Anything under the Sun
Glorious military tradition of Ilonggo soldier (2)
During World War II, the Ilonggo soldiers proved their mettle. The Panay guerilla was considered the best organized guerilla in the Philippines and 85 per cent of its officers were ROTC cadets.
For four years, they had fought successfully the better-armed and better-trained Japanese invaders.
The Panay guerilla was patterned by Col. Macario Peralta, Jr. after the regular US Infantry Division. It was composed of four regiments. They were: 61st Inf Regt under Lt. Col. Luis Cirilo Garcia, 62nd Inf Regt under Lt. Col. Pedro Serran, 63rd Inf Regt under Lt. Col. Julian Chaves, 64th Inf Regt under Lt. Col. Leopoldo Relunia, 65th Inf Regt under Lt. Col. Valentin Grasparil and 66th Inf Regt under Lt. Col. Braulio Villasis. The executive officer was Lt. Col. Luis Dator.
These were some feats of the Panay Guerilla. It was the first guerilla movement in the country which contacted Gen. Douglas McArthur in Mindanao thru its signal unit. It had a secret landing field in Dumarao, Capiz under an air force ground unit. It operated a railway car between Passi and Dumarao under its transportation unit fueled by alcohol from tuba processed by its chemical section.
It had a land management unit cultivating abandoned agricultural lands and fishponds thus providing food for the guerillas. It had a military police unit, judge advocate unit and courts-martial to maintain military discipline on the guerilla ranks. It organized an artillery unit when mortars were received from secret deliveries by US submarines.
It had a wide intelligence network including naval coast guards watching the movements of Japanese ships as instructed by General McArthur. It conducted two troops schools in the mountains patterned after pre-war military tools. Their valedictorians were Esmeraldo Eco (later became congressman of Camarines Sur) and Vicente Acsay (later bar topnotcher).
It had also a WAC Section under Mrs. Natividad Katigbak Peralta; a propaganda corps publishing underground newspapers, finance section printing guerilla money, a corps of engineers, chaplains, medical and nurse and a military band.