As the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II nears, one family in the Philippines remembers how their country and Japan re-established friendly ties after a tragedy that reduced parts of the Philippines, including Manila, to rubble and left more than a million Filipinos dead.
For the grandchildren of the late Philippine President Elpidio Quirino, his decision to pardon Japanese war criminals during his last year in office in 1953 was "absolutely" the starting point of the Philippines' renewed friendship with its former invader that has since evolved into a strong strategic partnership.
Quirino's move was all the more praiseworthy because he and his family had directly experienced Japanese atrocities during the occupation through 1945.