Bridging the Gap
By Prof. Henry Funtecha

Training for the defense of WV vs. Japan

During the period 1940-1941, because of the ominous clouds of an impending war, military preparations were conducted in the Philippines, including the Visayas. Among the units that were organized and underwent training was the 3 rd Battalion, 72 nd Infantry Regiment, 71 st Division of the USAFFE or the United States Armed Forces in the Far East.

In a book entitled A Silent Sacrifice (1998) by Venicio Jalandoni, a USAFFE veteran, one gets a glimpse of the nature and extent of the military training. In the case of the 3 rd Batallion, the officers were inducted at the campgrounds of Leon Kilat, Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. In that camp, freshly recruited officers noted how inadequate and outdated materials and supplies were. According to Jalandoni, the rifles from the Americans were obsolete because they were World War I vintage and the old mortars were unable to fire. Even the revolvers issued to commissioned officers cracked in half after a series of rapid fire. The only ones that were quite agreeable to the officers were their uniforms. At that time, third lieutenants were paid P150.00 monthly salary.

After the induction of the officers in Guihulngan they were moved to Magallon, Negros Occidental where they underwent a one-month training. This was followed by the battalion infantry training in Bais, Tanjay, Negros Oriental under the supervision of American Army officers.

The camp in Tanjay included three rifle companies, one machine gun company, and a medical squad, or a total of about 500 men, including all officers. Training consisted of hiking and marching in rubber-soled tennis shoes, boots being expensive. Only officers were provided with caps. There were also shooting, hiking, and river crossing drills that took up a lot of time. Bayonet training, hand-to-hand combat, and skills in the use of long poles were also rigorously taught. Target practice used up most of the morning, and marching drills all afternoon.

The relationship between the Filipino officers and the American training officers in the camp, according to the book, were not always well. Oftentimes the American officers were overbearing and did not care to establish rapport with the Filipino soldiers at the camp, or with the civilians around. Verbal altercations occurred occasionally between the two groups of officers. Among the Ilonggo officers training in the camp were Lt. Venicio Jalandoni of Jaro, Iloilo City and Lt. Cesar "Bimbo" Ramos, a Filipino-Spanish mestizo whose well to do family owned a huge tract of sugar land in Aguisan, Negros Occidental.