CLARK FREEPORT – Have dead Filipinos joined their living overseas Filipino counterparts in Japan?
Guy Hilbero, tourism officer of Mabalacat, Pampanga, cited reports that hundreds of skeletons of Filipinos have reached Japanese soil after they were passed off by a syndicate as remains of Japanese soldiers who died in the country in the last world war.
Hilbero is also a known promoter of Philippine-Japan friendship in his town where the Kamikaze forces of the Japanese imperial army was founded during World War II.
This was confirmed by his friend, Japanese businessman Koji Nakamura who, in an email to Hilbero, identified the syndicate as Tokyo-based Ku-en Tai which have reportedly been buying for P1,000 each set of skeletons dug up from cemeteries in Northern Luzon and Eastern Visayas.
The group reportedly receives payment from the Japanese government for their skeletal discoveries which are then buried with honors in a Japanese national cemetery.
This, even as Japanese people prepare for their annual ancestral ceremony called Bon either in July or August which, along with the New Year’s celebration, is considered to be one of the two most important observances in Japan.
During Bon ceremony, family members return to their parental homes to honor all spirits of the dead who are believed to return to their homes at that time.
Japanese people are known to remember and venerate their ancestors through purification rituals that take place from the seventh to the hundredth year anniversary of their death.
Nakamura informed Hilbero that earlier this month, Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare announced it had bought some 7,000 sets of skeletons from the alleged syndicate and that it is set to “officially accept” the remains as belonging to Japanese soldiers for burial in a Japanese national cemetery.
Nakamura did not say how much the Japanese government paid the group for the skeletal remains.
“But we suspect that most of the bones belonged to Filipinos,” Nakamura said, as he also lamented the desecration of the graves were apparently without the knowledge of the relatives.
Nakamura said he and one he identified only as Mr. Kamei had already sought the help of the media in Japan to expose the activities of the syndicate.
Nakamura added that in the last 20 years, Mr. Kimei had been involved in finding authentic remains of Japanese soldiers who died in the Philippines as his father was also a Japanese soldier who died in Bontoc province during the war.
Hilbero, who annually hosts the highest Bhuddist leader from Japan for ceremonies at the Kamikaze shrine he founded here, said eight years ago, he had helped Japanese nationals find bones of their relatives who died in the last war.
“But even then, we were always in the company of experts from the National Museum to authenticate the remains as Japanese, because certain Japanese artifacts are almost always found with the remains. These artifacts are studied by the museum experts to establish at least the probability that skeletal remains belonged to Japanese soldiers,” he said.
Hilbero urged the Japanese government to seek help of the National Museum in all activities pertaining to the search of remains of Japanese soldiers in the Philippines.
Guy Hilbero, tourism officer of Mabalacat, Pampanga, cited reports that hundreds of skeletons of Filipinos have reached Japanese soil after they were passed off by a syndicate as remains of Japanese soldiers who died in the country in the last world war.
Hilbero is also a known promoter of Philippine-Japan friendship in his town where the Kamikaze forces of the Japanese imperial army was founded during World War II.
This was confirmed by his friend, Japanese businessman Koji Nakamura who, in an email to Hilbero, identified the syndicate as Tokyo-based Ku-en Tai which have reportedly been buying for P1,000 each set of skeletons dug up from cemeteries in Northern Luzon and Eastern Visayas.
The group reportedly receives payment from the Japanese government for their skeletal discoveries which are then buried with honors in a Japanese national cemetery.
This, even as Japanese people prepare for their annual ancestral ceremony called Bon either in July or August which, along with the New Year’s celebration, is considered to be one of the two most important observances in Japan.
During Bon ceremony, family members return to their parental homes to honor all spirits of the dead who are believed to return to their homes at that time.
Japanese people are known to remember and venerate their ancestors through purification rituals that take place from the seventh to the hundredth year anniversary of their death.
Nakamura informed Hilbero that earlier this month, Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare announced it had bought some 7,000 sets of skeletons from the alleged syndicate and that it is set to “officially accept” the remains as belonging to Japanese soldiers for burial in a Japanese national cemetery.
Nakamura did not say how much the Japanese government paid the group for the skeletal remains.
“But we suspect that most of the bones belonged to Filipinos,” Nakamura said, as he also lamented the desecration of the graves were apparently without the knowledge of the relatives.
Nakamura said he and one he identified only as Mr. Kamei had already sought the help of the media in Japan to expose the activities of the syndicate.
Nakamura added that in the last 20 years, Mr. Kimei had been involved in finding authentic remains of Japanese soldiers who died in the Philippines as his father was also a Japanese soldier who died in Bontoc province during the war.
Hilbero, who annually hosts the highest Bhuddist leader from Japan for ceremonies at the Kamikaze shrine he founded here, said eight years ago, he had helped Japanese nationals find bones of their relatives who died in the last war.
“But even then, we were always in the company of experts from the National Museum to authenticate the remains as Japanese, because certain Japanese artifacts are almost always found with the remains. These artifacts are studied by the museum experts to establish at least the probability that skeletal remains belonged to Japanese soldiers,” he said.
Hilbero urged the Japanese government to seek help of the National Museum in all activities pertaining to the search of remains of Japanese soldiers in the Philippines.
