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Guerrilla Warfare and the Filipino Resistance on

Negros Island in the Bisayas, 1942–1945

Donn V. Hart

Journal of Southeast Asian History / Volume 5 / Issue 01 / March 1964, pp 101 - 125
DOI: 10.1017/S0217781100002234, Published online: 24 August 2009

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How to cite this article:

Donn V. Hart (1964). Guerrilla Warfare and the Filipino Resistance on Negros
Island in the Bisayas, 1942–1945. Journal of Southeast Asian History, 5, pp
101-125 doi:10.1017/S0217781100002234

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A bibliographical essay
GUERRILLA WARFARE AND THE FILIPINO
RESISTANCE ON NEGROS ISLAND IN THE
BISAYAS, 1942-1945.
DONN V. HART

The most recent history of the Philippines makes! no re-

ference to guerrilla activities or the resistance movement in Negros,
although brief comments are included about the rest of the Bisayas.1
Yet Negrenses, both indigenous and "adopted," have been un-
usually active in recording the history of their island during the
war years. Recently two additional books were added to the
expanding literature on wartime Negros.2 Since 1946 seven books
have been published (one is a mimeographed monograph) on this
broad topic for Negros. Unfortunately, many of these sources have
not been utilized in more general accounts of occupied Philippines.
Probably there is more material on this historic period for Negros
than the rest of the Bisayas, with the exception of Leyte.
A preliminary stage to a definitive history of these momentous
war years in the Bisayas — and the Philippines — is the publication
of more accounts by those who played a vital role in guerrilla and
resistance affairs during the war era. These individuals may not
be trained historians but, as participants, they can supply valuable
information. It is necessary, too, to collect available manuscripts
and mimeographed materials about guerrilla activities in the Bisa-
yas. There must be mildewed occupation news-sheets (often mimeo-
graphed) still scattered throughout the Bisayas that merit pre-
servation for future historians. Unpublished manuscripts exist for
Negros and, most likely, for the rest of the Bisayas. In addition,
1. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. and Oscar M. Alfonso. A Short History of the Filipino
People, [Diliman], University of the Philippines, 1961, iv, 629 pp.
2. One known book manuscript exists on the guerrilla history of Negros Oriental.
"Soldiers Without Shoes" (27 chapters) was written by Miss Abby R. Jocabs, an
English Teacher at Silliman University from 1931 to 1953. Miss Jacobs, the
sister of Metta Silliman, the wife of Robert Silliman, lived with her sister
and brother-in-law in the upper Siaton River Valley after the occupation of
Negros by the Japanese. She escaped by submarine ta Australia in • 1944, along
with the Sillimans, Bells, and others. The present address of Miss Jacobs
is: 16 Jane Street, New York 14, New York.

101
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
Filipinos and Americans who played a key part in the resistance
movement should be interviewed for their personal knowledge,
information that will soon be lost forever.3
, Published American sources (including the official histories of
the various services) contain abundant information on the fall and
liberation of the Philippines; they are almost silent on the years
of occupation.4 We know much about the surprise beginning and
3. Mr. Robert B. Silliman, Executive Vice-President of Silliman University, is
one American who could write authoritatively on Oriental Negros during
this period. He was the first American to meet Jesus Villamor when he
returned to Negros in 1943. In June of this year, Mr. Silliman became Deputy
Governor for the Sixth District of Negros, an area stretching from Tolong in
the south to Tanjay on the eastern coast. In response to a personal letter, he
wrote: "Since none of our records was lost, I now have irt my possession copies
of all my official reports to Governor Montelibano [of the Free Negros Govern-
ment] and all of his official proclamations, memoranda, and the like. I also have
complete reports from all the mayors and other civil officials of each town in my
district — together with secret and confidential reports of various military
commanders made to Governor Montelibano, or to myself, if they were local
commanders." In addition, Mr. Sillimart has a copy of Miss Jacobs' "Soldiers
Without Shoes," her "Leaves from, a War Diary" (82 typescript pages), and
the original typewritten manuscript of "They Called Us Outlaws" written by
Edilberto K. Tiempo (See footnote No. 10). Silliman University Library also
has a complete set of The Sillimanian, edited by Miss Jacobs. These daily
news-sheets were printed by the University from the outbreak of the war to
the Japanese arrival at Dumaguete. According to the Chapmans, this paper
was "for some time the only news-sheet in all southern Negros [and] . . . gave
authentic war news to the people." (Are all 'copies of The Voice of Freedom,
a mimeographed paper edited by Soledad Locsin for the Free Negors Govern,
ment, lost?)
Silliman University has two bound volumes of the original manuscript of
the forthcoming history of Silliman University, written by Dr. Arthur Carson,
a former president of the university. A condensed version of this manuscript
will be published in 1964. According td Mr. Silliman, One of his [Dr. Carson's]
longest chapters deals with the part played by the University as a whole and of
individual faculty members during the war." Another manuscript in Mr.
Silliman's possession is "The First Guerrilla Organization in the Siaton Area"
by Lt. Joaquirt Funda, presently mayor of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur, Mindanao.
His wife, Nui, was one of the Thai students trapped at Silliman University
by the war, and later escaped to the hills with the Sillimans. Mr. Silliman's
permanent address in the1 United States is: United Board for Christian Higher
Education in Asia, 475 Riverside Drive, New York 27, New York.
A helpful guide to occupation materials is The Philippines During the
Japanese Regime, 1942-1945: An Annotated List of the Literature Published
in or About the Philippine sDuring the Japanese Occupation? prepared by the
Office of he Chief of Counter-intelligence, Philippine Research and Infor-
mation Section, GHQ, AFPAC, APO 500," October 10, 1945, ii, 44 pp., mimeo.
This guide indicates that the New Negros Weekly was published in Bacolod
by the Occidental Negros chapter of the Kalibapi from July 17, 1943, to
March 15, 1945. No reference is made to The Voice of Freedom. Liberator
was a mimeographed newspaper! issued by the Seventh Military District, Negros,
in 1943, containing local and general news. Similar newspapers were published
in Cebu, Panay, and Bohol. Agoncillo and Alfonso list some of the guer-
rilla papers issued in Panay and Leyte (p. 479).
Four official American sources on this period are under the custody of
the World War II Records Division, National Archives and Records Service,
Alexandria, Virginia. According to Sherrod East, Director, World War II
Records, "Generally speaking, all of the pertinent and extant operations
reports, reports after action, with their supporting documents, and most
histories are) in the National Archives and are available for scholarly research."

102
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
the dramatic end of the war but little about the perilous middle
years.6 A model for the history of the occupation period of the
Bisayas is Lear's excellent study of Leyte.0 Sufficient material,
which could be augmented by interviews, is now available for a
similar comprehensive narrative on Negros.7 Present published
Some source documents are still in the custody of the Office of the Chief of
Military History, Department of the Army, Washington 25, D.G. Besides
broad reports on the Philippines (such as General MacArthur's Historical
Report, the four volumes on "Triumph in the Philippines," prepared' by the
Combat History Division, and a study of the puppet government of the
Philippines), this office has specific studies on the Bisayas. There are
"operational monographs" on the Leyte Samar operation (December 26, 1944,
to May 8, 1945), the Panay-Negros and Cebu operations (March 18 to
June 20, 1945), the Panay-Negros Occidental operation (March, 18 to June 20,
(1945) and the Cebu-Bohol-Negros Oriental Operation (March 26 to June 24,
1945). Headquarters, Department of the Army, Office of the Adjutant
General, U.S. Army Records Center, St. Louis 32, Missouri, has: "Triumph
in the Philippines, 1941-1946, Volume III, Enemy Occupation: Japanese-
Chapter VI: Guerrilla Activities in the Visayas" (17 pages); "The History of
the Negros Force, Chapter IV: Negros Prepared for Guerrilla Warfare" (20
pages); and "The History of Guerrilla Resistance Movements on Leyte, Samar,
Cebu, Fanny and Neighboring Islands, Negros and Bohol" (52 pages). Accord-
ing to Colonel Eugene S. Tarr, there are 'no war diaries and memoirs, as
such, of liberated American Prisoners of War relating to Guerrilla activities
and the resistance movement on Negros or the Visayas, on file, in this Center."
5. For Panay, the island of Tomas Confessor, there are two books on the
occupation period: Louise Reid Spencer, Guerrillas Wife, Chicago, Illinois,
Peoples Book Club, Inc., 1945, 243 pp,. originally published by Thomas Y.
Crowell, New York; and Jose Demandante Doromal, The War in Panay: A
Documentary History of the Resistance Movement in Panay During World War
II, Manila, The Diamond Historical Publications, 1952, xiv, 313pp. Also see
Romulo D. Plagata, "The Panay Resistance! Movement," Bute tin ng Kapisanang
Pangkasaysayan ng Pilipinas (Bulletin of the Philippine Historical Association),
No. 5, September, 1958, 57-95. This account utilized Philippine army records,
and includes lists of the officials of Confessor's free government and guerrilla
units under Lt. Col. Peralta. Neither of these three sources contains much
information on Negros. To the reviewer's knowledge there are no specific
accounts published about resistance in Cebu or Bohol. For the famous in-
version of Leyte, numerous sources exist. Besides those cited in this article,
see Joseph F. St. John, as told to Howard Handleman, Leyte Calling, New
York, The Vanguard Press, 1945, 220 pp.; Ira Wolfert, American Guerrilla
in the Philippines, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1945, x, 301 pp.; and Jan
Valtin (pseudonym of Richard J. Herman Krebs), Children of Yesterday;, New
York, Reader's Press, 1946. 429 pp. Two new sources on Mindanao have been
published recently: Brig. Gen. John H. McGee, Rice and Salt: A History of
the Defense and Occupation of Mindanao During World War II, San Anto-
nio, [Texas], Naylor Co., 1962, xviii 242 pp., 15 maps and sketches; and Wendell
W. Ferlig and John Keats, They Fought Alone: Fertig and the- Mindanao. Guer-
rillas, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott, Co., 1963. Another account of occupied
Mindanao is Edward Haggerty, Guerrilla Padre in Mindanao, New York,
Longsmans, Green, and Co., 1946, xii, 257 pp. Unavailable for examination
in preparing this review was: The Guerrilla Resistance Movement in the
Philippines, Vol. 1, General Headquarters, VS. Army Forces, Pacific, 1946.
One copy of this mimeographed volume is on file at The Office of the Chief
of Military History and another at World War II Records Division, Alexandria.
6. Lear, Elmer, The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, Leyte, 1941-1945
Ithaca, New York, Data Paper No. 42, Southeast Asia Program Department
of Far Eastern Studies, Cornell Universities, June, 1961, xvi, 246 pp., mimeo.
Reference is mada to the bibliography in this publication (pp. 242-46).
7. It was not possible to make a complete survey of all these and dissertations
accepted by Philippine colleges and universities to determine the extent of
studies on guerrilla warfare and the resistance movement. However, the

103
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
histories on wartime Negros have not made adequate use of exist-
ing sources.
The purpose of this review article is to discuss critically these
seven books about occupied Negros. Additional material related
to Negros, and the Bisayas as a whole, both printed and manu-
script, will be noted. It is hoped that this article will serve future
historians as a preliminary checklist of available sources on Negros
and the Bisayas.8
Four of the seven books on Negros are histories of the Japanese
conquest and occupation of the island; the formation of guerrilla
forces; their problems of supply and equipment; secret contacts
with representatives of the American military leaders in Australia,
and the final liberation of the Philippines. Uldarico S. Baclagon's
They Chose to Fight: The Story of the Resistance Movement in
Negros and Siquijor (Manila, 1962, v, 182 pp., maps and photo-
graphs) is written by a well-known Filipino military historian who
was also a Negros guerrilla leader. Hignio de Uriafte's A Basque
Among the Guerrillas of Negros (translated from the original
Spanish by Soledad Lacson Locsin, Bacolod City, Occidental Negros,
1962, xx, 316 pp., maps, photographs, drawings, and tables, distri-
buted in the United States by The Cellar Book Shop, Detroit, 21,
Michigan) is a personal report of a wealthy hacendero's participa-
following list probably includes most of those accepted on this subject and
is based on the bibliographies published in the Philippine Journal of Public
Administration: Domingo Santiago, "History of Philippine Education During
the Japanese Occupation," 1951, University of the Philippines; Pedro B. Abren-
cia, "The Leyte Area Command: Its Organization and Role in the Resistance
Movement in the Philippines," M. A. thesis in Education, Adamson University,
1950; Juliana Flores Banda, "Philippine Education During the Japanese Occu-
pation," M. A. in- Education, Union College of Manila, 1949; Williamf Estrada,
"A Historical Study of the Guerrilla Movement in Pangasinan, 1942-45," M. A.
in History, Far Eastern University, 1951; Alberto B. Florentino, "A Study of
the Educational System in the Philippines under the Japanese Regime," M. A.
in Education, Adamson University, 1951; Proculo Mojica, "The Guerrilla
Movement in Rizal Province." M. A. in Political Science, Far Eastern Unit-
versity, 1953; and Aquilerio L. Layague, "The History and Evaluation of the
Schools of Free Negros Oriental During the Japanese Rule," M. A. in Edu-
cation, Silliman University, 1948.
8. The limited time available for bibliographical research made it impossible
to accomplish a definitive search of possible materials on this topic for
Negros — and the Bisayas. Many books about World War II in the Philippines
may include a short section on the! Bisayas. The only way these brief accounts
wjll be discovered is to scan all such books. Unfortunately, many of these
accounts were published privately in the United States and the Philippines
and did not circulate widely. For example, for an account of several Americans
who were in Panay, Cebu, and Leyte shortly before the Japanese, see Clark
Lee, They Call It Pacific: An Eye-Witness Story of Our War Against Japan
from Bataan to the Solomons, New York, Viking Press, 1943, pp. 253-66. Ira
Wolfert's American Guerrilla in the Philippines includes a short section on
the destruction of Cebu City prior to the arrival of the Japanese. Similar
accounts are noted elsewhere in this article. Newspapers were not examined
but a search for materials on the Bisayas during the war in the Index to
Philippine Periodicals (1956-1961) was made without profit.

104
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND

tion in guerrilla activities. Dominador Y. Zaragoza's Defiance: The

Human Side of the Negros Guerillas (Bacolod City, Occidental
Negros, Free Negros Printing Press, 1946?, [viii], 234 pp., photo-
graphs and drawings) is a somewhat superficial narrative by the
former assistant Provincial Secretary of the Free Negros Govern-
ment.9
James and Ethel Chapman's Escape to the Hills, with drawing by
Drayton S. Haff (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Jaques Cattell Press,
1947, x, 247 pp.), is a story of an American couple who taught at
Silliman University (Dumaguete, Negros Oriental) and managed
to hide for some months in the mountainous backbone of Negros
until waylaid by the Japanese. A similar but less balanced account
was written by the wife of the former manager of the Pamplona
coconut plantation near Tanjayr Alice Franklin Bryant's The Sun
Was Darkened (Boston, Massachusetts, Chapman and Grimes, Inc.,
1947, 262 pp., maps and photographs). Elizabeth Head Vaughan's
Community Under Stress: An Internment Camp Culture (Prince-
ton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1949, xv, 160 pp.,
drawings, photographs, index, and bibliography) is a careful study
(the revision of the author's doctoral dissertation) by an American
anthropologist who was imprisoned by the Japanese in their Bacolod
(the capital of Occidental Negros province) concentration camp
for nearly a year. Although one hoped for a more comprehen-
sive and carefully prepared study, Dr. and Mrs. H. R. Bell's
Trails to Freedom: World War II Story (Dumaguete City, Silliman
University, [1958], 21, 64 pp., mimeographed) is a welcomed addi-
tion to the slim sources on Oriental Negros Province. The authors
taught at Silliman, University before the war, and during
the occupation of Negros Dr. Roy Bell was a key figure in the
initial organization of the resistance movement in this province.
From these seven accounts one obtains a varied picture of wartime
Negros.

Negros, the fourth largest island; in the Philippine Republic, is

located in the southern Bisayas (Visayas), north of Mindanao, south
of Luzon. The island is also fourth in population: 1,482,219
people lived in Negros in 1948, or eight per cent of the total Philip-
pine population. A political separation based largely on a rugged
central mountain range divides Negros into two provinces. In
1948 the broad plain of Occidental Negros explained why it was
the second most populous province. The extensive sugar cane
haciendas (plantations) and centrales (sugar mills) of Occidental
Negros have given the province thd title "Sugar Bowl ofi the Philip-
9. Baclagon erroneously cites this book as written by "Salvador Zaragosa" in his:
Philippine Campaigns, Manila, Graphic House, 1952, p. 280.

105
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND

NEGROS

BACOLOD CITY

Pulupondon

Zomboonguita

LEGEND

^ Provincial Capital

» Poblacion Seal* I 1.000.000

Provincial boundary

106
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND

pines." The provincial capital is Bacolod, on the west coast.

Oriental Negros is the thirteenth in population of Philippine
provinces. A region of rolling hills and pocket valleys, the major
crops are corn, coconuts, and rice. The provincial capital is
Dumaguete, on the east coast. (See map.)
One of the first Filipinos of Negros to become a Japanese war
victim was Justo Lusok (Lusoc), a former schoolteacher and ex-
Philippine Scout.10 On April 10, 1942, before the Japanese invaded
Negros, their troops landed on nearby Cebu Island. The invasion
of Negros had been set for May 3 but was postponed with the
surrender of Corrigedor. Hoping to convince the Negrenses of the
folly of resistance, the Japanese commander at Cebu sent a com-
mittee of Filipinos to Negros to plead for the surrender of the
island's military forces. Plagata reports: "It was hoped that the
USAFFE forces in Negros could be made to surrender peaceably"
(p. 62). While the delegation resided in Hacienda Bugawines,
Vallehermoso, Lusok, brooding about possible surrender to the
enemy, crept into their room and "without saying a word," accord'
ing to Baclagon, "he immediately aimed his automatic rifle and in
several burstfs] killed the three gentlemen."11 Lusok meekly sur-
10. Future historians should not overlook the novel when studying this aspect of
Philippine history. Edilberto K. Tiempo's Watch in the Night, Manila, Archi-
pelago Publishing House, 1953, 212 pp. (reprinted in the United States as
Cry Slaughter!, New York, Avon Publications, Inc., 1957, 160 pp.) is a fiction-
alization of the Lusok incident. The author writes that the novel is based
on "They Called Us Outlaws, a non-fiction; work which I Wrote for the Seventh
Military District, [of Negros] of the Philippine resistance forces, as part of my
work as officer in charge of the historical section." Stevan Javellana's Without
Seeing the Dawn, Boston, Massachusetts, Little, Brown, and Company, 1947,
359 pp., (reprinted as The Lost Ones, New York, Popular Library, 1952, 224 pp.)
has Panay as its setting, before, during, and after the war. A third novel
on the war years in the Bisayas in Shohei Ooka's Fires' on the Plain, translated
from the Japanese by Ivan Morris, London, Transworld Publishers, Ltd., a
Corgi Book, 1959, 191 pp. This novel of Leyte during the war was written
by a former member of the Japanese occupation forces of the island. A novel
on the resistance movement, with a Luzon setting, is J. C. Laya's This Baran-
gay, Manila, Inang Wika Publishing Company, 1950, 316 pp. Another novel
"of love and heroism during World War II" is J. V. Aguilar, The Great Faith,
Jaro, Iloilo City, [Panay], Diolosa Publishing House, c. 1948, ix, 453 pp. T h e
novel's setting probably is the Bisayas. Also see Josefa Cabanos-Lava, "The
Guerrilla Novels," The Diliman Review, Vol. 3 (July, 1955) 255-97.
11. One advantage of several descriptions of the same event is it permits a more
accurate reconstruction. Uriarte gives the names of four Filipinos in this
delegation from Cebu. Zaragoza and Bell confirm there were four men but do
not give their% names. Bryant writes: "The Japanese were negotiating fori the
surrender of our island, and they sent four Filipinos from Cebu, one of them
a son [Jos6] of [the late President) Osmena." T h e author continues, incorrectly:
"They were killed by Filipino soldiers in Occidental Negros, the western of
the two provinces on the island." (italics added, op. cit., 61-62). How-
ever, Baclagon writes several times that only three persons composed this
group, giving the same names as Uriarte but omitting Miguel Veloso. Baclagon
was nearby when the shooting occurred. "Upon hearing the automatic rifle
fire, Lt. Baclagon, Sub-Sector Executive Officer, rushed to the room and im-
mediately placed Corporal Lusok under arrest," Baclagon, They Chose to
Fight, p. 8.

107
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
rendered and Colonel McLennan ordered him delivered to the
Japanese commander in Cebu. "There was silence but tears in
the eyes of the soldiers when the sailboat that took Lusoc prisoner
to Cebu returned to San Carlos without him."12 Nothing was
ever heard of Lusok again.
By the last of April, 1942, both Cebu and Panay were controlled
by the Japanese. A three-pronged Japanese invasion of Panay
occurred on April 16. In May, 1942, Baclagon writes, Colonel
Hilsman escaped from Cebu and "took over the command of the
Negros Force by virtue of his seniority over Col. MacLenan
[McLennan]." With the seizure of these two islands, "the Japanese
had secured a firm grip on the most important islands in the
Visavas. The forces still holding out on Negros, Samar, Leyte, and
Bohol were considerably smaller... and the Japanese were confident
these islands could be occupied at will."18 The complicated story
of the final American surrender of the Visayas-Mindanao Force,
including Negros, is only partially reported in the books under
review.14
Many local Filipino officers on Negros refused to obey Col.
Hilsman's order to assemble their men for surrender to the Japa-
nese when he was convinced such action was necessary. On the
fall of Corregidor, General Wainwright had been forced by the
Japanese to command his forces in the Bisayas and Mindanao to
surrender in the field. Lt. Col. Charles I. Humber, Jr., had come
to Negros as an envoy of General William F. Sharp, commander
of the Visayas-Mindanao forces of the USAFFE, who Was then
residing in Mindanao, to convince Col. Hilsman that surrender was
crucial. "The situation [in Negros] became more serious," accord-
ing to Morton, "when civilians, as well as some of the troops, began
12. Uriarte, op. cit., p. 12. General Wainwright comments unfeelingly on the
Lusok incident, also indicating only three individuals were in the delegation.
"These extensions [by the Japanese for the surrender of Col. Hilsman's forces
in Negros] were all the more remarkable because three Filipino envoys — a
Colonel Valariana [actually Col. Benito Valeriano] and his two aides — were
murdered by a demented Filipino soldier as they advanced under a flag of
truce." Jonathan M. Wainwright, edited by Robert Considine, General Watn-
.wright's Story: The Account of Four Years of Humiliating Defeat, Surrender,
and Captivity, New York, Doubleday and Company, 1946, p. 148. Uriarte states
Lusok was sent to Cebu on orders of "Col. Hilsman [Col. Roger B. Hilsman]"
whereas Baclagon reports the 'order came down from Col. Maclenan [Col.
Carter R. McLennan]". Baclagon spells Col. McLennan's name correctly in his
Philippine Campaigns.
13. Morton, Louis, The Fall of the Philippines, United States Army in World War
II. The War in the Pacific, Washington, D. C, 1953, p. 507. This account
of the pre-invasion conditions in Negros (and the Bisayas) and the Japanese
occupation of the island is brief but based upon official military reports and
interviews or specially prepared reports the author obtained from Americans
who participated in the events, e.g., Cols. Hilsman and McLennan.
14. Morton, op. cit., pp. 574-82. For additional information, see McGee and Fertig
and Keats, footnote no. 5.

108
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
to loot Japanese and Chinese commercial establishments." Colonel
Humber urged that General Manuel A. Roxas, later to become
president of the Philippines, "be sent to Negros to prevent an up-
rising 'due to feeling and sentiment among the civilian popula-
tion .. . and the fear of Filipino troops and officers of being placed
in concentration camps.' "15
Uriarte and Baclagon do not mention the extreme agitation of
General Wainwright over the delay of the Negros force to surrender
to the Japanese. The General felt that "the Negros force was
perhaps the least trained of all those under my command," and
comments that when Col. Hilsman told them of General Sharp's
order to surrender, he was "hooted and threatened."
The mutineers also held 196 Japanese internees and
threatened constantly to put them all to death if we conti-
nued our efforts to persuade them to surrender. It was a
fantastically ticklish situation, with lives of countless Ame-
ricans and Filipinos hanging by the thread of the mutineers'
unpredictability.16
General Wainwright, after his surrender, believed (although sup-
porting evidence is lacking) that his Japanese conquerors might
massacre the 11,000 prisoners on Corregidor if orders for surrender
•were not obeyed by field commanders in the Visayas-Mindanao
area.17
Dr. Bell writes:
Upon first thought, most people would certainly question
the wisdom of outright surrender without any battle being
fought on Negros soil. Many of the people who had given
all their goods — their trucks, their food — to supply our
armed forces, could not understand when these same trucks,
food supplies, etc. were surrendered to the enemy. But
when one remembers that our troops had nothing but small
arms, with probably not more than half of them armed, and
with a very small supply of ammunition and 1903-issue rifles,
long since termed obsolete by the U. S. Army, together with
15. Morton, ibid., p. 582.
36. Wainwright, op. cit., p. 148. In December, 1941, the Philippine Constabulary
had confined all the Japanese nationals in the Bacolod North Elementary
School. They were later released by their own troops. Ai Japanese carpenter,
a former employee of an Occidental Negros hacienda, became the commandant
of the new *prison camp. He assigned to his former employer the task of
mopping his room each morning,- Vaughan, op. cit., pp. 75-77. More than
30 Japanese aliens were interned in Oriental Negros. Bell comments that,
"Several of the Japanese had been prominent merchants, apparently very success-
ful in the province for a number of years. They were courteous and intelli-
gent, and on the surface, the public had very little reason for possible
suspicion. Upon search, however, evidence wad found that a number of these
people were reserve officers in the Japanese! Army and their mercantile business
was subsidized by the Japanese Government", (p. 2).
37. Morton, op. cit., p. 582.

109
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
a knowledge that the Japanese had threatened General
Wainwright on Corregidor that unless the arms in the south
[Bisayas and Mindanao] were surrendered, the Japanese
would annihilate the eight or ten thousand troops already-
captured at Corregidor, it was more easily understood why
surrender was made.
It also makes it easier to appreciate the courage of those who
refused to lay down their arms to the enemy.
Japanese troops from Panay landed on the western coast of
Negros May 21, 1942, according to Morton (Baclagon gives May 20,.
Uriarte, May 22). After two extensions for surrender, the Japanese
"agreed to accept Hilsman's surrender [June 3] with the troops he
had by then persuaded to come down out of the hills. .. .Two
battalions never surrendered at all."18 It was these "few hotheads
on Negros," as General Wainwright refers to them, who later
organized a guerrilla force which had the Japanese contained in the
major coastal urban centers when American troops returned to the
island three years later.19 On May 26, the Japanese landed' at
Dumaguete, the provincial capital of Oriental Negros province.
Bell writes that there was no resistance; "a few collaborationists
and poor people met them at their pier and gave them a sort o£
greeting."
Major Abcede, and later Major Mata, were prominent in organiz-
ing the first guerrilla forces in Occidental Negros. Bell explains
that "Major Matta [Mata] had been a classmate of Major Abcede
in the Philippine Military Academy, so that their acquaintance
and friendship aided them in working together and more or less
absorbing most of the guerrilla organizations in Occidental]
Neg.fros]." Roy Bell, Robert Silliman, and other faculty members
of Silliman University were most active in organizing the resistance
movement in Oriental Negros. Bell reports that a group of young;
Filipinos, without his knowledge, printed posters stating that all
former soldiers should report to his mountain hideout at Barrio
Malabo on August 28, 1942, to discuss guerrilla organization. "None
of us knew whether or not we had any continued authority or
recognition. We were in an area already occupied by the enemy.
No textbook told us whether or not authority and responsibility
continued under such circumstance." Shortly thereafter four small
guerrilla units were established in Oriental Negros.
As Colonel Ney explains:
'The growth of the guerilla organization on Negros is the
18. Morton op. cit., p. 583.
19. Wainwright, op. cit., p. 153.

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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
story of the birth of small units, struggle for island command
[and] the final emergence of Lt. Col. Salvadore ABCEDE
as the accepted and recognized commander. The^ struggle
over the island command was bitter and prolonged. It was
not settled until late 1943, but, since, the quarrels have been
almost forgotten. Recognition of the organization under
Lt. Col. ABCEDE and the shipment of supplies and radios
has enabled a fairly well knit organization to be built up in
spite of these difficulties.'20
Uriarte, Bell, and Baclagon, particularly the latter, give a fairly
detailed "administrative picture" of guerrilla organization; the divi-
sion of Negros into military districts; the rivalries and disputes
involving guerrilla leaders; creation of the Free Negros government;
Major'Jesus Villamor's arrival by submarine from MacArthur's
headquarters in Australia; raids against the Japanese and the final
liberation of the island. Uriarte and Baclagon include in their
books lengthy rosters of guerrilla personnel, civilian officials of the
Free Negros government, and letters, reports, and other documents
related to resistance in the island.21 Bell's account is the most
detailed source for Oriental Negro.
It is now that the sources become increasingly less helpful in
reconstructing the occupation of Negros. Although they give some
data on the organization and activities of the Free Negros
government, the picture is not sharply focussed. It is regrettable
that the Governor of Free Negros, Alfredo Montelibano, has failed
to write an account of the government he headed. Mr. Montelibano
is, in so many ways, superbly qualified to recount his role in direct-
ing resistance to the Japanese during the occupation. If we have
little information on the occupation period of Occidental Negros,
there is even less for Oriental Negros. The Chapman and Bell
accounts picture life in the mountains in Oriental Negros during
this period, but we lack a systematic description of life in the
occupied barrios and poblaciones of the provinces — such as Lear
provides for Leyte. To complete the history of wartime Oriental
Negros we must wait for Robert Silliman's promised book.

20. Ney, Virgil, Notes on Guerrilla War: Principles and Practices, Washington,
D. C. Command Publications, 1961, p. 105. The source of this quotation is
The Guerrilla Resistance Movement in the Philippines, General Headquarters,
United States Army Forces, Pacific, Vol. 1, 1948, p. 34. Colonel Ney's book also
includes brief comments on resistance activities elsewhere in the Bisayas, pp.
100-08.
21. American military forces referred to the guerrillas as USFIP (United States
Forces in the Philippines), the name, given the USAFFE forces after the surren-
der of Bataan, see Charles W. Boggs, Jr., Marine Aviation in the Philippines,
Historical Division Headquarters, U. S. Marines, Washington 25. D. C., U. S.
Government Printing Office, 1951, p. 98. For additional information' on Vil-
lamor's'mission to Negros, also see Doromal, op. cit., pp. 72-73.. Villamor has
remained silent about his part in the resistance movement in Negros.

Ill
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
During the initial period of occupation of Oriental Negros, the
Japanese, according to Dr. Bell, "contented themselves in genera!
with trying to bring about a condition of normalcy." Gradually
most of the provincial and municipal government officials resumed
their positions, and only one mayor absolutely refused to return to
his post. No Filipino official, however, could make a major deci-
sion without the approval of the Japanese. Like most Negrenses,
Filipino officials "were always confident American forces would
soon return to drive the invader from their shores."
The Japanese soon antagonized most of the Filipino officials
with whom they had frequent contact in the capital and small
towns. Filipinos were forced to bow to the Japanese — and several
Filipinos reasoned that since they were required to bow to the Japa-
nese, their assistants should bow to them! The municipal police
were first disarmed. When they complained to the Japanese that
this made it impossible for them to maintain peace and order, their
weapons were returned. Later, when the guerrillas began to seize
their arms, the Japanese again disarmed the police. Dr. Bell com-
ments that criminals were swiftly tried and punished by the Japa-
nese and that "there were very few criminal cases where punish-
ment was inflicted without guilt."
When American forces returned to Negros, after securing the
control of Leyte in late December, 1944, and then invading Luzon,
the guerrillas controlled about two-thirds of the island. It was
estimated that 13,500 to 15,000 Japanese were concentrated in
northern Negros, under Lt. General Kono (Baclagon gives 15,000
Japanese and notes that they were largely around Fabrica and Bago.)
A much smaller Japanese force was in the Dumaguete area — about
800 to 1500 men — under Lt. Col. Satoshi Oi. Prior to the invasion
of Leyte — "the greatest naval battle of the Second World War and
the largest engagement ever fought on the high seas" — aircraft from
American escort carriers (October 18-20) destroyed Japanese small
shipping and planes on airfields in northwestern Negros, Cebu,
and Panay.22
22. Marine pilots strafed Japanese fields at Bacolod. Tailsay, Fabrica, etc., sunk
a barge used to supply, Japanese troops, and destroyed a 15-car "freight" (one
of the small trains used to carry cut sugar cane from the fields to the
centrales). "As the Corsair men flew oven Negros or Cebu on their return trip*
from Panay and Samar, guerrillas usually radioed suggested targets to be
bombed; or strafed," Boggs, Jr., op. cit., p. 118. Also see Joe G. Taylor, "Air
Support of Guerillas in Cebu ."Military Affairs, V. 23 (Fall, 1959) 149-52. The
author relates how one American pilot was shot down while on a mission
over Cebu, and parachuted "into the arras of a captain of the ever-present
[Filipino] Volunteer Guards, who fed him boiled eggs, chicken and Tuba [a
fermented drink] within five minutes, [and] then escorted him to . . . the air
support team," ibid., p. 151. Also see Comer Vann Woodward, The Battle
for Leyte Gulf, New York, MacMillan, 1947, p, 1. Another detailed account

112
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND

American troops returned from Panay (which had been taken

previously) to north-western Occidental Negros (Pulupandan)
March 29, 1945. On April 26, nearly a month later, at about 8 a.m.,
American soldiers of the famous America Division from Cebu
landed at Looc, Sibulan, about five miles north of Dumaguete.
Bohol had been invaded by the same unit on April II. 23 "When the
riflemen reached Dumaguete later in the afternoon of April 26
[Cronin reports] they found only a few smoldering ruins in an
otherwise undamaged city, mute evidence of a weak Japanese at-
tempt to destroy a community they could not hold by force." The
Japanese had withdrawn from Dumaguete to the hills west of the
capital. By June 15 the last Japanese stronghold was captured
and no further resistance from the enemy was possible.24 In the
60-day battle for the control of Oriental Negros, 527 Japanese and
33 American soldiers were killed.25
Zaragoza's Defiance is the least valuable account for this period
is James A. Field, Jr., The Japanese at Leyte Gulf: The Sho Operation,
[Princeton New Jersey], Princeton University Press, iv, 1947, 162 pp. Lt. Gen.
Sasaku Suzuki, who had been in command of tho defense of Leyte, was killed
off the coast of Negros on April 16, 1945; when American aircraft bombed
his ship, Samuel E. Morison, Leyte, June 1944-January 1945, History of the
United States Naval Operation in World War II, Boston, Massachusetts, Little,
Brown, and Company, 1958, p. 395. This source also includes a map that
locates Japanese airfields in Negros, Cebu, Panay, and Bohol.
Four midget submarines were berthed at Cebu, for attack) on the expected
invaders. "The enemy [American] invasion of thd Philippines was developing,
and as traffic was increasing between Mindanao and the Sulu Sea the area
selected for the attack was in the narrowest part, between the southern tip
of Negros Island and the northern tip of Mindanao Island," Mochitsura
Hashimoto, Sunk: The Story of the Japanese Submarine Fleet, 1942-194?, trans-
lated by Commander E. H. M. Colegrave, London, Cassell and Company, 1954,
pp. 25-26.
23. In They Chose to Fight, the date of thi* landing is1 erroneously given as April
20, at Look, Sibulan (p. 116), although in the author's Philippine Campaigns
the invasion is stated to have occurred April 26, at Lood (p. 375). A detailed
account of this invasion of Oriental Negros will be found in Captain Francis
D. Cronin, Under the Southern Cross: The Saga of the American Division,
Washington, D. C, Combat Forces Press, 1951, xiii, 432 pp. This book in-
cludes two photographs of the fighting in Oriental Negros, and also accounts
of the Americal's participation in the liberation of Leyte, Cebu, Samar, and
Bohol.
24. Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao,
the Visayas, 1944-1945, History of the United States Naval Operations in World
War II, Boston, Massachusetts, Little, Brown, and Company, 1959, pp. 231-38.
Also see Gen. Walter Krueger, From, Down Under to Nippon: The Story of
the Sixth Army in World War II, Washington, D.C., Combat Forces Press,
xv, 393 pp. General Robert L. Eichelberger, a participant in the Occidental
Negros campaign, gives an account of this invasion in Our Jungle Road to
Tokyo, in collaboration with Milton Mackaye, New York, The Viking Press,
1959, pp. 208-11. One military historian, however, warns that this book
has "many minor inaccuracies concerning both operations and planning" and
is "By no means scholarly . . . , , " Robert Ross Smith, The Approach to the
Philippines.' The War in the Philippines, United States Army in World War II,
Office of the Chief of Military History, Washington, D. C, 1953, pp. 591-92.
25. Cronin, op. cit., p. 334. Cronii\ also estimated the strength of the Japanese in
the Oriental Negros area just before the invasion as about 800.

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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
of Negros' history. He presents a series of short and laudatory
vignettes of major guerrilla leaders and important events that
occurred during the occupation, but he does give additional
details to specific events discussed by Uriarte and Baclagon.
He writes as an enthusiastic patriot Who consulted only his memory
and remembers the guerrillas as "bands of faithful souls — the simple
farm hands, the laborers, the bolomen and the volunteer guards...
Their lips offered no protests nor complaints." Nevertheless, as
the record of a participant in many of the events which he describes,
Zaragoza's book should not be overlooked; merely consulted with
extreme caution.
According to Baclagon, one "primary source" utilized in pre-
paring They Chose to Fight was "the written account prepared by
the defunct Historical Division of the Armed Forces of the Philip-
pines on the history of the resistance movement in Negros." The
author has written several other books on the military history of the
Philippines. He was able to draw also upon his personal expe-
riences as a Negros guerrilla leader. The book's publication was
financed by "the sugar planters of Negros." Did the same group
assist financially in the printing of Uriarte's book?
As a "leading Filipino military writer," and a former Professor
of History, Far Eastern University, Manila, one expects more from
Baclagon. Although he assures the reader that "extreme care and
diligence was exercised in the preparation of this .account," he mis-
spells Col. McLennan's name throughout the book, failed to consult
the basic published sources for this period of Negros' history, and
contradicts correct statements made in an earlier book on the war
in the Philippines. He offers no bibliography of sources consulted
and there is no index.28 We will hold him to his "guarantee that I
shall rectify such defects [errors and omissions] in a subsequent
edition."
Perhaps because he is a trained soldier, Baclagon's history is less
a "story of the resistance movement in Negros" than a detailed
outline of the guerrilla organization, movement of units, their admi-
nistration, names of officers, and the exchange of orders among the
guerrilla leaders. Not much space is devoted to the role played by
the Free Negros government in the resistance and the life of the Fili-
pino civilians who remained in the Japanese occupied lowlands of
both provinces. His reporting of guerrilla activities in Oriental
Negros is most meagre.
26. In Philippine Campaigns the bibliographical entries are incomplete, the
author giving only author (and sometimes only the last namt) and title.
General Wainwright's book, is entered as written by Robert Considine and, the
title h incorrectly given as Wainwright's Own Story.
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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
Baclagon states:
The guerrilla force was a motley group, composed of people
from all elements of the population, from the high and the
lowly, from the professionals and non-professionals. »It was.
a nondescript army whose fighting men came from all strata
of society and who shared the same privileges and opportu-
nities... From a small force which chose to ignore the
USAFFE order of surrender, the 7th MD [Military District!
grew into an army of about twelve thousand officers and men
who savagely fought the Japanese forces in numerous battle
engagements and contributed in no small measure to the
liberation of the Philippines.
Although most leaders came from the "high", and although it is
difficult to accept the statement, for Filipino society, that all "shared
the same privileges and opportunities," Baclagon's They Chose to
Fight will convince most readers that this broad statement is essen-
tially correct. His book, for all its limitations and inaccuracies,
remains the roost complete single history of Negros during these
dangerous years. The pity is that the author is qualified to have
written a more comprehensive and trustworthy history.
A Basque Among the Guerrillas of Negros is an impressive per-
sonal document of the author's participation in the resistance
movement. Unlike Baclagon, Uriarte does not attempt! a systematic
history of guerrilla forces and resistance activities in Negros. He
merely describes his role in many events of this turbulent era-
Born of Basque parents in Occidental Negros, he was managing
the family haciendas at the outbreak of hostilities. As a Spanish-
citizen Uriarte could have invoked neutrality but chose to take his
place "by the side of the Filipino people and that of the American
nation."
After Generalissimo Franco's message of congratulations to the
Japanese on their capture of Corregidor, Uriarte became one of
the "hated 'CASTILLAS' ", and was regarded by some Negrenses
as a potential Fifth Columnist. He describes guerrilla activities
in various parts of the island; activities of the government of Free
Negros; the life of Filipinos who lived in the mountains; con-
tacts wth the primitive Bukidnons; and his intelligence missions
throughout Negros, and later Cebu, Bohol, and Luzon.27 His
27. In, many ways, Uriarto is a more accurate account than Baclagon's They Chose
to Fight. For example, Uriarte lists correctly the submarine landings at
Negros during the Japanese occupation, giving the dates and personnel. Major
Villamor returned to Negros from Australia January) 14, 1943, with five other
Filipinos. See Theodore Roscow, United States Submarine Operations in World
War II, Annapolis, Maryland, United States Naval Institute, 1949, p. 510.
Baclagon incorrectly gives the date of Villamor's landing as January 21, 1943,
p. 33 and fails to list, as'does Uriarte,. the number and names of the Filipino*
accompanying him (p. 74).

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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND

contribution to the eventual liberation of Negros, was probably

one of the "honourable exceptions" admitted by the author
of the statement that "Technically, the Spaniards were neutrals
but, in fact, the Spanish population of the Philippines were by and
large anti-American and gloated over America's defeat. When-
ever the Japanese patrolled outlying districts, a Spanish otf Mestizo-
Spanish Quisling would usually be there to guide them."28
Uriarte was not only a faithful "citizen" of the1 land of his birth,
but an intelligent observer. He also seems to have been in an
excellent position to observe what he describes. As Zaragoza
writes: "During all this time he [Governor Montelibano] was in
constant touch with the guerrillas, his best contact being Capt.
Uriarte."
In A Basque Among the. Guerrillas of Negros the author blandly
repeats the remarks of an American soldier who came secretly to
Negros to prepare the forthcoming Leyte invasion.
We expected and were prepared to land here, as we did,
in New Guinea, armed to the teeth . . . . fight our way
through jungles and forests with the Japanese dodging our
steps . . . . Instead we find in your hills and mountains
organized communities of lawabiding citizens and fighting-
men who gave us all the help we needed.
Was the American merely being gallant or was! MacArthur'si head-
quarters so poorly informed on conditions in Negros?
These narratives of guerrilla activities in Negros indicate that
civilians, and some small armed bands, turned bandits, terrorized
the populace and extorted "contributions." In The Sun Was
Darkened, the author comments that in Oriental Negros "At this
particular time [the beginning of the occupation] Filipinos were
killing more Filipinos in our province than were the Japanese, mur-
ders being at times a matter of vengeance on old scores, at other
times an accompaniment to robbery".29
28. Klestadt, Albert; The Sea Was Kind, London, Constable, 1959, p. 48. This is
an account by a German refugee from Nazi Germany (caught in Manila at
the start of the war) who later escaped alone in a small boat to Australia.
During his flight south he spent foi^r months on Panay, mainly in Iloilo,
escaping (May 24) to Guimaras and then to Mindanao, shortly after the Jap-
anese occupation of Iloilo, ibid., pp. 31-38.
29. In Siaton, Oriental Negro, conflict occured between rival guerrilla units:
". . . some more powerful guerrilla units tried to assimilate and disarm us.
There was a time when' another unit came to our territory to disarm us. When
they arrived, we could not be foundi for we had dispersed." Some1 Saiton resi-
dents complained that local guerrillas "often were worse than the Japanese,
requisitioning food, destroying property, and bullying many of the inhabitants
'for the good of the war effort,' more often for their own personal gain."
Donm V. Hart, "Halfway to Uncertainty: A Short Autobiography of a Cebuan
Filipino," University of Manila Journal of East Asiatic Studies, V. 3 (July,
1956) 277.

116
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
During the first months of the resistance, the situation in
Occidental Negros was chaotic. Uriarte describes roaming bands
of looters who burned and robbed the haciendas. In his autobio-
graphy the late Manuel Quezon (who stopped at Negros on his
flight from Corregidor to Australia) writers:
Here [at Bacolod], also, the extreme tension between factory
owners [hacienderos], planters and workmen, brought about
[released?]1 by the war, naturally had become greater than in
any other part of the country. These difficulties were so
severe that the only course open to me was to direct the
suspension of grinding [milling the sugar cane] and to
authorize certain loans by the Government bank to enable
wage payments to be made.80
Bell States that shortly after the guerrilla units were organized in
Oriental Negros," . . . [they] were querreling and threatened civil
war among themselves, quite often because one member would
desert one group and go to join another." A former commander
of the armed forces of the Island refused to participate in the
Oriental Negros guerrilla movement until he was authorized by
Washington or General Mac Arthur. Finally, and "without any
authority to do so," Bell wrote to Major Placido Ausejo, then
residing near Tolong, Oriental Negros, requesting him to take
command of the guerrilla forces of the province.
As the guerrillas were more effectively organized and the civil
government's authority spread throughout Negros, this lawless-
ness of the uncertain early months was largely halted. Governor
Montelibano went so far as to prohibit cockfights, although many
mayors complained, according to Zaragazo, "inasmuch as they
derived a good income from cockpit taxes but Governor Monte-
libano was adamant."
Baclagon, Uriarte, and Zaragoza focus their studies mainly on
guerrilla activities. Escape to the Hills and The Sun Was
Darkened are accounts of the Filamerican communities in Oriental
Negros, their frantic efforts to prepare for the invasion, and final
flight to the hills on the arrival of the enemy. Silliman Univer-
sity faculty and students played a crucial role in the development
of guerrilla activities in this province. ROTC cadets at the
University became active guerrillas;; Salvador* Abcede, a key
leader in the resistance, had been ROTC commandant at Silliman
for two years prior to the war. Baclagon asserts that: "The
30. Quezon, Manuel Luis, The Good Fight, New York, D. Appleton-Century Com-
pany 1946, p. 288. Zamboanguita beach is not, as Quezon wrote, "at the ex-
treme southern end of the Island of Negros." See map.)

117
 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
Silliman University influence in this area was, in fact, largely res-
ponsible for the growth of a successful resistance movement in the
south Negros region."31
Dr. Chapman, a well-known entomologist, and his wife, a teacher
of English, were members of the Silliman faculty when the war
began. Besides careful descriptions of plant and animal life (Chap-
man's specialty was ants) in the mountainsi of southern Negros, they
relate how they managed to "live off the land," and describe
the contributions of the civilian population to guerrilla activities.
One is impressed with the enhanced value of customary foods to
Americans- forced to make drastic diet modifications. The Chap-
mans note that, prior to their flight, they searched the almost
empty shelves of Dumaguete stores, and "we sometimes found
unexpected treasures of food, such as cans of Grape-Nuts otf mince-
meat which had somehow been overlooked in the mad rush of
the first weeks." Escape to the Hills gives a vivid picture of the
beginning of the occupation of Oriental Negros and the formative
days of the resistance movement.
The Sun was Darkened begins by describing life on a large
coconut plantation in Pamplona, Oriental Negros. The authors
husband, a retired former provincial governor, managed the
establishment. She tells how Quezon and his party dined with
them as they travelled southward to Zamboanguita. (Quezon does
not mention this incident in his autobiography. Other informants
who were then; residing in the area insist that the President and his
party were dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson at Plan-
tation Polo, some 20 kilometers north of Dumaguete.) The Bry-
ants also fled to the hills, but later surrendered to the Japanese.
They were taken to Dumaguete where they lived in relative free-
dom in the Japanese occupied city. Unfortunately, the book does
not tell us much about conditions in Dumaguete at this time or
about the Japanese stationed there. The author also uses too
much space in petty criticism of her American compatriots; most
of whom she does not seem to have liked.
Both couples were later sent to the Japanese prisoner-of-war
camp at Bacolod. (The Chapmans were surprised by the
Japanese who found their mountain hide-out.) When the
31. "Mr. Bell's spirit, originality, and organizing ability were the guiding strength-
in the development of the guerrilla organization in this area . . . He com-
manded the respect, of soldiers and civilians alike; his worlq was widely known-
and appreciated," Baclagon, op. cit., p. 130. Mr. Robert Silliman and his wife,.
Metta, Abby Jacobs, and other* ;later moved to the upper Siaton/ River Valley.
They are remembered with gratitude by Filipinos residing in this area, e.g.,
see Hart op. cit. p. 276.

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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
Bacolod camp was closed they were transferred to the< University of
Santo Tomas prison camp in Manila. Of these two reports.
Escape to the Hills is the more valuable since a larger part of
the book is devoted to Negros and the role of Silliman University
in the resistance movement.
Roy and Edna Bell's Trails to Freedom consists of two parts.
The first part describes the Japanese invasion of Negros, the
sudden dislocation of the daily routine in the province, and the
dispersal of Americans and Filipinos to hide-outs in the nearby
mountains. Gradually these "pioneers" settled down in make-
shift huts, discovering that cassava flour made "quite good cakes"
and that vinegar could be obtained from fermented bananas. Neces-
sities once taken for granted — food, medicine, and clothing —
become pressing daily problems. Sudden flights into the forest
were made on the basis of both false rumors and probing Japanese
patrols. Radio contact with the United States was established
in 1942, and in 1944 the Bells left Negros for Australia and the
United States. After the end of the war they returned to Silli-
man University; to Dumaguete where they had buried their first
child years before. This part of the report complements the
Chapman book and Jacobs' unpublished account of the life of
evacuees in the forested spine of Negros.
The second part of Trails to Freedom is "An Account of the
Guerrilla Movement on Negros Island in the Philippines During
World War II by Mr. H. Roy Bell." This section was written
from Bell's notes in 1958. No published sources were consulted
and time did not permit a careful check of all the events recorded
in his wartime notes. It is a hastily written but nonetheless use-
ful report. This section is the most detailed existing history
of the guerrilla movement in Oriental Negros.
Bell was appointed Civil Affairs Officer of the province; his
main duties were to act as liaison officer between the Army and
the government and local populace. Since he is a courageous
and imaginative person, he soon became a guiding figure in the
early efforts to organize both the resistance movement and the
free government in the mountains. His narrative describes the
organization of the first guerrilla units, tiring trips made between
local guerrilla groups to establish harmonious relationships, and
dangerous liaison missions to Cebu (to allay the suspicions of
Colonel Fenton and Colonel Cushing) and Mindanao (to assist
Colonel Fertig to establish radio contact with Australia).
Bell points out how the Filipino peasant, living within a 5-6
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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
mile radius of Dumaguete, was caught between two fires. If he
sold food in the city, guerrillas burned his house for aiding the
Japanese. If he cooperated with the guerrillas, the Japanese
published him as a collaborationist. There existed, because of
this situation, a more or less "No-Man's-Land . . . surrounding
nearly every Japanese garrison center . . . " in the island. We
wish that more information had been included in this report about
the problems of Filipinos who lived in the Japanese controlled
coastal regions. Although the Bells had anxious doubts about
leaving Negros in 1944, they left behind an organization which
they had helped to shape and which hastened the liberation of their
beloved island.
Community Under Stress is a revised Ph.D. anthropology dis-
sertation. The author left the United States in 1937 for the
Philippines and taught one year at the University of the Philip-
pines. Later she married and moved with her husband to Negros,
where they were living when the war began. After several months
hiding in the mountains with her small children (her husband
had enlisted in the army and later died in the Cabanatuan mili-
tary prison), she surrendered to the Japanese and was interned
at Bacolod. The Japanese operated this camp from June, 1942,
to March, 1943, when it was closed and all prisoners transferred
to Santo Tomas in Manila.
Vaughan's research sought to answer the basic question: how
has modern civilization equipped or handicapped men and women
for survival within an internment camp environment? She
describes the Bacolod camp organization; problems of managing
the food; assignment of camp duties; the racial and socio-
economic background of the internees; Japanese camp admi-
nistrators, and the various adjustments made by the prisoners.
Women seemed to adjust better than men to camp conditions.
Filipinos adapted easier than the others since they were less dis-
turbed by camp food, the lack of privacy, and "cultural anxieties
about the future." Community Under Stress is the best system-
atic published study of Japanese internment camps in the Philip-
pines. It is a valuable addition to the growing literature on
internment camp "cultures" of World War II. In addition., the
book furnishes considerable information about life in Occidental
Negros during this unhappy era.
If one may judge by these publications, this chapter in Philip-
pine history should be more fully recorded for the admiration
of both Filipinos and Americans. In a recent letter to Uriarte,
Jesus Viflamor comments: "The whole story of course is a long,
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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
tortuous, complicated one which I am afraid not many here in
the Philippines has any interest in at this time. Yet, as you your-
self know, it is a story that should make Filipinos very proud of
their own people. Hard to understand, isn't it?"32' Although
writing about Leyte, Lear's conclusion speaks for most of the
Bisayas:
. . . the guerrilla accomplished wonders. Whatever its
defects, the guerrilla of Leyte succeeded in carving a glorious
name for itself.33
The liberation of the Philippines would have been bloodier
and more prolonged without the resistance movement. A former
enemy, Lt. Gen. Akira Muto, wrote:
The guerrilla war by the Filipinos had been anticipated
[by the Japanese] even before the invasion of the American
forces. But once the Americans set their feet on the
Islands, the native guerilla activities surpassed all calcula-
tions. It was not too much to say that the whole Filipino
population formed one vast guerilla system. Destroying
roads and bridges and disturbing the34rear of the Japanese,
their action was extremely effective.
In the years which followed Philippine liberation, many Americans
forgot, as they should not have done, that "only in the Philip-
pines, of all the 'new' nations," did the Japanese have to deal
Tvith a massive popular guerrilla movement and a people who
announced their loyalty to a "fomer 'colonial power' ".S5
A noted American historian of World War II comments:
Hundreds of American soldiers and sailors who escaped
to the jungle rather than surrender were fed and protected
by Filipinos at the risk of their lives, and operated with
the native guerrilla bands. In common suffering a new
bond of brotherhood was forged between Americans and
Filipinos to replace the political relationship voluntarily
broken.86
Of all the gifts bestowed upon Americans by Filipinos, this "new
bond of brotherhood" should be cherished and recorded in the
annals of the histories of both countries.
32. Uriarte, op, cit., p. 229.
33. Lear, op. cit., p. 241.
34. Kenworthy. Aubrey Saint, The Tigef of Malaya. The Story of Genera Tomo-
yuki Yamashita and "Death March" General Masaharu Homma, New York, Ex-
position Press, 1953, pp. 20-21.
35. Valeriano, Napoleon D. and Charles T. R. Bohannan, Counter Guerrilla Opera-
tions) The Philippine Experience, New York, Frederick A. Praeger, 1962, p. vi.i
This book is devoted largely to the Philippine Hukbalahap movement.
36. Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Rising Sun in the Pacific. History of the United
States Naval Operations in World War II, Boston, Massachusetts, Little, Brown,
and Company, 1948, p. 206.

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Appendix: Notes on Occupied Siaton, Negros Oriental
In 1950 — 51 the author resided in Siaton municipal, Oriental
Negros, while making a community study of Barrio Catigugan.
No systematic effort was made to study the occupation period of
this part of Negros Island. However, the following notes are
appended since so little has been published about guerrilla war-
fare and the resistance movement in southern Negros.
Prior to the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, residents of
Siaton poblacion (urban center where municipal government
offices are located) became apprehensive. In fact, several pro-
minent poblacion residents, including the parish priest, were
suspected, by some, of being Fifth Columnists. These indivi-
duals often visited the convento (residence of the Catholic priest)
to obtain news of the Pacific war in the Manila newspaper received
by the priest. It was believed that these "meetings" in the
priest's residence were planning conferences to give aid to the
potential enemy. A legal complaint was drawn up by the
suspected but it was never presented in court. With the Japanese
bombing raid on Davao, Mindanao, (December 8, 1941), all pend-
ing court cases were dropped, and the municipal recordsi were taken
to hiding places in the hills north of the poblacion.
When news of the Japanese invasion in the Philippines reached
Siaton, the mayor instructed the people to place palm leaves on
the tin roofs of the church, municipio (city hall), and school
buildings. On moonlight nights the roofs shone like polished
silver. A volunteer group of men over sixteen years of age was
formed to patrol the beaches. Sharpened bamboos were placed
along the shore and in the shallow water by the people as their
forefathers had done once to protect their homes from the raiding
Moros (Muslim Filipinos) from Mindanao.
The evacuation of residents living in the poblaciones and
barrios (villages) along the national road began before the actual
invasion of Negros. The people's confidence was badly shaken
when President Quezon's illness forced him to leave Corregidor
in February, 1942.. A rendezvous for the Quezon party's escape
at Zamboanguita did not succeed since the P-T boats did not
appear. Quezon's autobiography explains that the P-T boat to
rendezvous with his group at Zamboanguita was "wrecked in a
fish trap that afternoon." Bell writes, however, that the boat
ran aground coral that made a large hole in the hull. The crew
deserted the boat, expecting it to sink. The boat did not sink
but drifted ashore south of Dumaguete ". . . . with its four tor-
pedoes on its deck, its 50-caliber machine guns, ammunition and
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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
supplies in general intact." President Quezon and his party
returned to Dumaguete; Commander Bulkeley met the party here
and ferried them to Mindanao.
Quezon's description of his fruitless trip to Zamboanguita
indicates conditions in Oriental Negros at this time.
The road [to Zamboanguita] ran along the coast . . .
The exodus was painful and was made more so by the
people who, alarmed by the news, clogged up the road
with vehicles and baggage, prepared to flee into the
mountains from the Japanese invasion, which they felt
was imminent.87
In a short time after their occupation of Dumaguete, Japanese
forces were stationed in a number of poblaciones in Oriental
Negros, including Siaton. There were never more than forty
Japanese soldiers billeted at Siaton. (In early 1944, according
to Jacobs' manuscript, 500 Japanese soldiers were landed at
Siaton, but they did not stay long.) In fact, southern Negros
was never completely under the control of the Japanese. Filipinos
freely roamed the interior part of the island. Single soldiers or
small Japanese patrols never ventured far from the poblaciones
or larger barrios (villages) along the national road. In southern
Negros Japanese forces were stationed only at Tolong and Siaton;
from these operational bases patrols were sent out to the surround-
ing territory.
Little fraternization occurred between the Japanese and Fili-
pinos in Siaton; no children were born of Japanese soldiers and
Filipinas. Contacts between the Filipinos and their conquerors
-were very few and these usually only of an official nature. A
former mayor of Siaton did collaborate with the Japanese. Bell
describes how this individual, Mr. Tedorocio Lajato, attempted
to force Robert Silliman and his group, hiding out in the upper
Siaton River Valley, to surrender to the Japanese. (Silliman and
Funda and members of their group first moved to Barrio Casala-an
in May, 1942; later they established another residence at Bugwal,
further inland from Siaton poblacion.) Lajato was later ambushed
T>y the guerrillas and shot in the forearm. Bell states that the guerril-
las "wanted to go in at night [to the hospital in Dumaguete] and
finish him; there, and would have done so if any of us had given
our consent." Mr. Lajato's association with the Japanese did
not hinder permanently his political career. After the war, he
Tan for mayor of Siaton, lost, ran again, and won. (During the
mayoralty election in 1951, printed copies of the criminal case,
37. Quezon, op. cit., p. 305.

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 GUERILLA WARFARE ON NEGROS ISLAND
No. 2321 (4377), April 13, 1950, against Mr. Lajato were cir-
culated by the opposition party.)
In August, 1942, guerrilla units were organized in southern
Negros. According to Robert Silliman, the first guerrilla unit in
the Siaton area was organized by Lt. Joaquin Funda. The guns,
which had, not, been surrendered to the Japanese, who had ordered
all evacuees to return to their homes, were distributed among the
guerrillas. The first unit in Siaton was composed of seventeen
men. The unit, at the start, was kept small because of the lack
of firearms. Volunteer guards were appointed as messengers to
relay news to other units. Committees were organized to main-
tain law and order in the areas outside Japanese control. In
1943 the schools were re-opened in southern Negros.88
At the beginning of resistance in Siaton, disputes occurred
among guerrilla units. More powerful units tried to absorb the
smaller, more poorly armed groups. According to one member
of the guerrillas in Siaton:
Later Major Placido A. Ausejo came out of hiding and1
assumed the task of unifying the different guerrilla units.
He was the only ranking Philippine Constabulary officer
in southern Negros so it was logical that he assume com-
mand. As we were being assimilated the civil volunteers
were given a chance to join, formally, the unit. All of
them did not consent to joining the new unit organized by
Ausejo.
The Japanese in Siaton were transferred to Tolong during
the last part of their occupation, of Negros. They stayed here for
about a month and then returned to Siaton. One night, after
burning the municipio and the dispensary, they left on a ship
that had anchored off shore.
When American troops (Americal Division) arrived at Siaton
they camped on a small knoll about a mile from the poblacion.
Cronin reports that June 1, 1944, Company F of the America
Division was sent to "Siaton with orders to patrol northward up
the Siaton River." It was believed then that the Japanese who
fled from Dumaguete might try to move through the hills south
toward Siaton. By June 13 (possibly June 8) Company F had
been' recalled to Dumaguete. Since their stay was brief, the
soldiers did not make much of an impact on the local Filipinos.
Several dances in the plaza were given in their honor by the
people of Siaton.
The account below is taken from a life history collected from
a male resident of Sitio Naga, Caticugan, Siaton municipality.
38. Layagtie, op. cit., pp. 23, 27.

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Naga is on the west side of the Siaton River, about one mile north
of Siaton poblacion.
[Tell me how you first learned about Japanese coming to the
Philippines?] I heard from people in the longsod [poblacion] that
the Japanese were already in Dumaguete. [Tell me about your
life while the Japanese were here.]
I was at a tabo [small gathering] in Caticugan when I knew
the Japanese were in the poblacion because they were machine-
gunning the town. I went up Panligaran hill and looked over
the town. When the Japanese were about to leave, they machine-
gunned the hill because they thought we were USAFFE [guerrillas].
The next morning many people came to Naga from the town.
Five men went to Panligaran hill to look over the town. The
Japanese were hiding in the bushes on the hill. When the five
men got to the top, a Japanese soldier came out and motioned
the five men ta come to him. Instead they all ran away but one
was hit. Later the men met and waited for him [one shot] but
he never came. He was dead.
When the Japanese lived in the poblacion there were many
guerrillas who passed this way [i.e. through Naga]. The guerrillas
told us to leave Naga and I said, 'I will: leave later.' But I did
not leave and whenever I heard shooting in the town I went to
the hills.
Whenever the Japanese went on a patrol they passed this way,
especially if they wanted to go to Maloh. Whenever we saw a
Japanese patrol we hid in bushes by the Siaton river. One day
the Japanese were patroling toward Maloh and they met a
guerrilla soldier named Poroto. Poroto couldn't escape because
he met the Japanese on the top of the hill — they were both climb-
ing the same hill but on opposite sides. Another day the
Japanese passed by Dong's house. Dong's two brothers were
caught sleeping. A brother was beaten by the Japanese while the
other brother had his hands tied behind his back and was taken
to the poblacion. He was able to escape later.
One time I was paid by a man from Dumaguete to carry a sick
man to Sacsac. I passed through [Barrios] Caticugan, Datag, and
Canaway. On my way home I met a Japanese patrol in Balsa
with their Filipino guide who was also my friend. When I was
near them, I stopped, folded my hands, and bowed. The guide
for the Japanese who was my friend asked me if I had a son
who was a guerrilla and I said I did not because all my children
were girls. The Japanese soldiers asked me if I were a guerrilla.
I said, 'No, Senor, I am just a worker, plowing the fields.' The
guide then motioned for me to continue on my way. I continued
walking without looking back because I was afraid I'd be shot.
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