The Reign of Terror in Tigbauan and Its Liberation from the Enemy

    (April 16,1941-March 18,1945)

On Dec. 8, 1941 at 2:30 A.M.,(Phil. time), Pearl Harbor was bombed without warning by the Japanese Forces. This marked the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific. The first Japanese bomb that was dropped on the Philippine soil was at 6:30 A.M. of the same day, in Davao City, Mindanao.

On Dec. 18, 1941, the Japanese planes bombed Iloilo City; the first air attack in the Visayas. On April 16, 1942, all the residents in the poblacion of Tigbauan evacuated to the barrios due to the landing of the Japanese Imperial Forces at barrio Cabanbanan, Oton, Iloilo.

On April 22,1942, the Japanese entered the poblacion of Tigbauan. The invaders established a garrison at the Tigbauan Central Elementary School Building. The seat of the exiled municipal government was designated by Mun. Mayor Salvador Tueres at the Binaliuan Elem.School Building.

In June 1942, the first armed resistance in Tigbauan, a mobile unit of 14 men was formed by Lieut. Napoleon B. Tenefrancia. They were a group of unsurrendered USAFFE. Later, the combat teams, 1st Iloilo Sector, merged with the Leon Unit and became the so-called"A”Co., 3rd Bn., 65th Inf.Bgd., 6th MD(recognized guerrilla).

The civil government coordinated with the guerrilla movements by designating all public school teachers as food procurement officers and all barrio lieutenants as head of the so-called “Bolo-Battallion” in their respective barrio jurisdiction, responsible for transporting food and supplies through relays.

On the last days of June, 1942, a guerrilla unit composed of native Tigbauenios under Capt. Rafael Tuante destroyed the Baguingin concrete bridge. Then, they blocked the national highway from sitio Jubag and barrio Namocon, Tigbauan, Iloilo.

On Sept. 2, 1942, the first ambuscade of the military convoy of 11 trucks of the Japanese Imperial Forces was perpetrated by the all-Tigbauan Unit under Lieut. Enrique Tabalingcos at Namocon, Tigbauan, Iloilo. The ambuscade inflicted casualties and serious damages to the convoy, but resulted to the loss of the lives of Pvt. Pedro Tronco and Hugo Tupan. The members of the Ambuscade Unit were: 1) Enrique Tabalingcos, 2) Marciano Aldon, 3) Rafael Canto, 4) Eustaquio Mospa, 5) Pedro Tronco, 6) Basilio Tristeza, 7) Jose Canto, 8) Gerardo Tito, 9) Hugo Tupan, 10) Rafael Tangle, 11) Constantino Aldon, and 1) .Magdaleno Torres (not inducted).

In retaliation to the ambuscade, the Japanese soldiers executed three civilians on the spot, namely: 1) Francisco Arias, 2) Deogracias Jabat, and 3)Vicente Tulayre.

The Intelligence and Engineering Company reduced to ashes all the houses in the poblacion to dislodge the enemy.

The Japanese were enraged to the point of madness by the anti-Japanese activities and resistance movement of the Tigbauan people. Gen. Watanabi (alias Putot) ordered the butchering of the civilians.The people called this order “Juez de Cuchillo”.

On August 11 - 12, 1943, 124 civilians were killed or beheaded mercilessly. Jose Leonardia, a municipal employee who refused to divulge the seat of the local government and the guerrilla headquarters was beheaded and burned by his Japanese captors.

On August 14, 1943, 37 civilians were beheaded at the Ermita of Napnapan, Tigbauan. Juan Toque survived because his head was not totally cut off. Valen was beaten by the enemy with a rifle because she was suspected to have an army boyfriend. Ela was hanged upside down because she could not tell where her husband was hiding. Monang and her children were made to sit on an anthill for one day under the blazing heat of the sun because the enemy would not believe that she was a widow because she was cuddling a small (posthumous) baby.

In Jamog-Gines, the Japanese soldiers dug a pit where they thrust the civilians after their heads were cut off. The blood in that hole after the mass murder was knee-deep.

Former Mayor Domingo (Badal) Trompeta Sr. negotiated with Gen. Watanabi to stop the killing of civilians. The civilians living in the barrios were forced to go back to the poblacion and surrender to the Japanese Imperial Forces. Mun. Mayor Salvador Tueres and other officials also surrendered and assumed their offices under the Japanese Forces on Nov. 4, 1943.

On Feb. 19, 1944, Mayor Tueres fled to Iloilo City. Delfin Tumaliwan was appointed as puppet mayor the next day. On March 1, 1944, Gov. Tomas Confesor of the provincial government in exile appointed Miss Concordia Palacios as municipal mayor under the resistance movement. Delfin Tumaliwan fled to the mountain and Alfredo Travinia assumed as puppet mayor.

On June 12, 1944, a guerrilla company from Antique under Lieut. Napoleon B. Tenefrancia raided the Japanese garrison in the poblacion.

On Sept. 24, 1944, one American fighter plane piloted by Lieut. Stickleford was hit by the enemy and made a force landing in the ricefield of barrio Napnapan, Tigbuan. He was rescued by Vicente Mabaquiao at sitio Apayhan, Cordova, and was relayed to Gov. Tomas Confesor in Bucari, Leon. However, Vicente Mabaquiao was captured by the Japanese and was beheaded at Curampao garrison in Cordova, Tigbauan.

On March 18, 1945, the American Liberation Forces landed at barrio Parara, Tigbauan, Iloilo. This date marked the liberation of Panay from the terrifying and infamous reign of the Japanese Imperial Forces during the Second World War.

“At the dawn of March 18, 1945, the evacuees who were hiding on the hills, in the thickets and the hinterlands of Tigbauan were awakened by the strange sounds which they had not heard since the Japanese landing. From the top of the hills.they saw at sea more than a hundred ships of different sizes. They were overjoyed of the news that at last, Gen. MacArthur has returned as he promised.

From the shore of barrio Namocon, Guerrilla Lieut. Jose Panique was fetched by a PT boat to contact Landing Operation Commander General Ralph Brush. Lieut. Panique informed the General of the whereabout of the enemy installation and strength in the poblacion of Tigbauan and the adjacent places.

At sunrise, low-flying amphibian planes scoured the vicinity, dropping leaflets advising the civilians to get away from the lines of landing operations. It was followed by shelling of the Japanese garrison at the Central Elem. School Building and the place at the mouth of the Sibalum River where some of the Japanese were posted and hiding.

From the China Sea, several amphibian planes and landing crafts dashed toward the blue water of Fatima Beach at Barrio Parara, Tigbauan. On the beach, Lieut. Napoleon B. Tenefrancia met beachmaster Gen, Long and gave additional information about the enemy. Few minutes later,at the poblacion of Tigbauan, Negro tanks Unit proceeded for an encirclement move to Iloilo City by passing Tigbauan-Leon provincial road. In barrio Cordova, Tigbauan the tanks unit demolished the Japanese garrison at Curampao, while the artillery unit passed at barrio Namocon, Tigbauan, toward Iloilo City. They met no resistance, thus Panay was liberated.

On March 19, 1945, remnants of the Japanese Imperial Forces who had escaped from the garrison at the Central School, sought refuge at “takas-banwa” at the outskirt of the poblacion. They encountered the American soldiers and all died on the spot.

Tigbaueños who witnessed the March 18, 1945 event, described their unforgettable experience to the writer who in turn wrote their story in the form of a narrative poem entitled, “Hilway Na Kita”.

There were no CCTVs, no CP cameras, no snapshots then. The stories of the war survivors are only told through their “composo” (ballad) which they sang with teary eyes,quivering lips and cracking voice. As I listened, I cried with them,thanking the Lord that my mother was miraculously spared (with me, seven months old inside her womb) from the samurai of the Japanese “berdugo” who raised it and was about to strike when they heard the gunfire of the approaching army.