Breaking the silence : a war memoir / Lourdes R. Montinola.

Breaking the Silence is a story reluctantly told by the author, a survivor of Japanese atrocities during the liberation of Manila. It was first partially recounted to Nick Joaquin who had been commissioned by the author's family and the Far Eastern University to write a biography of Dr. Nicanor Reyes, university founder and first president. The book was meant to commemorate the centennial year of Dr. Reyes birth. Finding difficulty responding to interview questions about her father's death, the author resorted to writing diary entries and narratives. Her journal says: "When Nick asks me about our experiences during the war, how shall I recall the horrers that I had pushed back to the deep recesses of my mind? How can I describe what I could never talk about? Someone once said that some experiences lie beyond language because their language is Silence." Nick Joaquin's book was launched on February 11, 1995, by coincidence almost exactly fifty years after Dr. Reyes and his family had perished. A memorial to the non-combatant victims of the battle for the liberation of Manila was inaugurated in the Plazuela de Sta. Isabel in Intramuros on February 18. The author and other survivors belonging to Memorate-Manila raised funds for the monument. They were asked to surmount the pain and anguish of reliving their experiences, and to tell the story of the innocent civilians who had died in the battle. This is Lourdes R. Montinola's sharing of her story.