BOOK
The Blood and Mud in the Philippines: Anti-Guerrilla Warfare on Panay Island
Continuation of Chapter I
On April 21, the Light Tank Force led by Second Lieutenant Nakane rescued the Hôjin interned at San Enrique. With their release, the conquest of Panay by the Kawamura Detachment was completed. The forces assembled in Iloilo City on April 25; and after the Hôjin gave souvenirs to the heroes of Singapore. The detachment left for Cagayan, Mindanao on April 30. Some of these men were later wiped out when transferred to Eastern New Guinea and Leyte.
Under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Yasumi Senô. The 33rd IIB of the 10th Independent Garrison unit took control over Panay Island. The battalion lacked equipment and training. On the other hand, the guerrillas were already organized about this time and were beginning to attack.
On the same day that the Japanese arrived, April 16, a Japanese Army plane made an emergency landing in the mountains near the town of Dingle, Iloilo. Young men from the town of Dumangas captured two crewmembers and took them home after offering them a meal and alcoholic beverages. When drunk, the same young men brutally killed and buried them near a pond. This incident was the first atrocity made on Japanese soldiers.
During the time that the Kawamura Detachment was operating in Panay, the Japanese forces in Luzon had launched a general attack on Corregidor. At Corregidor on May 6, 1942, US Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright surrendered all US and Philippine forces that had been resisting the Japanese throughout the Philippine Islands.
Lieutenant Colonel Alan Thayer was a staff officer of the USFIP (US Forces in the Philippines) assigned to the Visayas and Mindanao. In the early morning of May 19, he flew to the town of Cabatuan, Iloilo, with Japanese escorts. He relayed the order of surrender issued by Major General Willlam F. Sharp, Commander for Visayas and Mindanao to Colonel Alben Christie of the 61st Division situated at Mt. Baloy. In a meeting with the officers, Lieutenant Colonel Macario Peralta, Division G-3 (operations and training) and concurrently provisional regimental commanding officer, refused to surrender, along with Lieutenant Colonel Leopoldo Relunia, commanding the division’s Engineer Battalion and concurrently commanding a provisional regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Julian Chaves, among others. They decided to continue the resistance as guerrillas. Colonel Christie gave Peralta and the others P700,000 and wished them success.
On May 24, 1942, Colonel Christie and other high-ranking officers surrendered to the Japanese Army with about 1,800 soldiers. The remaining 6,000 officers and men either remained in seclusion in the mountains with their weapons or went home to their families. This resulted to the apparent break-up of the military organization in Panay.
1.3 Guerrilla Counterattacks
The unit assigned to garrison Panay was the Senô unit. However, with a limited number of troops, the garrison was spread thinly over the wide island. The people seemed docile and caused no trouble: a peaceful atmosphere prevailed. Under these conditions, the Senô unit, the Military Police (Kempeitai) headed by 1st Lieutenant Okura, and the Filipino constabulary all neglected gathering intelligence during this period, there were repairs made on the ruins of war; the military administration over the whole island was proclaimed on June 16 and a grand parade of the Japanese Army was held. Personnel from the Ishihara Industries Company were sent from Japan, and development of the copper mines at San Remigio in Antique and Pilar in Capiz was started. The Shimamoto Shipbuilding Company took over the Iloilo shipyard; the Taiwan Railroad Bureau worked on the reconstruction of the railroad and the Iloilo-Passi line became operational. The Mitsui Bussan Company managed the harbor facilities and warehouses and started gathering sugar and buying copra. The Nippon Eoseki (Japan Textile Company), The Southern Airlines, the Philippine Transport Company (shipping), fuel companies and others began operating as they were dispatched to the area.
Japanese management also rehabilitated the bus companies that began to run trips to and from Iloilo. Other facilities also opened – bars, bowling lanes and Hôjin-operated comfort stations that employed Taiwanese and Filipino women. The Japanese Elementary School, headed by the headmaster Isao Kayamori, reopened classes at a high school building in La Paz.
The Iloilo Branch of the JMA, through branch chief Captain Mihara, recommended appointments for provincial governor and city mayor. At this time, Captain Mihara was concerned with the fate of those facing the danger of living in the mountains. He recommended the appointment of Fermin G. Caram (who had returned to the city from the mountains) as provincial governor and Oscar Ledesma as Iloilo City mayor. Mayors of the other municipalities were also appointed. On the surface, it appeared as if Panay’s administrative machinery was beginning to function smoothly.
Although this was the situation in Iloilo City and in some municipalities, the main strength of the resistance lay beyond these areas. Both Colonel Peralta’s former 61st Division and Confesor’s civil government were preparing plans for counterattacks. (To be continued Friday)
