|
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Gulle: Treasure hunting anyone?
By Inocentes A. Gulle
Your business is our business
It has been more than half a century since the Japanese garrison here surrendered to the American liberation forces in 1945. Until now, however, there are still people digging around for treasures they believe the Japanese soldiers had buried around here somewhere.
The conviction that some of the loot the Japanese Imperial Army gathered from the people they conquered all over Southeast Asia and hidden here somewhere, refuse to die. Try, as hard as you may to dissuade them, they'd only smile and look at you with that expression of pity, like you're daft or something.
Because of that conviction, they easily get hoodwinked by unscrupulous people who'd claim to have come on some secret information, or a map of buried treasures, or some such tall tales, to invest their precious savings on digging for it. I personally know of several moneyed people here who had lost their money that way. Curiously, these people refuse to give up the idea, even after such fruitless ventures, or even after disasters as loss of lives through digging accidents, cave-ins, etc.
These ventures have not only made some people poor, they have caused injuries and even caused untimely death to some. Diggers who run out of expense money would stop work to look for additional financiers, leaving gaping, deep excavations.
Several people have died or been maimed, accidentally falling into them, unaware that there are such holes. Soon these holes would fill with rainwater or underground seep, and become miniature lakes.
Many, children mostly, have drowned swimming in such craters.
The worst case is that one in Sueno Subdivision very recently. A family on one of the subdivision lots let on that some army trooper revealed to them that there is a buried treasure somewhere within their lot.
Actually, this army man was only their accomplice in the racket, the leader actually, or so the story goes. They somehow got some gullible people to invest in the venture, a source of easy money. This had allegedly been their livelihood for some time until a boyfriend of one of the siblings got wise to their nefarious activity. In order to keep their clandestine operations from the public knowledge they had to eliminate the probable witness. They allegedly killed and dumped the boy in the hole and covered it, all 80 feet of it.
As foul deeds would likely come out, this one did and the whole family was arrested. The police are still looking for the army trooper who fled as soon as the crime has been discovered.
My advice to anyone who may be bitten by that treasure bug, think and ask sensible questions around before jumping into the wagon, to see if there is an iota of possibility of such treasure in the place the would-be hunter would point out.
If he talks about Japanese loot, which is the most likely subject hereabouts, consider carefully all angles. Your consideration must be premised on the possible places where the occupation soldiers could likely have buried their loot, if any. These must necessarily be the places where they had their camps or military installations.
As one of the oldest persons, if not the oldest, still around, who lived through the war years and witnessed the Japanese occupation around here, I would say there are only two probable cites where loots could be buried, Buayan and Calaha hills, or the whole stretch between them. These were the only places where the Japanese army stayed as long as the war lasted. Buayan was their big airbase and Calaha hills were extensively tunneled to serve as their main retreat area.
Some small garrisons in Tupi, Marbel and Banga, were also occupied for some time. But these were temporary assignments, at short stints at a time for certain detachments.
Other than these places, I would doubt very much if the Japanese soldiers would have time to hide their loot, harassed as they were by guerrillas and such.
Be warned then or bite the dust. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
