"To The Citizens of the Philippines". From Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Forces. March 10, 1942. Poster, approximately 34x22". English text. * With: original Filipino loyalty oath to the Japanese Military Administration, undated, circa 1942. Approximately 10¼x14½". English and Japanese text.
"Your sacrifices and efforts to establish a free and independent nation were about to bear fruit when, in 1898, tyrannical actions of the United States of America dashed your long-cherished hopes to the ground. More than two score years have passed since then and all that has been bestowed upon you by America is nothing but racial disdain, political oppression and economic slavery. Even the promises made to you of independence in 1946 conceal economic bondage and military oppression. True independence is an impossibility with American soldiers on your land, American warships in your harbours and high taxes on your products. The true and only purpose of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces in your land is to drive out the American, to relive you of the American yoke, to enable you to establish a free and peaceful nation - The Philippines for the Filipinos."
"This we fully expect you to understand and every effort on your part to co-operate with us in driving out evil American influences will have our whole-hearted support. We are friends. If, however, our good intentions are misunderstood and you give support to the actions of our enemy, you will be held guilty of hostile acts or conspiracy against us, and, therefore, liable to the severest punishment.” Two days before General MacArthur was evacuated from Corregidor Island in Manila Bay, signifying American defeat in the Philippines by the Japanese Army, the invaders printed this appeal to the anti-American nationalism of the Filipinos, highlighting Tokyo’s propaganda theme that all the Asian nations shared with their Japanese conquerors outrage at Yankee “racial disdain”. It wasn’t long before most Filipinos - though, as the loyalty oath testifies, not all – recognized that the Japanese who occupied their country were more dictatorial and disdainfully superior than the Americans.