Anything Under the Sun
Esperanza Villanueva
After this columnist wrote about Leticia Lorea Pelobello of Mina, Iloilo, on her experience as a Japanese captive during World War II, many asked him to write more on personal heroic experiences of Ilonggos during the war. In the following issues, we will present more of these. Here is another.
During the war, many Ilonggo women volunteered to be intelligence agents of Panay Guerilla.
One of them was pre-war librarian of the Iloilo High School Esperanza Villanueva of La Paz, Iloilo City. She used to hide intelligence reports on her hair bun. One day, somebody pointed her to the Japanese as a guerilla agent.
When the Japanese Kempetai (secret police) went to her house in La Paz, she hastily tore her reports and flushed them down the toilet drain. However, some bits were left and she was arrested.
On May 18, 1944. she was executed reportedly wearing the Maria Clara attire at her own request and singing the Philippine National Anthem, English version.