Filipino Guerilla Warfare

 

Many years ago, as a student of history, I was assigned study of the Philippines in the American colonial days. It was then I read about the fierce Filippino warriors who took to brutal guerilla tactics. No quarter was given. Sheer brutality on both sides. Long, long before the US even got involved in the Philippines, Filipino rebels had already been at war with their other colonial overlords, the Spanish. Three hundred years of sporadic, brutal guerilla warfare! It strikes me now that this happened way before the rising up of communist Cuba’s guerilla tactics, before Moa’s Chinese guerillas, and before Vietnam and its history of guerilla warfare.

 

Of course, the Philippines is the scene for one of the most evil acts in military history- the Bataan death march. Allied soldiers were, in tropical heat no less, forced to march around 70 miles in the most inhumane conditions imaginable - no food, water, or proper rest; no medical aid; not a shred of humanity from the Japanese, only violence upon violence. Approx. 11,000 brave Americans and 60,000 heroic Filipinos were cattle driven in the valley of the shadow of death. The weak were culled. No mercy was shown by the demonic Japanese. We don’t know the exact numbers that died, but some think it was around 12,000 Filipinos and 600 Americans. It’s hard to digest that number- 12,600. They surrendered according to the rules of war, but were slaughtered by the lawlessness of beasts!

 

Even before the battle of Bataan and the subsequent death march, some Filipino and American soldiers were organizing into guerilla bands.[1] It was in great measure due to Filipino guerillas, who punched above their weight- like the mighty Manny Pacquiao- that MacArthur was able to retake the Philippines.

 

In reading about Bataan-province guerillas, they were organized by Corporal John Boone. He married a Filipino. What struck me of the account was the “five (5) regiments, mostly unarmed and living at home to gather for training or raids whenever the opportunity presented itself.”[2] I had romanticized that guerillas, like those in the Spanish Civil War, were fugitives in the hills and caves of the land. Not so! These were ordinary folks- male and female- living at home. Just plain Filipinos. Only a few of military ability. Yet, a bit like part-time firefighters, they trained up and were ready to bring war to the Japanese. Now, imagine this: these dedicated souls were “mostly unarmed”! They didn’t care. They were all in, ready to bring destruction to the enemy, prepared to die for their homes and country. Even as I write I am shaking my head wondering how such humble people could be fearsome warriors.

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[1] N.A., “Research,” Bataan Diary, http://www.bataandiary.com/Research.htm#Guerrilla_Units.

[2] Fernando R. Reyes, Leonardo Q. Naval, The Luzon Central Plan, Zambales, Bataan and Corregidor (Manila: Veterans Federation of the Philippines, 1996), 265.