Trixie Cruz: Kids

Those were the days my friend,

We thought they'd never end,

We'd sing and dance, forever and a day

We lived the life we choose,

We'd fight, we'd never lose,

For we were young and sure to have our way...

Those Were the Days

Col. Manuel "Peewee" Cruz,

Philippine Air Force, 1954,

8th Fighter Squadron, Basa Airbase

My father was born on 25 June 1927. He was a teenager when the World War II broke out and he joined the guerilla movement, becoming a member of the Philippine Scouts. Years later, he was made a US citizen for his wartime efforts. He had told me that he was barely sixteen when he joined the guerillas and he did so in retaliation for Japanese atrocities in Bulacan. He was among the other guerillas who ambushed a large contingent of the enemy before taking to the hills.

And here is where I usually stop to think. Papa was 16 and he was fighting for his country at great risk to his life. The heroes of the Philippine Revolution were all young too. Del Pilar was a boy general and martyr at 21, Aguinaldo was President of the Republic at 30, Bonifacio was 29 when he and Ladislao Diwa and Teodoro Plata founded the Katipunan and he was dead at 34.

There were more kids who participated in the Philippine American War. Records show that some very young boys were executed as spies by the American Forces, their ages ranging from 9 to 14.

Then of course, there was the First Quarter Storm and the tumultuous 70s. Students directly challenged politicians who could not get comfortable in Malacanang or in the halls of Congress. They brough the concept of radical change into the streets and later, into the hills.

In the 80s Ninoy's death turned the Martial Law babies into the new radicals, determinedly facing the water canons in Mendiola or reveling in the yellow confetti of the Makati streets. We were kids then, but the threat of gunfire, while not as imminent as it was in Papa's youth, was there nevertheless. Arrest and seizure orders were issued against the more prominent youth leaders, but we were unfazed. Life was a party in the streets while we jeered at a dictator. We sang about caged birds while we rattled our bars. We heard the country's call and we were there.

Where are the kids now?

by Rose Beatrix C. Angeles (Trixie Cruz-Angeles)

To know more about Trixie Cruz Angeles, check out: I AM TRIXIE CRUZ