(A talk on the occasion of the installation of the historical marker in Tabunan, 27 March 2025)
By Erlinda Kintanar-Alburo, of the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission of Cebu City

 

Today we are installing a long-overdue marker on this site, Tabunan, where the Central Area Command of Cebu oversaw the guerilla’s project of reclaiming Cebu from the Japanese.

There are a few other sites and memorials of the Second World War in Cebu. As far as I know, these are: in Talisay, the  Liberation Park, marking the spot where American forces landed on March 26, 1945 to liberate the island, and featuring statues of soldiers; at Kilometer 82 in Tabogon, northwest of Cebu, a historical marker commemorating the formal surrender of Japanese forces in August 28, 1945; in San Fernando, an obscure marker mentioning guerilla exploits; in Barili, a monument commemorating the atrocities of the Japanese; in Dumanjug, the only Veterans Building in Cebu; in Samboan, a monument in tribute to the unnamed Voluntary Guards; and in Tabuelan,  a marker in honor of a resident skinned alive by the Japanese. More informally, the campsite of Harry Fenton, administrative commander of the Cebu Area Command, which is near a spring somewhere here in Tabunan, is called Sitio Fenton (pronounced “Pengton” by the farmers), and there’s even a boulder there called “Ka Fenton”. An aside is on a monument to Tanaka (commanding general of the Japanese in Cebu) erected by the Japanese, but of course this was removed by the Americal division when they liberated Cebu.

It is indeed time that we installed a historical marker here in Tabunan.

The book Tabunan, memoirs of war veteran Manuel Segura, carries the subtitle “the untold exploits of the famed Cebu guerillas of World War II, and the book adequately concretizes the word “famed” for the reasons that, first,  More Japanese soldiers were killed in Cebu than anywhere else in the country; and second, The discovery of the Koga Papers off the shores of San Fernando changed the direction of the war and put an end to it earlier than expected.

The bulk of this talk comes from Segura’s book, which was first published in 1975, but which saw a new edition in 2018 under the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation. This second edition updates information on the war by including 163 explanatory footnotes by myself as annotator.

Indeed, Cebu had what was the most active anti-Japanese resistance movement in the Philippines, a movement reputed to have “scored the biggest enemy kill among guerilla units in the Philippines” and one that captured the vital Japanese war documents, called the “Z” plan, that changed the pattern of the war in the Pacific and hastened the liberation of the Philippines.

I won’t dwell too much on details on the context of the world war, and will omit many names, since mentioning a few outside of the commanders will be unfair to the thousands of guerillas who fought the war and suffered all kinds of hardships in order to expel the Japanese from the island.  There are also a number of interesting things that I do not include, like espionage; battle sites, strategies and statistics; Japanese atrocities; women in the war; and personal narratives. This paper ends with mention of the Japanese surrender. The campaign for liberation together with the Americans is subject for another talk today.

The war for liberation in Cebu City itself was waged between March 26 and April 8, 1945. The date March 26 is for the landing of the American forces at Talisay, giving recognition to the USAFFE liberation campaign in Cebu. But it should be noted that by the time the Americans returned in 1945 (making true Douglas MacArthur’s promise “I shall return”), the Cebuano guerillas had already liberated much of the province, especially the southern part. Thus, by the end of 1944, an army of 7,955 officers and men, with over 3,000 assorted weapons, and over 20,000 volunteer guards figured in the liberation of the province. It was the city and surrounding areas that badly needed outside help.

So how did the guerillas enter the picture?

Bataan as we know fell and Allied Forces in the Philippines surrendered on April 9, 1942, which we commemorate as Araw ng Kagitingan, officers and soldiers in Cebu returned to their hometowns. Cebu City was taken in a day, April 19, 19442, with only 1,100 from the  Cebu Military Police Regiment to defend it. But here and there were talks of resistance to the Japanese occupation, and groups finally came together, carrying ammunition and supplies  — from Tuburan, Bantayan, Dumanjug, Tabogon, Carcar, Bogo, Borbon, Balamban Pinamungajan, Ronda, San Fernando, Dalaguete, Aloguinsan, Malabuyoc, Liloan, Alegria, Santander, Tudela, Camotes— they formed the sectors of Eastern Cebu, Western Cebu, Cebu Central, Southern Cebu, Northern Cebu, and Far Northern Cebu. They also set up the CACOTS – Cebu Area Command Officer Training School, for basic training of guerilla officers coming from civilian life and for refresher training for those with some training before the war. The trials and executions related to the war were also held in Tabunan.

To help the guerillas, there were volunteer guards (VGs): service units that did the many back-breaking and countless tasks needed for the war effort while the soldiers faced enemy fire, tasks like building and repairing of roads and bridges, stringing and laying of wire from one side of Cebu to the other, and the transporting and loading of all sorts of supplies.

At the head of the resistance forces were James Cushing, a mining engineer who became military commander; and Harry Fenton, an American announcer of KZRC who was administrative commander. The command with the two at the head was established in

September 1942. They set up headquarters in Tabunan, which as its name (“to cover”) suggests, was well-hidden under many trees, its borders reaching the mountain barrios of Balamban, Toledo and Cebu City.  Found to the north and east of Sudlon, itself base of the guerillas during the war against the Americans, it was nicknamed lasang (“forest”).

From Tabunan, the guerrillas of Cebu not only defended themselves but also staged a series of attacks on Japanese military units and positions throughout the war.  The guerrilla threat was such that the Japanese had to put up a fence around the entire city of Cebu to keep the guerrillas at bay.

But first, what was life like in Tabunan, outside of the military matters? Of interest to us who have never experienced war outside of books and movies, are the stories of survival strategies in addition to what Segura in his book has written down. Similar to experiences of evacuees in other mountains during the Japanese occupation, those at Tabunan were about adjusting in what they ate and drank, what they wore, what they used as soap and shampoo, etc.

Segura writes of the first night spent in Tabunan:

We all slept on the floor of the small hut with a cogon roof and walls made out of
the bark of big trees. We slept back to back for warmth for we lacked blankets and
the cold mountain wind whistled through the cracks of the tree-bark walls. We also
had to be on the lookout for a lot of vermin that inhabited the cogon roof – cock-
roaches, ants of all kinds and sizes, millipedes whose bodies were as big as your
thumb and whose blood caused blindness, and giant centipedes 8 to 10 inches long
with large bluish bodies and corresponding large legs and mandibles. Their bite
caused high fever and sometimes death. (p. 137)

Segura, writing of his first impressions of Tabunan, notes that houses had cogon instead of nipa roofs, and split-bamboo walls, and that most people of the hinterland went barefoot (even Cushing), their conventional clothes in loud color:

These people in the interior were very courteous: they always greeted each other
when they met on the trails and the ones without any load always gave way to
those carrying something on their shoulders or heads. Often I saw that they would
stop for a while and talk a bit before proceeding on their respective ways. . . Almost
everyone I saw smoked a home-made cigar or a cigarette made out of the dry leaf
of the lomboy tree. Some cigarettes were rolled in the dry skin of an ear of corn. (p. 82)

Among civilians there was scarce food, and they sometimes had to give up some for the Japanese. Not a rice-producing island, in Cebu the staple was corn, with bananas and root crops like kamote and kamoteng kahoy. In Tabunan, the guerillas ate corn tibuok or whole. Sweets and cakes later reached Tabunan, from the WAS (Women’s Auxiliary Service), also known as LLL (Ladies Loyalty League).

Most of the men at Tabunan wore long hair for there was no barber. They also had beards. They  bathed at noon, since it was cold in the morning and late afternoons. The water was always cold. No soft drinks, common drink was salabat or boiled ginger. But very few got sick with colds or cough, and no one got sick of malaria.

To serve as headquarters was a fairly large building the size of an ordinary living room, and there was a chapel as well as a social hall.

The men wore buri hat and had knapsacks. They did not have a uniform; because of scanty khaki, to carry a weapon was enough uniform. While the guerillas had weapons, part of which was manufactured by the HoaHin shipyard in Mactan, the volunteer guards only had bolos and a few hunting spears. Once when taking out hidden ammunition from a cavelike hole, they had to kill a big python that owned the hole.

There were doctors and nurses who often used local medicinal plants. A local mananabang delivered babies.

But back to the resistance movement itself, there were some other groups operating outside of Tabunan. One of these was the David Rivera Group, who joined them later in an ambush of the Japanese in Minglanilla on October 7, 1942. After that, the Rivera group accepted the authority at Tabunan. Some other offensives were conducted, like at Little Bataan in December 1942, where 160 Japanese were killed; attacks on enemy garrisons: at Pandong-bato, site of the Central Sector HQ. on Nov.  25; twice at the Central School of Toledo in December, by the Central Sector. Cushing led the attack on the Toledo garrison, Fenton that of the garrison in Danao, together with the Northeastern Sector. (p. 125)

An interesting group of guerillas, unlike any other in the Philippines, was known as The Rough Riders (also called The Legion of the Damned”), which was created in November 1944, before the Liberation.

This group was formed out of the 500-600 Cebuano prisoners at Tabunan who awaited their fate, having been suspected of being criminals for various reasons like spying and robbery.  Cushing decided to give them a chance to prove their loyalty to the cause of liberation, and gave them the order to fight against the Japanese and undertake the most dangerous missions. For their service, survivors would be pardoned and paid. This company, later based at Bayabas, Danao, would take orders directly from Tabunan, volunteers who were willing to undertake the most hazardous missions. (p. 106)

Before recognition of the Cebu resistance by the Australian command, the guerillas had a problem with arms and ammunition. The guerillas had to improvise, like inventing mortars from galvanized iron pipes reinforced with rolled steel plates. They set up their communications system, particularly in central and northern Cebu, using old radio receiver sets, barbed wire, and assorted scrap. They even devised a mini-hydroelectric plant with generators run by alcohol produced in the Bogo-Medellin Sugar Central.

We should mention here the conflict between commanders Fenton and Cushing. Fenton, who as radio announcer of KZRC had attacked the Japanese in his broadcast, was obsessed with killing all captured suspected spies and collaborators, often by hanging. In fact, he had a black list of 300 names targeted for execution. Hundreds of civilians were imprisoned in Tabunan, numerous executions with or without trials; 15 municipal mayors were assassinated. There is an unmarked mass grave of those who were executed by the guerillas, where camote and pepper thrive now. To the farmers interviewed for a history who are living in Tabunan, the memory of Fenton and not of Cushing left a lasting impression upon them because of the executions. In fact, reports of such abuse and dissension among the guerillas reached MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia, thus delaying their recognition as a legitimate guerilla organization.

Unlike Cushing, Fenton was against the printing of currency. After the American command at Australia sent supplies, Cebu had plenty of ammunitions, which Fenton wanted to barter with rice from Panay. Also, other guerilla units in neighboring islands wanted Cebu to join or integrate them, but Fenton opposed. After the second fall of Tabunan in October 1943, Fenton and Cushing were separated. Fenton set up headquarters in Asturias, while Cushing remained in the forests of the Masurela-Sunog-Tabunan area.

But what about the fall of Tabunan?  The guerillas lost some battles, like that of Malubog, where only 150 survived, and superior numbers of the enemy forced them to move to Toledo on January 20, 1943; and that of Guila-Guila in Compostela, on March 5, 1943, when they retreated because of Japanese reinforcements but not before killing at least 230 Japanese killed.

The headquarters at Tabunan first fell into Japanese hands on March 25, 1943. The Japanese expedition to the hills was an act to avenge the deaths of many of their soldiers in the battles of Kinasang-an and Tabok-canal in Pardo. Camp followers and their families were involved in the movement of the whole battalion, which they did very carefully and at snail’s pace because they had to pass between two high hills occupied by the Japanese. They even ate their corn raw because the smoke from cooking might alert the enemy. (p. 156)

Tabunan fell again in September 1943, while Cushing was in Negros to meet with Major Jesus Villamor. Before his trip, Cushing had ordered the arrest of Fenton, but the guerillas had him executed by firing squad on September 1.

But what was Cushing doing in Negros?  He met with Major Villamor in Negros, who was Chief of the Allied Intelligence Bureau’s advance party in the Philippines, asking to contact Australia for their recognition.

Official recognition for the Cebu Area Command finally came on Jan. 22, 1944 through telegraph to Cushing:

With profound satisfaction I have noted the gallant struggle of the officers and
men under your leadership who, refusing to surrender, have sustained a resolute
and determined resistance against superior enemy forces on the island of Cebu.
Desiring to recognize that resistance and give it such support as is now within
my power, I have created the Cebu Area Command and have appointed you as the commander. (p. 202)

With such recognition, supplies by submarine from Australia came in 25 Sept 1944, although earlier supplies had been received in February with the label “For the CAC.” There was also reorganization such that the old sector organizations were junked and replaced with regiments composed of battalions and companies.

BUT Cebu’s most significant contribution to the Allied design for the liberation of the Philippines began early on April 1, 1944. One Japanese plane bound for Davao during a storm reached San Fernando and was discovered by Balud Teniente del Barrio Ricardo Bolo, who used to bring food and any information to, and instructions from, the CAC.

Together with two others they went to see what happen to the plane. They saw a group of 12 people asking for help, but the 12th was dead. While ten were brought to shore in turns, two swam and reached Sangat and reported to the garrison in Tinaan. The 9 others were taken prisoners. For two weeks the Japanese searched for the survivors. They even passed by Pinamungajan and Talisay.

Part of the crashed plane reached the shore of Valladolid, Carcar, with documents discovered  inside, which were sent to Tabunan. Japanese had offered P50,000 reward and sacks of rice to residents of San Fernando for retrieval of the documents. At Tabunan, Japanese lanes dropped leaflets demanding return of the prisoners and documents. One leaflet was dated May 17, 1944, another May 30.

Unknown to the guerillas at Tabunan, the documents (which were written in Japanese) were the classified blueprint of the Japanese plan to invade Australia and part of the Z plan of the Japanese naval and air forces in the Pacific. That imminent invasion did not happen when the documents, called the Koga Papers, were deciphered in Australia. General Meinichi Koga was the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Imperial Army. The documents were supposedly found off the coast of Minglanilla, instead of the other claim of its reaching Valladolid, Carcar.

The Japanese sent a regiment against the guerrillas, who moved to Barrio Kamunggayan. Late afternoon of April 8, two Japanese columns were seen approaching Tupas Ridge. A prisoner exchange was negotiated and on April 10, 1944 the only prisoner of war exchange on Cebu took place. A writer member of the Rough Riders writes: “The Japs and the guerillas, who only a few minutes ago had faced each other in the heat of battle, now shook hands and smiled at each other.”

Unfortunately there came a radio message from Australia: “Enemy prisoners must be held at all costs.” Before the documents reached MacArthur, a message was received discharging Cushing from his office. To compensate for the loss of the prisoners, Cushing sent the documents, not knowing that the documents they carried were to effect a change in the war in the Pacific and hasten the liberation of the Philippines. But after Cushing was summoned to Leyte, MacArthur said: “Had Cebu Area Command done nothing else but turn in the documents, that would have been more than enough reason for its existence!”

The planned liberation of the Philippines was scheduled late in December 1944, but the information in the documents advanced it by months and saved a thousand lives.

 MacArthur and his forces landed on Leyte on Oct 20, 1944. The rest, as we say, is history.

Fast forward, the Japanese surrendered in barangay Ilihan, Tabogon on August 28, 1945. The Japanese were afraid to surrender to the locals, who couldn’t forget Japanese atrocities, and so they asked to surrender only to the Americans. Thus, no Cebuano troops were allowed near the Japanese in the surrender ceremonies.

To close, let me borrow the words of Segura at the end of his book:

Tabunan, the name that for three harrowing years signified terror and death to the
guilty and the suspect — and echoed in all corners of Cebu with the pride and glory
of the heroic Cebu patriots — -is now stilled. Grass has grown over the blood and
tears and over the dust of battle, the whistle of bullets and the groan of the wounded.
The red is gone. There is green now for Tabunan has lapsed into obscurity. (p. 353)

That’s all. Thank you for letting me share this story of Tabunan.