MEMORIES: Early Life & THE UNSEEN FUTURE

Chapter 1 -My Early Life

I was christened Rodolfo Carvajal Bernal. At home, among friends I am called Rudy. I grew in Dayhagan, Pilar, Capiz. When I was 4 years my father bought a 2 ½ hectare farm in Cawayan, Carles, Iloilo. He bought it from his back pay from the Army. Here, most of my brothers and sisters still live these days. I go home to Carles every 3 or four months for a few day's stay.

Dayhagan, Pilar, Capiz and Cawayan, Carles, Iloilo were two northernmost villages in northern Panay.m It is near each other. I was born November 23, 1940. I am now over 79 years old in 2020.

I was told by my father that a month after I was born, the Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbor in Honululo, Hawaii December 1940. The Japanese-American war in Asia started. In Europe. The 2nd World War was raging with Germany and Italy fighting against Great Britain, France, Russia, United States and some other European countries.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the biggest US naval installation in Asia- Pacific was greatly damaged. In one day, the American Air Force and US Navy in Asia- Pacific was almost paralyzed.

My father told me that 7 hours after attacking Pearl Harbor, Japanese warplanes attacked the Philippine Naval Force and Air Force base in Subic Bay, Clark Air Field and Baguio City, destroying the US- Philippine war capabilities. Gen. Douglas McArthur, years earlier strengthened Corregidor, a small island west of Manila, that served as major defense of Manila in case the Philippines was invaded by foreign forces. Powerful cannons were placed in Corregidor, all permanently, facing the sea on the west.

When the Japanese Imperial Forces invaded the Philippines, they did not pass through Corregidor. The Japanese knew the formidable cannons placed facing the western sea. They moved to the south and landed in Lingayen, Pangasinan and proceeded to Bataan towards Manila. Despite the gallant stand by American and Filipino soldiers that fought bravely, the US-Philippine resistance fall in three months.

To prevent the destruction of Manila, Vice President Jose P. Laurel, declared Manila an Open City, on January 2, 1942. The deadly fighting of Japanese and Filipino –American forces continued in different parts of Luzon. American and Philippine forces on Bataan Peninsula surrendered. About 13,000 survivors on Corregidor Island surrendered on May 5, 1942.

Earlier, on April 9, 1942 about 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers who were defenders of Bataan surrendered. The soldiers were already starving and sick. They were part of the infamous Bataan Death March. Some 10,000 died of exhaustion hunger and thirst or bayoneted by the Japanese on the way from Bataan to Capas, Tarlac.

By this time, President Manuel Quezon was in the United States. He was asked by the United States to leave the Philippines so that he would not be captured by the Japanese and forced to surrender.

The American & Filipino forces in Luzon were surrendered by Gen. Jonathan Wainright to the Japanese Imperial commander. The American-Filipino forces in Visayas and Mindanao were still fighting the Japanese. General Yamamoto Yamashita would not accept the surrender of the Luzon forces. He demanded that all American and Filipino forces in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao must be surrendered together. General Wainwright did not want to do that, because the forces in Visayas and Mindanao were under different commanders. General Yamashita strongly pressured and told General Wainwright that the entire Filipinos and Americans forces in Luzon will die. They were already sick, hungry and defenseless. The Japanese would continue the offensive. Thousands of Luzon defenders would die.

The United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), the combined American and Filipino forces surrendered. Following Luzon, the USAFFE fighters in Visayas and Mindanao surrendered. My father, Restituto A. Bernal and my uncle, Bienvenido Carvajal, were artillery gunners who were part of the defense forces in Bukidnon that fought against the Japanese invasion of Mindanao surrendered.

The Japanese ruled the country for 4 years until late 1944. But the fighting continued. Filipino and American guerrillas were organized and fought the Japanese soldiers in many parts of the country. The Japanese occupation of the Philippines was a brutal rule, with nearly 2 million dead in 4 years.

When I was nearly 5 years old, my grandmother, a member of a Baptist Church, started to bring me to a “House Church” to worship on Sundays. My mother, a Seventh Day Adventist brought me to Sabbath school on Saturdays. I often had a Sunday school and a Sabbath school every week. We were taught to sing and pray during the war years.

During the war, often in the morning, we had to run and hide in our “air raids” shelter, about two hundred meters away from the house. Japanese warplane often came roaring, just a hundred meters in the sky above us. The Japanese built an airport in Balasan town, a few kilometers from our village..

At the Balasan airport, Japanese warplanes were maintained and used in surveillance and attacks in Northern Panay, Cebu, Northern Negros and Masbate. I often saw Japanese warplanes passing, as the Japanese airport, was about 7 kilometers away from our home.

One time, I saw Japanese warplane and an American Lockhead, a fighter plane, in a “dog fight” just about a hundred meters above us. A few minutes later, another American Lockhead joined the fight. I saw the Japanese plane hit and flamed, roaring fast, then hit the sea about a kilometer from the shore. Two weeks later, aluminum combs, plates, glasses, pails, spoons and fork, were brought to the houses for sale. The downed plane, provide materials and business mostly needed home equipment by people in Dayhagan, Pilar Capiz and neighboring villages.

There were two spiritual forces that made strong impact on the lives of simple people of Dayhagan, Pilar, Capiz and Cawayan, Carles, Iloilo. These spiritual forces touched the people's lives in some parts of the country Firstly, Ernesto Carvajal and Kaupay Colinggan developed their Baptist faith. Secondly, Pateno Diaz, strengthened his Seventh Day Adventist's faith and shared his belief with others.

Ernesto Carvajal became a well known Baptist pastor and evangelists in Panay and Negros Occidental. His sermons touched and empowered thousands of lives in Western Visayas. He pastored Barasan Baptist Church, Patlad Baptist Church, Dumangas Baptist Church. He later became the Provincial Minister of Iloilo Kasapulanan. His evangelistic prowess reached all over Panay and some churches in Negros Occidental. Then, he was called to pastor Jaro Evangelical Church, the First Baptist Church in the Philippines

He was asked by CPBC leaders to be General Secretary of the Convention of Phil. Baptist Churches. Mrs. Josefina Ruiz, an official of Jaro Evangelical Church requested CPBC leaders to allow Rev. Ernesto Carvajal to remain pastor of Jaro Evangelical Church as they were building several satellite churches in the city and nearby towns.

Another young man was Kayupay Golingan, He was trained in the Baptist Convention faith as a young man. His parents immigrated to Mindanao. He learned the rudiments of his faith, thru his mother, Mrs. Tacing Golingan in Dayhagan, Pilar , Capiz. . He studied Theology in Mindanao and became pastor of a big Baptist Church and became one of the top leaders of the Southern Baptist Church in Mindanao.

Another youth in Dayhagan, Pilar, Capiz that made strong spiritual impact on the lives of Filipinos was Paterno M. Diaz. Paterno was an Adventist. He learned the rudiments of his faith in Dayhagan, Pilar, Capiz during the US-Japanese war. He studied in high school at the Adventist Academy in Pototan, Iloilo. Then pursued his theological studies at Mountain View College in Bukidnon. He became a pastor. He was elected President of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Mindanao and later in the Philippines. He was the longest, ever President of the Seventh Day Adventist Church of the Philippines.

These three young people, whose lives were molded in an ecumenical community, were guided with strong faith and wide vision.

They came from a rural community in far- flung villages in the northern Panay. They studied hard. They started as pastor of small village churches. They rose to leadership of their church organizations. With God’s guidance, the flaming embers of faith touched lives in the villages, towns, provinces, regions, country and the world.

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