Anything Under the Sun
Guimaras -- the Emerald Isle (5)
On history and culture -- During the American time, the United States Army established a detachment in the island specifically in Supang, Buenavista where in 1903, Lt. Douglas McArthur fresh from West Point was assigned to "I" Company of the 3rd Engineering Battalion in Camp Jossman at Barrio Supang, Buenavista, Guimaras.
While there, he erected several infrastructures some of which are still existing like the Buenavista wharf, bakery chimney, target parapet at Punta Blanco, water reservoir and ice refrigerator. The "Vinegar Hill" where the American soldiers drink tuba is still there, too.
One day, he led a patrol team into a jungle where they were ambushed by the revolucionarios under Col. Quintin Salas. A sniper's bullet tore thru the young officer's campaign hat and into a private behind him. Drawing his .38 pistol, Lt McArthur shot his two ambushers.
In his letter to his mother later, he wrote: "I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there, there is something charming in the sound."
During the World War II, Santa Ana Bay was the hideout of the heavy cruiser USS Houston, flagship of the US Asiatic Fleet under Adm. Thomas C. Hart together with its escort destroyers USS Whipple and USS John D. Edwards at the outbreak of the war on December 8, 1942.
These warships hid there for two weeks from the Japanese Navy before being sunk in the battle of Sunda Strait in Java on March 1,1943. The Alubijod beach is in this bay.
During the early American period, Guimaras was already in the national limelight. In 1904, Guillermo Gomez of Buenavista, Guimaras represented the Visayan Press as member of the Honorary Commission of Filipinos to the St. Louis Exposition in the United States.
In 1926, the first kissing scene ever in Philippine movies was performed by an Ilongga actress from Buenavista, Guimaras, Elizabeth "Dimples" Cooper in Ang Tatlong Hambug with Luis Tuazon.