind.

Filipinos should count their blessings, however. It’s worse in some places where the word Peace isn’t defined as the absence of violent action, but as a pause in the horrors of war.

Recall Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and the Sudan, and those obscure places in Europe, Africa and Asia where racial hatreds have exploded into genocide.

In this “Season of Peace,” remember to love your fellowman as you love yourself. By doing so, you give Peace more than the fighting chance it needs to calm man’s violent passions.

Peace and Love to All in this Season of Peace.

Banish war.

The Philippines: lost at sea in the Spratlys

This August, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam will take delivery of her second “Gepard 3.9 Class” frigate.

Vietnam’s two Gepard (Russian for “cheetah”) frigates are now among the most advanced surface combatants in Southeast Asia apart from the Republic of Singapore’s six French-made “La Fayette” multi-role stealth frigates and the Republic of China's U.S. made destroyers and "La Fayette" stealth frigates.

The Gepard’s firepower is formidable: eight sea-skimming “Switchblade” anti-ship missiles, each with a range of 130 km; a surface-to-air missile system; two 6-barreled 30 mm autocannon; torpedoes; an anti-submarine rocket launcher and a 76.2 mm dual purpose main gun. All this Russian-made firepower in a small ship weighing only 2,000 tons and crewed by just 100 men.

Each of Vietnam’s Gepards has enough firepower to easily sink any World War II warship, including the 65,000 ton Yamato whose massive nine 46 cm main guns had a range of just 42 km.

One of Vietnam's two Gepard-class frigates

Challenging China
Begun in 2006, the modernization of the Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN) doesn’t end with the delivery of the Gepards, however. Vietnam is awaiting delivery of six improved “Kilo Class” submarines (six torpedo tubes, 6,000 mile range) and 20 Sukhoi “Su-30MK2” Flanker-C naval fighter-bombers (5,000 mile range, anti-ship missiles).

These weapons systems, all made in Russia, bring Vietnam closer to the point where she can successfully challenge China—her primary strategic foe—if push comes to shove in the West Philippine Sea. Of these three weapons systems, the Kilo Class submarines will be the most important in any future naval fight against China.

Ship-to-ship, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is overwhelmingly superior to the VPN. The PLAN has 50 frigates to counter Vietnam’s seven. It also operates 26 destroyers, 19 conventional attack submarines, three nuclear submarines, 80 missile-armed coastal warfare ships and over 200 fast attack craft.

Submarines, however, offer Vietnam the realistic prospect of tilting the odds in its favor in a renewed naval conflict over the Spratlys given China’s inexperience in anti-submarine warfare. And Vietnam will have six modern attack submarines to attack Chinese surface ships.

Unfortunately for China, over 90 percent of her maritime trade transits the West Philippine Sea. This makes Chinese merchantmen and warships easier prey for Vietnam’s Kilo submarines, also known as “Black Holes” for their ability to avoid detection.

Hence, Vietnam’s current strategy of building-up its submarine force, both to interdict Chinese shipping and to take revenge for previous defeats at China’s hands in naval battles in the Spratlys.

Vietnam’s last defeat occurred off our Kalayaan Archipelago in March 1988. In that battle, three missile-armed Chinese frigates attacked three almost defenseless Vietnamese troop transport ships defended by three lightly armed patrol boats, sinking all the transports and killing 60 Vietnamese. The Chinese lost six men but no ships. 

Other claimants' navies
Malaysia and the Republic of China (ROC), two other claimants to the Spratlys, also realize the immense value of submarines and modern warships in defending their national interests in the West Philippine Sea.

Malaysia two years ago took delivery of two Scorpène submarines built by France. These advanced subs are armed with “Blackshark” wire-guided torpedoes and “Exocet SM-39” sub-launched anti-ship missiles. They have a patrol range of 12,000 km on the surface.

The ROC, on the other hand, operates four submarines, 22 modern frigates and four destroyers. In addition, the ROC Navy is building 30 “Kuang Hua VI Class” missile boats capable of patrolling the West Philippine Sea.

The ROC is also reported to be developing a “carrier killer” called “Hsun Hai (Swift Sea),” a state-of-the-art missile corvette. This nimble sea fighter will rely on sophisticated stealth technologies to evade detection and engage PROC aircraft carriers with its eight anti-ship missiles. A prototype is scheduled for delivery next year.

It is now almost certain the PROC intends to build five aircraft carriers that will all become operational by the next decade. Since these carriers will undoubtedly be used to show the flag in the Spratlys thereby raising tensions, the naval build-ups by Vietnam, the ROC and Malaysia have sound strategic bases.

The Philippines and her Navy
And what of the Philippines and her Philippine Navy?

As we undoubtedly have the strongest claim to control the Spratly’s among the six contenders, one would expect this country to have placed orders for frigates, submarines, long-range fighter aircraft, surface-to-surface missiles and other necessary military hardware to back our claim more forcefully.

The Chinese dragon won’t bother with the Philippine eagle—unless that eagle breathes fire, too.

Yes, we are modernizing—in a way. Last March, the Philippine Navy took delivery of one Hamilton Class cutter from the United States. When this cutter was in service with the U.S. Coast Guard, it was used for search and rescue, anti-smuggling operations and patrolling the U.S. exclusive economic zone.

This ship has been renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF-15). It is armed with a 76 mm cannon, two 25 mm Mk38 Bushmaster autocannon and one 20 mm Close-in-Weapons System (CIWS) for anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense.

Its armament makes it more powerful than the BRP Rajah Humabon (three 3 inch guns), the Navy’s World War II vintage flagship. But we’ll only have one Hamilton Class cutter, which is also termed a frigate.

BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a lightweight compared to the heavy-hitting Gepards and the PLAN's Type 052 destroyers.

The del Pilar and the Humabon are the most powerful units in the Philippine Fleet. Backing up these ships are about 13 corvettes and 40 patrol boats. None of these ships are missile-armed, so their survivability in a naval battle or even a minor skirmish is seriously in doubt.

Were this country a bit richer, the Philippines would probably have trod the same road as Vietnam and shopped the world for the best available arms to meet our unique needs. Alas, this is not meant to be.

Despite its paucity in naval fighting power, the Philippines has an ace-in-the-hole: the mighty United States Navy.

On June 23, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged U.S. support for Philippines amid escalating tensions with China in the West Philippine Sea. Brushing aside a Chinese warning for the U.S. to stay out of the row, Clinton said that U.S. national interests in freedom of navigation and respect for international law were at stake.

“I want to underscore our commitment to the defense of the Philippines,” Clinton said, adding the U.S. would honor its 1951 mutual defense treaty with the Philippines. She said Washington would stand by its old friend.

While the U.S. “. . . does not take sides on territorial disputes over land features in the South China Sea, but we oppose the use of force or the threat of force to advance the claims of any party,” she said.

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alberto del Rosario said the Philippines is relying on U.S. help to strengthen its naval capabilities. The unequivocal U.S. pledge might serve to diffuse tensions with China for now, and this was probably its intent.

China's eternal nightmare: the US Navy's 10 Nimitiz-class supercarriers, one of which is the USS Ronald Reagan.

China, however, has shown a stubborn streak in its push for hegemony in the West Philippine Sea. And there is reason to doubt China’s sincerity when she states diplomacy is her preferred tool in solving the Spratlys’ impasse. Her relentless aggressive actions seem to belie this claim.

Only the U.S. or a military coalition among the other five claimants will suffice to keep China in check. And the Philippines can learn from recent history the folly of appeasing aggressive states such as China. Remember Neville Chamberlain?

History must not repeat itself at our expense.

* Published July 2011

How kids can avoid the danger of back-breaking backpacks

(Published in Enrich, magazine of Mercury Drug Corporation, in 2010)

THERE OUGHT TO BE a law against having elementary and high school students lugging most of their heavy textbooks and notebooks to school five days a week. The good news for students and their parents is there will be such a law—if and when the current 15th Congress comes around to approving it.

In August 2009 during the 14th Congress, Congressman Carmelo Lazatin of Pampanga filed a bill that would limit the weight of bags children in both public and private schools are required to bring to class daily.

This legislation or House Bill 06644 has been pending with the Committee on Basic Education and Culture since that same month. Its full title is “An Act Limiting the Amount of Weight of Bags Carried by Children in School and Implementing Measures to Protect Schoolchildren's Health from the Adverse Effect of Heavy School Bag”.

Far too heavy school backpacks

Lazatin cited complaints from parents in his district who said they discovered their children were carrying bags about 40 percent of their body weight. He noted several international studies that recommend schools limit the weight of loaded bags to a minimum 15 percent of the body weight of students.

Carrying a backpack weighing more than 15 percent of body weight renders a child unable to maintain proper posture while standing and causes him to bend forward, making breathing more difficult. Ideally, a backpack and its contents should weigh less than 10 percent of a child's body weight, according to some sources.

The problem of heavy school backpacks isn’t unique to our country, however. It’s also a grave problem in the USA, Asia and Europe. According to medical sources in the USA, one of the major causes of potential injury to American school children that often goes unnoticed is the school backpack.

Back Pain
A study by the American Physical Therapy Association found over 50 percent of children surveyed carried backpacks heavier than 15 percent of their body weight, the suggested weight limit. Children that carry more than this percentage can develop serious back pain and other problems that require treatment.

Coping with heavy loads presents another problem since children tend to lean forward or arch their backs, causing them to develop poor posture. A study conducted by the Hong Kong Society for Child Health and Development in 1988 showed close to five percent of Grade 3 to Grade 6 students developed back problems such as mild to serious spinal deformities due to the heavy bags these students carried to school daily.

In Europe, a study conducted in 1994 among Scandinavian students revealed a high probability for spinal problems in school children who carried backpacks, no matter how they carried them. That brings up another major problem about backpacks: how to carry these correctly.

The same Scandinavian study found that 54 percent of the children who carried their backpacks on one shoulder complained of back pains, and that 45 percent of the two-shoulder pack wearers also complained of back pains. It also showed that girls were more likely to experience backpack-related pain than boys.

Probably because it’s more “ma-porma,” many students sling their backpacks over one shoulder. This can, however, cause the student to lean to the other side to compensate for the extra weight, resulting in back pain and a strained neck and shoulders. Children who sling their backpacks over one shoulder or who use one-strap bags that put weight on only one shoulder might become victims of scoliosis (a sideways deviation of the spine) because of the uneven weight distribution. Medical sources say constantly slinging a backpack over one shoulder could cause damage to one’s spine.

Be on the lookout for these warning signs that your child’s school backpack might be too heavy for him or her:

• He experiences pain while wearing the backpack.
• There’s a tingling sensation and numbness in his arm or arms.
• He struggles to put on or take off the backpack.
• A change in his posture when wearing the backpack.

School Backpacks for Light Loads Only
It should be remembered that school backpacks, at least those commonly used in this country, aren’t mostly designed to carry heavy loads. A backpack with wheels (“rolling backpacks”) or mounted on a two-wheeled trolley is a better choice for lugging heavy school loads weighing more than 15 percent of the user’s body weight than the very common backpack.

What passes off as a normal school backpack is the frameless and non-rigid type suitable for carrying light loads weighing less than five kilograms. Many of these backpacks also lack adjustable hip belts that distribute weight across the body and padded shoulder straps for more comfort.

To carry more than five kilograms safely and comfortably means a student has to use either a backpack with an external frame or an internal frame. These types of backpacks are rare in the Philippines, however, and many of those available are made especially for backpacking, hiking and other outdoor activities for adults.

Framed backpacks are more often used by soldiers who tend to carry heavy loads. Soldiers also use large backpacks that can carry loads over 10 kg. This heavy weight is mostly supported by padded hip belts as the hips are stronger than the shoulders and thus able to bear more weight safely than the shoulders and spine.

Backpack Safety
Since your child is in school for eight months in a year, it’s wise to avoid the dangers that come with back breaking backpacks. Therefore, school backpacks must be properly used to avoid injury to your child. Have your child practice “backpack safety” by:

• Carrying not more than 15 percent of his body weight. Use a rolling backpack or a two-wheeled trolley for heavier loads, or if he regularly has to bring heavy loads to school.
• Making him use both straps to balance the load carried and to avoid spinal injuries. He must avoid slinging a heavy backpack over one shoulder.
• Buying the proper backpack. This means buying a backpack appropriate to your child's size. Oversize backpacks are no good since they tempt a child to pack more than he can carry. A backpack with an adjustable hip belt, adjustable shoulder straps and a padded back would be ideal if available.
• A backpack with two or more separate compartments (rather than one large compartment) will distribute a load more evenly.
• When packing books, it’s better to pack the heaviest books at the back, that is, on the side that touches the child’s back, so the shoulder straps and hip belt work more effectively to prevent unnecessary back strain.

They’re Not Roman Soldiers
Over two thousand years ago, the legionaries of the Roman Empire were among the toughest fighting men in the ancient world. These soldiers marched from one end of their vast empire to the other carrying everything with them on their person or on their backs: weapons, food, water, utensils, clothes and other necessities.

The Roman Army discovered that for its soldiers to march and fight, they could only carry 30 kg or less. That was about 40 percent or more of their body weight, and Roman legionaries (mostly men in their 20s) were renowned for their strength and toughness.

Today, we have reported instances where Filipino students regularly carry to school books and gear weighing up to 40 percent of their body weight.

That’s a 40 kg child hauling 16 kg of gear. Filipino students aren’t Roman legionaries. Why then should they bear the same physical burden?

Light up your life indoors

How many hours a day do you spend under the sun? If you’re the average office employee, that time would be limited to some one to two hours on a sunny morning when you rush off to work; the few minutes during your lunch break if you eat outside your office and the one hour from 5:00 to 6:00 pm when leave your office and head back home.

That’s about three hours or less of natural and healthy sunlight, and it jibes with studies in the West that show most people spend 90 percent of their lives indoors.

And sunlight can indeed be healthy—it activates Vitamin D, for example—as long as it’s absorbed in moderation. The corollary is that most city dwellers spend most of their days indoors. That means our eyes rely mostly on artificial indoor lighting (which can sometimes be too dim) to get things done. Our eyes, therefore, tend to live in darkness everyday.

But how bright should artificial lighting or illumination be so it doesn’t harm our eyes? How healthy is artificial lighting for our eyes? And is there such a thing as “healthy artificial lighting?”

Good sunlight
Moderate and regular exposure to “good sunlight” (generally accepted as sunlight before 10:00am and after 4:00pm on a sunny day) does have healthy benefits. One of these benefits is that sunlight helps stimulate the production of more red blood cells thereby increasing the blood’s oxygen content. The sun’s ultraviolet rays are also antiseptic and can kill some germs on our skin, according to some sources.

Moderate and regular sunlight exposure might actually protect the skin by increasing its natural resistance to the harmful effects of ultraviolet light instead of aging damaging the skin. And, as many of us already know, ultraviolet light converts cholesterol in the skin to Vitamin D. This vitamin is essential for the proper absorption of calcium by the body and thus in the prevention of osteoporosis.

A number of scientific studies support findings that natural daylight helps hospital patients recover faster, improves their mood and helps promotes well being. One striking discovery is that the health of patients close to windows tends to improve quicker. As you can see, sunlight in moderation is healthy.

Lux and lumens
Technically speaking, full or the brightest sunlight has an “illuminance” of some 100,000 to 120,000 lux per square meter at the Earth's surface. “Illuminance” is the total visible light (or “luminous flux”) present in a given area. It’s measured by the metric unit called “lux.” A lux can also be defined as one lumen per square meter. The lumen, in turn, is the metric unit of luminous flux.

The 120,000 lux generated by brightest sunlight is intense and should be since it floods immense areas of the earth’s surface. The family living room, however, needs only a very tiny fraction of this total: an illuminance of just 50 lux. That 50 lux can be achieved by a single compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) of 40 watts that produces 1,650 lumens and is available at hardware stores and major retail outlets.

In contrast, offices need more illuminance (up to 500 lux on the table surface) and therefore more lights for the good quality lighting employees need to work effectively at their computers and at clerical work. Factories obviously need more illuminance in their work areas than do offices for safety reasons.

Christine Sicangco, a professional “lighting designer” and one of the pioneers in this now expanding profession, said there isn’t a hard a fast rule as to the degree of illuminance in a room or how bright a room should be.

“If I were to do the lighting design of a family room, my use of lights would depend on who the occupants are or are they elderly or young; their lifestyle; their needs and the tasks they do,” she said. “You also have to take into account the height of the ceiling and the reflectivity of the walls.”

As an example, she noted that today’s kitchen is morphing into a living room and family room since family members tend to congregate here regularly for meals and chit chat. Children also seem to like studying in kitchens (probably because it’s a yummy food source).

To light a kitchen/living room/family room ensemble, an illuminance of 400 to 500 lux (similar to office lighting) would be appropriate considering the many activities that take place here. She said her kitchen is one of these triple function rooms; it’s lit by six paired 26 watt ceiling CFLs for “general lighting,” which makes for a brightly lit room. She uses “dimmers,” however, to regulate the brightness of her general lighting.

One can also use traditional fluorescent lamps for general lighting. But select the newer “T5 lamps” that last longer and are cheaper in the long run rather than the old “T10” lamps with ballast still found in many Filipino homes. In the case of Sicangco’s kitchen/living room/family room ensemble, two 28 watt T5 fluorescent lamps should give about the same illuminance as the CFLs she currently uses.

Sicangco’s living room is an altogether different affair, however. She sees her living room as a place to relax. Hence, the room has no bright ceiling lights such as those in her kitchen. Instead, her living room light sources are generated by floor lamps with low watt CFLs and accent lighting, which together add up to some 50 lux, and make for a relaxing setting.

But if you want more light in your home, don’t use more powerful ceiling lights or add more CFLs or fluorescent lamps to your general lighting. Use “task lighting,” according to Sicangco. Task or job lighting consists of table and floor lamps (with CFLs) that only illuminate the area where they’re needed and not the entire room. That saves money by cutting electricity costs.

“Why would you want lighting that generates over 500 lux?” Sicangco asked. “”It’s a waste of energy and you won’t need it that much.”

Over illumination
The conventional wisdom that more artificial light is better is a myth, according to some sources. Mounting medical evidence shows “over illumination” could actually be bad for your health. Among the ill effects attributed to over illumination are more headaches, increased worker fatigue and more stress.

Good lighting contributes greatly to person’s sense of well-being and can positively affect office worker satisfaction and productivity, according to the International Association of Light Designers (IALD), an international association that promotes the virtues of professional lighting design.

IALD says lighting designers are resource for innovative, practical and economically viable lighting solutions. They understand the role of lighting in architecture and interior design and rely on their extensive experience and knowledge of lighting equipment and systems to enhance and strengthen design.

A new and sustainable form of generating illuminance harnesses sunlight. Called “daylighting,” this “green” concept means lighting an indoor space with daylight from windows and skylights and not relying solely on artificial lighting.

Daylighting saves energy as it uses less electricity, and could avoid the perceived adverse health effects caused by over-illumination from artificial lights. Some experts believe artificial office lighting plus daylighting can attain an illuminance ranging from 2-3,000 lux without significantly increasing energy costs. Daylighting is also another solution to the challenge of using artificial lighting to duplicate the visual advantages of sunlight.

Most offices, however, continue to turn to artificial lighting to produce the clear visibility needed for safe and efficient work. This approach ignores a growing body of evidence that seems to suggest artificial lights can cause health problems due to under-illumination (research shows poor lighting can cause depression) and over-illumination (clinical studies show excessive levels of artificial light could lead to health problems).

The need to bring the healthy benefits of sunlight indoors has led to a marketing gimmick in the West called “full-spectrum lighting.” Although current medical research tends to disprove the most outlandish full spectrum lighting claims (that it replicates sunlight and purifies the air, for example), this phenomenon highlights a growing consumer concern indoor lighting should be “healthy,” or about as important to a family as the healthy food they eat.

Scientific articles about full-spectrum lighting compiled by the National Research Council of Canada Institute for Research in Construction, a Canadian government research and development agency, conclude that full-spectrum lighting does not confer any benefits as regards performance, mood or health compared to typical cool-white fluorescent lighting.

Sicangco concurs with this conclusion. “I don’t think full spectrum lighting is healthy,” she said. “If you need Vitamin D, go out into the sunlight.”

Good indoor lighting protects your eyes from the dangers of under- and over-illumination. It also helps protect you and your family members from accidents, and the visual risks associated with old age. But if you want your lighting to do more than just light up a room, you’ll probably need the services of a lighting designer.

But if you do experience problems you think are being caused by too much or too little lighting, see your doctor for advice.

Honor the 900

(Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer,  April 20, 2008)

WHEN THE CURRENT P500 banknote was first issued in 1987, my late father, Johnny Villasanta, noted with pride that here at last was a tribute to Filipinos who fought in the Korean War (1950-53), and who helped rebuild and protect Korea from 1954-1955.

The reverse side of the original banknote was replete with Korean War imagery: Ninoy Aquino garbed as a war correspondent, his portable typewriter inscribed with his initials and a reproduction of one of the many stories he wrote for The Manila Times while covering the 10th Battalion Combat Team (BCT), the first of five BCTs comprising the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (Peftok).

The P500 banknote depicting images from the Korean War: (Top) Ninoy Aquino as a Korean War correspondent with his camera. Behind him is a reproduction of one of his news stories about the war. (Below) The portable typewriter Ninoy typed his stories on when writing about the Korean War in the field.

My father (who was also a war correspondent in the Korean War but who worked for The Evening News) noted sadly, however, that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas had selected a story written by Ninoy that glorified the American instead of the Filipino fighting man.

The story in question carries the headline, “1st Cav knifes through 38th Parallel.” The 1st Cav is the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, one of seven U.S. Army divisions that fought in the Korean War.

The 1st Cav also took part in the Liberation of the Philippines in 1945, and helped wrest Manila from the Japanese. But the 1st Cav is an American unit.

My father felt the BSP should instead have chosen a story about the 10th BCT, which was the unit both he and Ninoy covered. Ninoy wrote extensively about the 10th BCT and I have photocopies of some of his stories published by The Manila Times.

War Correspondent Johnny Villasanta (right) in Seoul, 1950.

“Troops given big send-off,” (Sept. 3, 1950); “Ojeda leads Xth in heroic assault; Filipinos gain glory” (Apr. 17, 1951) and “PI Xth recrosses ‘38’; Ojeda recalls retreat; morale up” (Apr. 13, 1951) are but a few of Ninoy’s stories about our boys published by the Times.

The BSP could have selected any of these stories, or any of Ninoy’s many other stories about Filipinos, when designing the P500 banknote. My father, however, believed that reproducing a story about the Americans was due to the regrettable fact that BSP historians know precious little about our country’s involvement in the Korean War.

What is more ironic, my father said, was that Ninoy wrote hardly any stories about the U.S. Army in Korea. Checking old issues of the Times will bear this out. It is this fact that made BSP’s choice of the 1st Cavalry story all the more perplexing to my father.

The P500 banknote is now 20 years old. It was redesigned in 2002, and Ninoy’s typewriter was removed. It is probably due for a third redesign.

Should this be the case, might I request that the BSP replace the story about the 1st Cavalry with one that honors the 10th BCT, a Filipino unit.

The “Fighting Tenth” fought magnificently in the greatest battle of the Korean War—the Communist Chinese Spring Offensive, April 1951. The excellence of the Filipino as a fighting man was proven at the famous Battle of Yuldong on April 23, 1951.

At the nondescript village of Yuldong in North Korea, the 900 men of the 10th BCT withstood the massive night attack of a 40,000-man Chinese army and, in so doing, helped prevent the total collapse of the western front of the United Nations Command (UNC).

The 10th was one of the few UNC units on the western front not overrun in the first hours of the immense Chinese assault. The Americans, South Koreans, British, Turks and Puerto Ricans all gave way before the Chinese attack.

But not the Filipinos. Not the Filipinos who occupied their hasty defensive positions only one day before the Chinese attack!

Comparisons with the historic Battle of Thermopylae and its famous 300 are tempting, but unlike the doomed 300, the survivors of our 900 lived to fight again another day. The 10th was among the units that spearheaded the ferocious UNC counterattack that finally forced the communists to negotiate an armistice to end fighting in the Korean War.

Recognizing the great defensive victory won by the 10th BCT at Yuldong will not only honor the men of this battalion, and the four other BCTs (the 20th, 19th, 14th and 2nd) that served in Korea, but will also pay tribute to all Filipinos.

The Filipino deserves to be honored for volunteering to fight for democracy in Korea. We were the first Asian country and the third United Nations member country to send combat troops to defend South Korea.

Over 110 Filipinos died in this “Forgotten War” that saved South Korea from conquest by North Korea and Communist China. More than 400 Filipinos were wounded, some disfigured for life or rendered insane.

Of the 7,150 officers and men who served in Korea, only about 2,000 are alive today.  Many of these heroes remain poor, and their number decreases every month.

There will be no Filipino Korean War veteran left alive by 2040. By then, the youngest will be 103 years old.

There are only two monuments in this entire country that pay homage to the Philippines’ forgotten role in the Korean War: the Korean War Memorial Pylon at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and the Marikorea Monument in Marikina (built in 2005).

The P500 banknote can be considered only the third monument to Filipino greatness in the Korean War.

But let the P500 banknote be an accurate reflection of our history by making it completely—and proudly—Filipino.

Other websites by Art Villasanta

• Art Villasanta's INFORMATIONALS
• The PHILIPPINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE to KOREA (PEFTOK)
• FUTURE WAR. FUTURE DEFEAT?
• The KNIGHTS of the NAUSEOUS POOP