BALAMBAN: MID-20TH CENTURY

The Japanese Occupation

That fateful day of December 7, 194l, the town was up early as it was wont to do during a school/work day. For many weeks already, reports of imminent war between the United States and Japan were the talk of the town. There was a great possibility that it would happen soon. Indeed, since the Philippines, although already a Commonwealth, was still tightly tied to America, it was highly possible that it would be a target of attack during the initial phase of the war. The Pacific theater was one of the strategic areas of contention between the warring nations.

The teachers were asked to join the corps of civilian volunteers to help protect the town’s civilian population. The men were organized into the Civilian Volunteer Guards. The male volunteers were given assignments to guard all the corners of municipal streets, and stop and inspect vehicles for possible contraband cargoes. Armed only with round rattan canes and long bolos called pinuti, said to be the only weapons available to the town revolutionaries during the war against Spain, and then against the Americans at the turn of the century, the volunteers reported to their assigned street corner at sundown. They were broken up into various committees, one of which was assigned to check on business profiteering, watching undue increases in the prices of commodities.

The women teachers, mostly of retirable age – that is, between 40 and 60 years old, on other hand were constituted into the Balamban Ladies Loyalty League (BL³), organized secretly by Rizalina Migallos around May or June 1942. The Balamban Ladies Loyalty League was modeled after Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, which was also called as Loyal Ladies’ League, the oldest women’s hereditary organization in the United States which has been active since 1883 until today. Like its model, the Balamban Ladies Loyalty League’s objectives included the promotion of patriotism and loyalty to the republic, participation in community service, especially for the aid of the Filipino guerillas. Among its notable members were Cirila Roperos; Maria Lily Rondez who later became Mrs. del Fierro and was promoted as a superintendent in Davao under the Ministry of Education, Culture, & Sports (MECS); Rufina “Paning” Dumdum, who was assigned to head the medical assistance and bring the wounded soldiers to the house of Mrs. Josefa “Pepay” Arroyo, which was used as a hospital during the Second World War, where the patients were operated with the use of a blade, clips for hanging clothes, and Sulphanelamide (sulfonamide antibacterial); Teodora Lim who later became Mrs. Miel; Paulina Atamosa, who later became Mrs. Acuña; Aurelia Urbina who later became Mrs. Bunagan; Arlinda Yballe who later became Mrs. Dumdum; Maria Lim who later became Mrs. Gonzalez, and many others.  There were young recruits like Concepcion Paulin but they were only assisting in soliciting fund, medicine, and food. The women teachers at that time were really good – civic-minded, always helpful, and showed enthusiasm in supporting the guerilla movement. The Balamban Ladies Loyalty League had inspired the guerillas by its constant assistance in medical first aid and food supply like cakes.

Maria would later receive her back pay from the U.S. Army along with her brother Jesus Lim, who was a USAFFE member.  This proves that they were recognized by the US government for their service during the war.

Both the Civilian Volunteer Guards and the Balamban Ladies Loyalty League wore armbands to indicate to what sector of the war effort they belonged.

On September 30, 1942, the Balamban Ladies Loyalty League and almost the entire Balamban who had heard the news that Juan “Wanti” Paulin, elder brother of Mary G. Paulin, and his comrades were beheaded by the Japanese Kempeitai at the foxholes in front of the Balamban Central Elementary School for suspicion that they were spies of the Filipino guerrillas since they were seen going to Toledo City. The event was reported by Antonio “Toñing” Saranilla, another companion of Juan Paulin, who was brought along with his comrades but was able to escape for the meantime. The massacre only showed the cruelty of the Japanese Kempeitai at that time killing suspected and arrested civilians without due process or hearing of a trial.

Indeed, on the night of December 8, the first night after the American-Japanese War was declared, people who lived in the central sector of the town were unable to sleep. The general feeling of insecurity swept through the poblacion. The volunteer guards assigned to night duty were edgy, especially since all that they had for weapons were their rattan garrote and shiny long sharp-edged and pointed bolos called pinuti. These were the only weapons they could afford to possess, and use, in the event of a sudden enemy attack. In Balamban, people recalled the fighting prowess and anting-anting of the Tabal brothers, one of whom was still alive during the early months of the Japanese occupation.  They were agog a few nights later because one cargo truck sped through the poblacion without heeding the stop signal and barricade of the volunteers on the way to Asturias, the next town. It was about ten o’clock, and there was no means of communicating and alerting the volunteer outposts along the way. The speculation was that it was one of the cargo trucks of the Japanese coal mine in the upland areas of Balamban and Asturias, and it was transporting weapons and arms to be hidden in the mine, awaiting the Japanese army that might come. The people could not sleep, and the police were trying to look for a way to communicate with the city. But in those days, there was only the telegraph office with its Morse code. The truck was later found to have been loaded with food supplies for the coal mine workers who were left behind when the Japanese managers left earlier for Manila. It was possible that they, too, sensed the inevitability of the war.

The town was not unfamiliar with Japanese nationals, since many of them had once come and stayed for weeks in Balamban as visiting fishermen before the war. They stayed in their fishing boats. Some of them even docked behind the municipal building. There were even days when they would spread their nets along the sides of the street in Barangay Baliwagan, on the north side of the town center, not far from the municipio. No one bothered them. It was many years later, when the war was ending, and some of the fishermen had returned with the Japanese army when the local people learned that they were, in fact, gathering coastal data then on the west coast of the province, such as the depth of the sea during the week or weeks in a month. These were bits of intelligence information of value to the Japanese navy, especially when they may have contemplated landing their forces in the area. Thus, the town braced for the worst, realizing that the enemy somehow already knew much about Balamban. And when one morning in April, 1942, Japanese planes suddenly appeared at about 9 o’clock to drop bombs on the central sector of the town, the people’s worst fears were realized. The town folk had to evacuate about two kilometers from the poblacion eastward, which means toward the mountains.¹

When the Japanese planes left the town that day, smoke billowed from some buildings and residences in the town. One of the school buildings, the Ybañez building, which stood in the middle of the Balamban Central School campus between two other buildings, was hit by the Japanese bombs, and was totally destroyed.

Many weeks later, a company of Japanese occupation troops which was on the way to Balamban for deployment, was ambushed by elements of the newly formed guerilla movement. Based in the mountains between Balamban and Cebu City, the group was composed mostly of Cebuano soldiers whose units had been disbanded after having lost their battles in Luzon and Mindanao. They took various routes back to their homes from their respective areas of assignment, just to be able to return. Looked up to with awe and reverence in their neighborhoods, they immediately responded to the call to active duty in the underground movement against occupying Japanese forces in Cebu  when the latter had effectively taken control of the province. The movement’s base was the island’s thickest forests in the mountains between Cebu City and Balamban. But there    were some among those who went to the hills to join the guerilla movement who were not active soldiers, but had occupied positions of some influence in the civil government, or were practicing professionals. Among the scions of prominent Balamban families were: Antonio Paulin of the Paulin-Gonzales clan, son of former Mayor Simeon Paulin and Felisa Gonzales, sister of the Japanese occupation Mayor Temistocles Gonzales whose vice-mayor, Jose Paulin was also Antonio’s younger brother; Alejo Bantiles, son of a farmer family in Sitio Combado of Barangay Cantuod; Concordio Legaspino, survivor of the Death March; Marcelo Atamosa; and the incumbent Municipal Mayor, lawyer Santos Migallos, who chose not to assume his position under the Japanese occupation government, and decided instead to join the guerilla movement as military judge advocate with the initial rank of captain.

 

Another group of guerrillas was the one organized by Lt. Nicasio San Juan on the West coast of Balamban in the later part of June, 1942. This group, however, did not stay long in the area. San Juan moved to Pinamungajan where, from the 27 rifles of his original Balamban guerrilla unit, the force grew to possess 118 rifles. San Juan later became the commander of P-Sector of the Southern Cebu Force. ²

When a convoy of three truckloads of Japanese soldiers made its way to the Japanese garrison at the Balamban Central Elementary School in the center of town, a guerilla detachment waited for it in ambush while it was passing through barrio Abucayan one afternoon. The road to the town had to pass through a portion that was hilly on the eastern side, across from the church and the barrio elementary school. The guerilla soldiers were ranged on the hillside, and when the convoy passed, they rained bullets on the unsuspecting enemy. The first truck was able to pass through, but the two others were cut off. The report said 27 of the trucks’ passengers were killed right there, while a few others survived the onslaught. Two nights later, the town folks who decided to stay put in their homes in the poblacion witnessed for the first time the practice of cremation. The lumber of the ruined school building was gathered together as in a bonfire, and the dead bodies of the soldiers were piled on top of the enormous pile. Then it was lighted, and which was watched by a crowd from a distance as the fire consumed the bodies of the dead.

In retaliation for the ambush, the Japanese went out on a patrol to avenge the death of their comrades in the villages beyond the hilly range where the ambush was staged successfully. But the only casualty of their mission was a grade four public school teacher, Valentin Puentenegra. The evacuation house of Mr. Puentenegra was just a couple of kilometers away from the scene of the ambush. The Japanese patrol just happened to pass by the house the night they went out to avenge the ambush and death of 27 members of the company.  It was a shocking incident, and to this day, he was the only casualty among the public school teachers of the town of Balamban.

Balamban returned to a normal daily routine after that. The Japanese commander, Sitoyama, who was based in Toledo, according to Romulus Cabahug’s informal history of Balamban, appointed Temistocles Gonzalez as mayor of Balamban in 1942, to head the occupation government, with his nephew Jose Paulin as vice-mayor. They were both looked at silently by the town folks as collaborators. They did not know that most Balambanganon regarded them with disdain for having accepted the positions they held at the bidding of the Japanese military. The duly elected mayor, Santos L. Migallos, was forced to abandon his post when it was known that the enemy had taken over Cebu City and the rest of the province without open resistance. But it was the policy then of the Philippine government in absentia to declare cities as “open” meaning without resistance, a sign of total surrender, so bombings and other forms of destruction and risk to life and property could be avoided. Thus, the occupying Japanese military forces had their way with Cebu, deciding at will whether to deploy or not their forces in whatever area they considered as strategically important to their interest. The deployed soldiers in Balamban were only of platoon strength, probably because the Japanese  had persons living in the town before, in the months before the war, who were said later to be in fact, military spies, but disguised as fishermen, to the consternation of the people.

Thus, between 1942 to late 1944, the town folks lived normal lives, with Mayor Gonzalez managing the civil government, and the Japanese garrison existing as inconspicuously as it could, although always alert to the periodic attack of the guerillas. Most of the schools including the Balamban Central Elementary School were made as Japanese garrisons. Life became riskier each day for those who opted to stay at their houses rather than going to the mountains especially those who lived near the garrisons. Most often than not, the “guerilleros” would always use the posts of the houses built near the garrisons as covers against the Japanese soldiers. Each morning bullet holes could be found on the concrete foundation of the said posts. The Japanese knew these since they could estimate the source of the line of fire. Mostly, the Japanese Kempeitai, the Japanese military police or intelligence unit which was feared even by their fellow Japanese soldiers, would not bother the neighborhood who had established friendly relations with them.

Perhaps, to show their sincerity as a kind of benevolent “conqueror”, the Japanese sometimes distributed Japanese rice in paper bags. They would call the people to line up in front of the town market, and gave each one a bag. They also recruited some of the young men of the town to join the Japanese Constabulary, and made them wear uniforms. Many of them took advantage of their position, and became abusive and violent. One of those who joined the Japanese Constabulary was the younger brother of Vice Mayor Paulin. The Paulins, whose father, Simeon or Noy Miyon, was town president for two terms—1920-1928—unseating Dominador Sanchez during the 1919 elections, found his children on opposite camps during the early years of the war, with the elder son, Antonio, being an officer of the guerilla movement and his second son, Jose, being the Japanese appointive vice-mayor of the town, and nephew of Mayor Gonzalez who was a brother of Felisa, wife of their father, former Mayor Simeon Paulin. The Gonzalezes and the Paulins became allies of the ascendant political family from Barrio Aliwanay, the Migalloses.

However, Mayor Gonzalez was wartime mayor for only a year. The following year, the Japanese government, for reasons that had not been revealed, replaced him with another Gonzalez--Adolfo, a close relative—who stayed on until the end of the Japanese regime. When the liberation period came, Adolfo was relieved by Eufracio T. Yntig, the duly elected vice-mayor to Mayor Migallos, and it was no doubt Migallos who had worked out that the pre-war civil government should resume from then on. Migallos had risen to a measure of power and influence, being with the military administration of the province during the so-called “liberation” period, that is, when the American forces liberated Cebu from the Japanese, and restored its civil democratic government. And so it was with Balamban, too. In a way, it was the glory days of the people who enjoyed American chocolates from Hersheys to Baby Ruth, and canned delights like corned beef, pork and beans, sausages, meat loaf, as well as Kraft cheese, and Coca Cola. It may be said that the American G.Is restored American power in the hearts of the Balambanganon.

When news from the guerilla headquarters in Tabunan revealed that General MacArthur had landed in Leyte, and this filtered to Balamban, some people were apprehensive that the Americans might choose to land in the municipality, and would have the town shelled for having harbored Japanese spies before. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened. And then one day, many weeks later, the long convoy of six-by-six cargo trucks came to town in an apparent show of force to emphasize that indeed, General MacArthur had returned with the American liberation force. A company of American and Filipino liberation soldiers encamped in the town for many weeks as they probably could not be accommodated in the city while they waited for new deployment orders, or to await the end of the war which was understood to be certain, and just a matter of time. The local people welcomed the stay as it meant a sort of economic bonanza.

Some public school teachers welcomed the opportunity to earn extra income to add to their meager monthly salary. They accepted the offer to bake the bread for the soldiers’ breakfast every morning. There was no money involved in the deal. All they got were an extra two bags of flour every day added to the supply given to them for baking as remuneration, on top of the savings they could make after baking the number of loaves they were asked to bake for the day for breakfast. Not only did they profit from it, but they were also able to let their family have all the bread they needed for their breakfast and more, bread to take to school. Wrapped in young banana leaves half-heated over the embers in their hearth to make them resilient and strong, this bread they shared with their classmates who had hardly tasted some during the years of war.

When the liberation forces arrived in town, the elementary school was also reopened. As recalled as soon as the war was declared, classes were immediately suspended. The parents were afraid to send their children to school then for fear of a sudden Japanese attack. The school garden in the vacant part of the church grounds behind the parish church itself had been a nest for foxholes and machinegun of the Japanese who occupied the area. 

Thus, when the war was about over, and the Japanese had hurriedly left, they also left behind their garrison with a dead man’s almost beheaded body buried head first in a round hole behind the Home Economics building. Both of his feet were exposed from the knees. When the body was pulled up, the head had dangled, almost severed from the body. It was later said that the dead body was that of a guerilla intelligence agent caught by the Japanese just a few days before they were ordered to return to the city. He was executed with a samurai sword or katana, but his head was not completely severed. A sliver of skin on the front part of the neck still held his head connected to his body.  It was a gory sight to the crowd of curious residents who came to inspect the abandoned garrison. Probably it could be Antonio “Toñing” Saranilla, a good chef for making steamed rice cake, who had been reported to be one of the last men beheaded by the Japanese Kempeitai at the Balamban Central Elementary School for suspicion of spying and handing confidential information to the guerrillas. It was fortunate enough that the retreating Japanese had not mined the garrisons and had not set it to explode for if it was when disturbed by anyone hundreds of town folk might have died and that would have been a gory and tragic end to the Japanese occupation of Balamban. ¹

Post-war Reconstruction

The Americans landed unopposed in Lingayen Gulf in Luzon on January 9, 1945 which was followed by the liberation of Manila after three weeks of fierce street fighting with the Japanese. Many Filipino and American internees at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) were freed.

The Americans made additional attacks on Japanese garrisons in Panay, Cebu, Palawan, and Mindanao. The Japanese made their last stand in Northern Luzon but General Yamashita, known as the Tiger of Malaya, finally surrendered in Baguio on September 2, 1945.³

The country was severely devastated after the war. General Douglas MacArthur turned over the civilian government to Sergio Osmeña Sr.

A series of events that aimed in helping the nation rise again from the ashes of war occurred. The Philippines joined the United Nations in 1945.

It was then that Eufracio Yntig was appointed as municipal mayor. His one year term was focused on the post-war reconstruction, checking on important documents that could be saved, clearing the garrisons of any explosives that might endanger many lives, and other necessary things to do stand again as a proud town.

Early Independence

In the Philippine national elections of 1946, Roxas ran for president as the nominee of the liberal wing of the Nacionalista Party. He had the staunch support of General MacArthur. His opponent was Sergio Osmeña, who refused to campaign, saying that the Filipino people knew his reputation. In the April 23, 1946 election, Roxas won 54 percent of the vote, and the Liberal Party won a majority in the legislature.

On July 4, 1946, representatives of the United States of America and of the Republic of the Philippines signed a Treaty of General Relations between the two governments. The treaty provided for the recognition of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines as of July 4, 1946, and the relinquishment of American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands. ⁴

President Manuel Roxas then became the first president of the new republic.

In that same year, Dominador Sanchez (the son of Trinidad Completo and Esteban Sanchez who were the original owner of ancestral building that was burned during World War II & which currently housed the branches of Mercury Drugstore and RCBC in Balamban), who was elected as the third alcalde (1909-1919) and as the last presidente municipal (1934-1941) of the town of Balamban, was appointed as the new municipal mayor. During his term as municipal president the “municipio” was located in front of the old municipal building which is now occupied in the ground floor by the Police Department and in the second floor by the DILG & other departments.

National and local elections were held on November 30, 1947.  Although Quirino won as president in the national election, Dominador Sanchez, on the other hand, died of asthma on the Election Day itself, making his contender, Rizalina Migallos, an automatic winner. ⁵

Rizalina A. Migallos who became mayor from 1947-1955 had faced a shift in the national administration since Roxas died of a heart attack as he was speaking at Clark Air Base on April 15, 1948. Roxas was succeeded by his vice president Elpidio Quirino. Quirino assumed the presidency on April 17, 1948, taking his oath of office two days after the death of Manuel Roxas. Quirino's administration faced a serious threat in the form of the communist Hukbalahap movement. Though the Huks originally had been an anti-Japanese guerrilla army in Luzon, communists steadily gained control over the leadership, and when Quirino's negotiation with Huk commander Luis Taruc broke down in 1948, Taruc openly declared himself a Communist and called for the overthrow of the government. Insurgency especially the expansion of the New People’s Army movement also became a problem in Balamban in that period. ⁶

Like Quirino, Migallos’s eight years as mayor was marked by notable postwar reconstruction. Migallos constructed another municipal building behind the former municipal building since the latter was destroyed by the war. The building she constructed is now the old municipal building already mentioned above. There used to be a narrow street called Rizalina Street at the back of the said building just before the shoreline. ⁷

In 1953, another shift in the administration was experienced by Rizalina. Ramon Magsaysay, under the Nacionalista Party, was elected as Philippine President by an overwhelming 2/3 of the votes on a populist platform supported by the United States. He became the 7th president of the country. He popularized the Barong-Tagalog when he wore one during his swearing ceremonies as president. He pursued many small infrastructure projects, instituted sweeping economic reforms, and made advances in land reform programs - moves that made him widely popular among ordinary people. But his push to relieve population congestion in the North by resettling poor people to the less populated South heightened religious hostilities among Catholics and Muslims. ³

During Migallos’ last years as mayor, another women’s organization had been active in Balamban – the Catholic Women’s League. The said organization had held its Marian Congress on April 21-24, 1954 at Saint Francis Academy, the only high school in the municipality at that time. ⁸

The Catholic Women's League (CWL) is a Roman Catholic lay organization aimed at pursuing better and equal opportunities for women. It looks for members who would support the League’s work at local, diocesan, national and international levels. Through emigration in the past, the CWL may be found in some Commonwealth countries. It is especially flourishing in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong. It might not flourish in the whole Philippines but it did in Balamban. Most of the women leaders and those women in position in Balamban during this period were members of the CWL.⁹

When Migallos ran for re-election in 1955 her contender was Exasperanza Alo Sanchez – Binghay, the daughter of the late Mayor Dominador Sanchez. She lost in the elections over her contender by two votes.¹⁰ She protested and requested a recount. But when the recount was done it was found out that instead of two she lost by more votes. <sup>5


1</sup>Godofredo Roperos, Mary G. Paulin, & Simeon P. Paulin – respondents. 
²Segura, p. 111.

³http://www.katig.com/history_11.html

⁴http://countrystudies.us/philippines/22.htm

⁵Virginia Binghay – Karamihan, respondent.

⁶http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Philippines_(1946–1965)

⁷Virginia & Dave John Karamihan, respondents.

⁸Based on the photo-album of the Binghay family.

⁹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Women_League

¹⁰Cabahug, p. 23.