War is ugly. While it is said that war brings out the best in people, it also brings out the worst in people. Many things have been written about World War II in the Philippines - its heroes, its victims, the glories, but also the humiliation and shame. Indeed, the war taught us many things - how strong we are as a people; how selfless acts of courage should be emulated; how ingenuity enabled us to survive. These aspects of war must not be forgotten and must be taught to the youth, so that we may be strengthened, that we may understand, that we may learn. But behind the glory and the heroism is the underside of war - a topic that few writers have delved into in depth. The ugly side of war is the atrocities, the selfishness, the opportunism, the inhumanity of man. These are tragedies when countries go to war and conquer others. Especially more tragic are the cases of people who turn against their own people: the instances of treason, of cruelty meted by Filipinos against other Filipinos. These are truths that most people would better forget. And yet to forget these persons, these incidents, is to forget the reality of war. One cannot focus solely on the heroes; one must look too at the anti-heroes. In this book, Maria Felisa Syjuco Tan unflinchingly narrates that neglected other side of war: the paramilitary collaborators. While the controversy surrounding political collaboration - the key figures in government - has been researched on different levels and from various points of view, the stories of the para-military collaborators - those who actually took up arms and sided with the Japanese against Filipinos guerrillas or simply suspected pro-Commonwealth and pro-American Filipinos and other nationals - has hardly been told in detail. Using mainly the People's Court records and the Supreme Court decisions, Dr. Tan brings to life all the ugliness, the horror, the tragedy of the actions of these - albeit in the minority - Filipinos. Japanese occupation troops have been blamed for committing atrocities against Filipinos during World War II.