The Pacific War and the Japanese Occupation

Midsayap (1942-1945)

by: Joycee Dinopol Mancao

PACIFIC WAR

• Early on the morning of December 8, 1941, the Second World War in the Pacific was begun with an amphibious attack by Imperial Japanese Army troops on the northeast coast of British Malaya.

• Within hours they pushed their way inland despite heavy transport losses at the hands of the few British aircraft that were in the area. Other attacks by Japanese forces across the Pacific followed in rapid succession, the largest of them aimed at the giant American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where it was still December 7.¹

COTABATO• The years between 1941 and 1945 were

unhappy years. Cotabato was not spared the ravages of war. Atrocities and destruction of the Japanese Imperial Forces was experienced by almost every Filipino. The second World War was a black chapter in our history but development albeit slow-paced, and the normal functions of government resumed after we were liberated by the American Forces led by General Douglas McArthur.

MIDSAYAP

• The story of the resistance movement in Midsayap, Cotabato against the Japanese occupation forces was one replete with tales of heroism and patriotic fervour.

• Some episodes in the war which tarnished the image of some of its heroes were simply ignored by some historians for the purpose of glorifying the deeds of some resistance leaders.

PACIFIC WAR• After the Second War, another

kind of war would be waged in the soil of Cotabato particularly in Midsayap in the later part of the 1960’s and well into 1970s.

USAFFE• United States Army Forces in the

Far East (USAFFE) was a military formation of the United States Army active from 1941 to 1946. The new command's headquarters was created on July 26, 1941, at No. 1, Calle Victoria, Manila, Luzon, the Philippines, with General Douglas MacArthur as commander. The Chief of Staff was Brigadier General Richard K. Sutherland and the Deputy Chief of Staff was Lieutenant Colonel Richard J. Marshall. The core of this command (including MacArthur, Marshall, and Sutherland) was drawn from the Office of the Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government.

USAFFE• When the Pacific war broke out,

the USAFFE unit assigned for the defense of Mindanao was the 101st Division under Bgen Joseph P. Vachon.

• With the 2 influential Maguindanao Muslim Officers:

• Captain Gumbay Pian (Dulawan)• 1st Lt. Salipada K. Pendatun

1st Lt SALIPADA K. PENDATUN

PACIFIC WAR• Famous Maguindanao Royal

houses.• The inadequate number of troops

under the overall command of Vachon, which was estimated at 20,000, forced the leadership of the military unit to consider the organization of the Maguindanao Muslims into a support or auxiliary unit.

BOLO BATTALION• Chief organizer was 1st Lt .

Salipada K. Pendatun.• the organizational plan of the

Bolo Battalion was based on the Maguindanao Muslim’s tribal organization and principle revolving around the authority of the datu.

COMMAND STRUCTURE• Each Datu leads his own

followers• the men fight in their own

territory or in adjacent natural hideouts

• the men stay with their respective families when not engaged in guerrilla patrols.

MIDSAYAP-DULAWAN AREA

• Datu Mantil Dilangalen was given the command of the area extending up to Buluan .

• Minandang Piang was the executive officer.

• Lt. Abdul Piang was the adjutant

• 2ndLt Buaya Piang was the supply officer.

JAPANESE enters COTABATO• April 29, 1942- Japanese forces

landed in Cotabato.• Japanese forces pushed pushed

upriver to Kabacan.• they encountered the unit of 2Lt.

Udtug Matalam. The battalion under Matalam was no match against the firepower and superior strength of the enemy so he was forced to retired to Carmen up north.

• Major General William F. Sharp, the overall commander for Mindanao operations to surrender.

• Salipada K. Pendatun with his group ignore the order instead made a conference .

• Surrender on May 12, 1942

• The Japanese occupation forces in Cotabato tried to entice the local population to join the “reconstruction effort” by offering good jobs to those officers who surrendered.

• Pindililang was not as lucky, he was captured and executed. Other Piangs were marched to a concentration camp in Bukidnon.

MIDSAYAP in the JAPANESE occupation

• All houses in the town were burned including the church by retreating USAFFE soldiers, also guerillas who were then organized as September 16, 1942.

• PRA was organized by late Datu Mantil Dilangalen.

• Gayonga as headquaters

PEOPLE’s REVOLUTIONARY ARMY

• to boost the sagging morale of the guerillas on the mountains, the leaders of the reconstituted Bolo Battalion, which included Christian volunteers from the different units.

• Ladtingan attacked- September 19-20, 1942

LADTINGAN GARRISON

• Pendatun was blocking the road form Kabacan.

• Dilangalen was blocking the Midsayap.

• The Japanese authorities in Cotabato responded with aerial attacks and sent reinforcements from other available units.

• October 2, 1942- Mantil Dilangalen occupied the town of Midsayap, and proclaimed the Peoples’ Revolutionary Army (PRA).

• October 8, 1942- Japanese of Pikit rushed reinforcements to Midsayap to round up to guerillas but were ambushed at Midsayap junction.

• Pendatun was not even informed of its plan as an oragnized guerilla unit.

• Mantil Dilangalen, Froilan Matas, and Felipe Balingit- was appointed as general.

• Froilan Matas whowas a retired U.S navy personnel took the rank of a brigadier general.

• The Peoples’ Revolutionary Army served as a catalyst for ethnic cooperation among the people of Midsayap. Muslims and Christians alike were accepted as volunteers and shared the same hazards under combat conditions.

Japanese and PRA encounters

• October 8, 1942- Midsayap • December 18, 1942-Bulanan• October 14, 1943- Midsayap

proper• March 1, 1944- Katingawan• April 29, 1944-Salunayan and

Kapinpilan garrisons• January 8, 1945- Bulanan• April 25, 1945- Pinagpikit

• May 20, 1945- Katingawan• July 19, 1945- Katingawan

The Policy of attraction through goodwill by releasing the Japanese to soften resistance of certain guerilla leaders and ultimately enticed them to cooperate with the Japanese occupation forces.

• Some of them were assigned as constables in the so called Bureau of constabulary to maintain the peace and order condition of the occupied territories.

• The system then with prevailed in Midsayap was one of confusion and mixed loyalties of former friends and buddies now on opposite side of the fence.

• It was this setting which some stories of adaptation to circumstances such as this make the wartime history of Midsayap an affair to remember.

• These tragedies tarnished the heroic image of the Revolutionary army when blood of its own people were split due to this mixed loyalties.

• Roque Bauzon served as teniente del barrio of Bual.

• Julio Anito- Teniente del barrio of Katingawan. Spokesman and Guarantor.

• Benjamin Anito- was a POW at Bukidnon.He was drafted as a baggage carrier when their army retreated towards Davao and set free 200 km back to Midsayap.

• Teofilo Fermil was not a guerilla but a sympathizer of the Matas outfit.

• Claudio Fernandez was USAFFE soldier whom the Japanese interned in Bukidnon upon surrender in 1942. He deserted the BC and joined the guerrillas.

• Mantil-Matas Rift (according to Lino C. Casabar, Jr.)

• Feb. 3, 1943- 4 Ilocano prominent leaders of Barrio Salunayan were executed on the reason of being supporting the Japanese miltary adminstrator.

• Pio Dacumos• Agaton Fontilla• Basilio Dumlao• Domingo Ramos

• MATAS OUTFIT- was composed Christians who were former USAFFE servicemen and civilian volunteers who were eager to fight.

• The rift between the 2 leaders started when Mantil suspected 3 ilocano leaders of collaboration with the enemy.

• The hat which become a town had its baptism of fire. It had its taste of war and glory but the story of heroism and valor of some of its heroes turned ugly, nevertheless, it must be told for the sake of posterity.