Anything under the Sun
The unsung war heroes
Our idea of a war hero is one who actually fought and died in the battlefield. But there are other war heroes who may not even have fired a single shot but had contributed much to the success of the war efforts.
As regards the Panay Guerilla considered to be one of the best guerilla groups in the world during World War II, these are its unsung heroes:
- The Signal Corps – under Capt. Amos Francia responsible for establishing radio contact with Gen. Douglas McArthur in Australia against great odds like lack of radio spare parts (majority of the town did not have radios then), the American suspicion that the sender could be a Japanese trick and looking for the key word asked by the Americans – the last place where President Manuel Quezon and Tomas Confesor met. They know it only accidentally after three months of searching for it. How? It is a long and very interesting story which merits another column.
- Corps of Engineers – responsible for secretly building an airport in Dumarao, Capiz. When finished, the US planes airdropped arms and supplies for the guerillas there.
- Air Force ground unit under Maj. Magin Bautista – responsible for management and security of Dumarao Airport.
- Transportation Section – activated the railroad line between Passi and Dumarao with one locomotive with cars carrying arms and supplies from Dumarao airport to Passi to be distributed to the field units in Iloilo.
- Chemical Section under Lt. Homer Villasis in charge of looking for tuba which they converted to alcohol for fuel of the locomotive engine.
- Ordnance Section – in charge of repairing guns, producing gun powder and manufacturing grenades. For this purpose, they secretly utilized the foundry shops in Fundidor Molo which produced grenades in bars (not round) to avoid Japanese suspicion.
- Land Management Section – maintained the continued operations of abandoned farm lands and fishponds for food of the soldiers and campaigned among civilians for more food production.
- Currency Section under Capt. Mariano Diolosa – in charge of printing guerilla money for salaries of the soldiers and the civilian employees of the civil resistance movement under Gov. Tomas Confesor and secretly procure paper and ink in Iloilo City.
- Finance Section – distributes emergency money to field units for salaries and clothing allowances of soldiers.
- Military Police under Major Francisco Offemaria – in charge of maintaining peace and order among soldiers as well as civilians and of imprisonment of Japanese war prisoners.
- Judge Advocate Office under Maj. Juan Borra (later congressman) – in charge of courts-martial which had actually imposed penalties on erring soldiers like demotions, suspensions of salaries and imprisonment.
- Coastal defense force – in charge of observing movements of enemy ships in the seas especially in the Antique area and securing the landing of US submarines bringing arms and supplies to the guerillas.
- Intelligence Section (S-2) under Maj. Salcedo – in charge of penetrating into enemy occupied areas for espionage missions and maintaining contacts with puppet provincial and municipal officials for co-existence purposes.
- Medical/Dental and Nurse Corps – in charge of treating the wounded and the sick, creating a mobile clinic for this purpose and alter establishing a base hospital at Pototan, Iloilo and also buying secretly medicines and supplies from drugstores in Iloilo City.
- Corps of Chaplains composed of a division chaplain Msgr. Jose Tanalgo and a regimental chaplain with assistants for every four regiments of the division-in charge of the spiritual and moral needs and formation of the soldiers. One of the regimental chaplains was Lt. Vicente Escutin who later became brigadier general and the other was Lt. Miguel Tadifa who became colonel and chief of Philippine Army Chaplains.
- Propaganda Corps which had published the following guerilla newspapers: The Baloy Watchman of Lt. (later Brig. Gen.) Juan Razo, Flash of Lt. Rex D. Drilon assisted by Lt. Jose Guervara and the Liberator of Capt. Jose Nava. The Civil Resistance Government under Gov. Tomas Confesor had Ang Tigbatas under Abe Gonzales.
- Troop School – there were two troop schools organized to train soldiers for officership. The subjects were the regular one prescribed in the Officer's School. Its final examinations were actual combat such as ambush or raid of the enemy detachments. The valedictorian of the first school was Vicente Acsay (later Bar topnotcher) and the second one was Esmeraldo Eco (later congressman of Camarines). Both were promoted to second lieutenants.
- 63rd Inf Regt Band under Sgt. Eliseo Gellor (retired PC Band member) organized by Major Epifanio Cabalfin with musician recruits from Alimodian, Leon and San Miguel, Iloilo. This band furnished music for military field ceremonies as well as social functions of the soldiers.
- Women's Auxiliary Corps (WAC) under Natividad K. Peralta – wife of Col. Macario Peralta Jr. the head of Panay Guerilla whose official name is 61st Infantry Division, Philippine Army.