"You must stop the cycle of violence, the cycle of hatred."

That is the reply Alfredo Bunye offered his son, Ignacio, some 60 years ago, when Bunye was a Philippine prison officer.

Ignacio, 70, who was the presidential spokesman during the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was curious why his father did not seek revenge against the Japanese, particularly military officers and soldiers held in his facility for war-related crimes committed in the Philippines during World War II.