Cannibal Lim's legacy

 At West Point, where Vicente Lim was the first
Filipino graduate, he was  called “cannibal” because
of his skin color.  That was in 1914 when the majority
of  Americans knew next to nothing about us, except
what they had seen or heard at the St. Louis World
Fair.  Born in Calamba in 1888, Vicente Lim was an
impressionable ten year old  lad when the First
Republic was established in Malolos in 1899, and when
the Philippine Revolutionary Army had to defend it
against American invaders. Last 24 February, the City
of Manila celebrated the 120th birthday of this
Filipino hero and martyr.

     Fresh from West Point, Vicente Lim was sent to
Europe during World War I as 2nd lieutenant in the US
army.  Upon his return to Manila, he joined the
Philippine Scouts, then  the Philippine army and by
1940, he was Chief of Staff. When the Philippine Army
was incorporated into the American Armed Forces on
July 16, 1941, Vicente Lim was promoted to   Brigadier
General, the  top–ranking Filipino officer under
General Douglas MacArthur.

     However, he did not always agree with Gen.
MacArthur.  Cannibal Lim opposed  MacArthur’s National
Defense Plan for the Philippines and as it turned out
he was right, subsequent events proved the plan
useless. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Lim was
placed in command of the 41st Philippine Division
which led the rear guard action against the Japanese
in Abucay, Bataan, but was ordered to surrender to
General Homma  on April 9, 1942. He became a prisoner
of war,   survived the infamous  Death March, and on
June 6, 1942, was admitted to the Philippine General
Hospital for treatment of injuries from where he
conducted secret guerrilla activities.

     In 1944, Gen. Lim  received orders to join
General Douglas MacArthur.  He could have figured
prominently in the Leyte Landing,  but sadly enough,
enroute to Australia he was captured by the Japanese,
incarcerated  and brutally tortured in Fort Santiago
and the Bilibid prison. The Japanese drained his blood
(for transfusions to their own soldiers) after which
Vicente Lim was beheaded. Like many of those who
perished  in February 1945,  his remains were never
found. General Lim is listed in the Tablets of the
Missing at the Manila National Cemetery and  was
awarded, posthumously ,  the Legion of Merit and the
Purple Heart.

     Lim and MacArthur never agreed on the officers
corps. The latter concentrated on training reserve
forces while the former insisted that a  "half-baked”
officers corps is “an agent for abuse and corruption.
He was right;  a “fatal tradition” had  crept into the
Armed forces,  a distorted “utang na loob” which Lim
said was meant  “to help each other right or wrong”. 
He also wrote  that “... the minute you put in
favorites, relatives, and compadres, then this army
will bring down the government…”  How prophetic!  ” No
matter how crooked and weak the  President ,” Lim
said, “ ... as long as the army is strong, honest, and
free from politics, the nation will stand.”

     His analysis of Philippine democracy is relevant
today:  "The principal defect of our national defense
is not the  training or lack of finances, but the
great and dangerous defect of democracy which has been
implanted into the minds of the Filipino people. We
have a nationally wrong conception of democracy. Our
democracy in the Philippines is unilateral. It is only
for  benefit, for  freedom, for  Rights, and  only for
the comfort and happiness of each individual member of
the nation. That is the common belief, and I venture
to say 99.9% of our people believe in that kind of
democracy.” He said that Filipinos  should be
cognizant of their obligations and duties and must be
willing to sacrifice for the good of the State , in
the same measure they enjoy “ personal democracy”.

  



  
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