During the Japanese occupation of the islands in World War II, there was an extensive Philippine resistance movement (Filipino: Kilusan ng Paglaban sa Pilipinas), which opposed the Japanese and their collaborators with active underground and guerrilla activity that increased over the years. Fighting the guerrillas – apart from the Japanese regular forces – were a Japanese-formed Bureau of Constabulary (later taking the name of the old Philippine Constabulary during the Second Republic), the Kempeitai (the Japanese military police), and the Makapili (Filipinos fighting for the Japanese). Postwar studies estimate that around 260,000 people contributed to the anti-Japanese underground resistance in one way or another. Such was their effectiveness that by the end of World War II, Japan controlled only twelve of the forty-eight provinces.
Select units of the resistance would go on to be reorganized and equipped as units of the Philippine Army and Constabulary. The United States Government officially granted payments and benefits to various ethnicities who have fought with the Allies by the war's end. However, only the Filipinos were excluded from such benefits, and since then these veterans have made efforts in finally being acknowledged by the United States. Some 277 separate guerrilla units, with 260,715 individuals officially recognized as having participated in the resistance movement.
Background
The attack on Pearl Harbor (called Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters) was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan and the Philippines). The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against the overseas territories of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
Immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese operations to invade the Commonwealth of the Philippines began. Twenty-five twin engine planes bombed Tuguegarao and Baguio in the first preemptive strike in Luzon. The Japanese forces then quickly conducted a landing at Batan Island, and by December 17, General Masaharu Homma gave his estimate that the main component of the United States Air Force in the archipelago was destroyed. By January 2, Manila was under Japanese control and by January 9, Homma had cornered the remaining forces in Bataan. By April 9, the remaining of the combined American-Filipino force was forced to retire from Bataan to Corregidor. Meanwhile, Japanese invasions of Cebu (April 19) and Panay (April 20) were successful. By May 7, after the last of the Japanese attacks on Corregidor, General Jonathan M. Wainwright announced through a radio broadcast in Manila the surrender of the Philippines. Following Wainwright was General William F. Sharp, who surrendered Visayas and Mindanao on May 10.
Afterwards came the Bataan Death March, which was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 American prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. The death toll of the march is difficult to assess as thousands of captives were able to escape from their guards (although many were killed during their escapes), and it is not known how many died in the fighting that was taking place concurrently. All told, approximately 2,500–10,000 Filipino and 300–650 American prisoners of war died before they could reach Camp O'Donnell.
Resistance in Luzon
After Bataan and Corregidor, many who escaped the Japanese reorganized in the mountains as guerrillas still loyal to the U.S. Army Forces Far East (USAFFE). One example would be the unit of Ramon Magsaysay in Zambales, which first served as a supply and intelligence unit. After the surrender in May 1942, Magsaysay and his unit formed a guerrilla force which grew to a 10,000-man force by the end of the war. Another was the Hunters ROTC which operated in the Southern Luzon area, mainly near Manila. It was created upon dissolution of the Philippine Military Academy in the beginning days of the war. Cadet Terry Adivoso refused to simply go home as cadets were ordered to do, and began recruiting fighters willing to undertake guerrilla action against the Japanese. This force would later be instrumental, providing intelligence to the liberating forces led by General Douglas MacArthur, and took an active role in numerous battles, such as the Raid at Los Baños. When war broke out in the Philippines, some 300 Philippine Military Academy and ROTC cadets, unable to join the USAFFE units because of their youth, banded together in a common desire to contribute to the war effort throughout the Bataan campaign. The Hunters originally conducted operations with another guerrilla group known as the Marking Guerrillas, with whom they went about liquidating Japanese spies. Led by Miguel Ver, a PMA cadet, the Hunters raided the enemy-occupied Union College in Manila and seized 130 Enfield rifles.
Also, before being proven false in 1985 by the United States Military, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos claimed that he had commanded a 9,000-strong guerrilla force known as the Maharlika Unit. Marcos also used maharlika as his personal pseudonym; depicting himself as a bemedalled anti-Japanese Filipino guerrilla fighter during World War II. Marcos told exaggerated tales and exploits of himself fighting the Japanese in his self-published autobiography Marcos of the Philippines which was proven to be fiction. His father, Mariano Marcos, did however collaborate with the Japanese and was executed by Filipino guerrillas in April 1945 under the command of Colonel George Barnett, and Ferdinand himself was accused of being a collaborator as well.
In July 1942, South West Pacific Area (SWPA) became aware of the resistance movements forming in occupied Philippines through attempted radio communications to Allies outside of the Philippines; by late 1942, couriers had made it to Australia confirming the existence of the resistance. By December 1942, SWPA sent Captain Jesús A. Villamor to the Philippines to make contact with guerrilla organizations, eventually developing extensive intelligence networks including contacts within the Second Republic Government. A few months later SWPA sent Lieutenant Commander Chick Parsons, who returned to the Philippines in early 1943, vetting guerrilla leaders and established communications and supply for them with SWPA. Through the Allied Intelligence Bureau's Philippine Regional Section, SWPA sent operatives and equipment into the Philippines to supply and assist guerrilla organizations, often by submarine. The large cruiser submarines USS Narwhal and USS Nautilus, with a high capacity for personnel and supplies, proved especially useful in supporting the guerrillas. Beginning in mid-1943, the assistance to the guerrillas in the Philippines became more organized, with the formation of the 5217th Reconnaissance Battalion, which was largely composed of volunteer Filipino Americans from the 1st and 2nd Filipino Infantry Regiments, which were established and organized in California.
In Nueva Ecija, guerrillas led by Juan Pajota and Eduardo Joson protected the U.S. Army Rangers and Alamo Scouts who were conducting a rescue mission of Allied POWs from a counterattack by Japanese reinforcements. Pajota and the Filipino guerrillas received Bronze Stars for their role in the raid. Among the guerrilla units, the Blue Eagles were a specialized unit established for landmine and sniper detection, as well as in hunting Japanese spies who had blended in with the civilian population.
In Bamban, Tarlac, Aeta guerillas formed Aeta Squadron 30 under U.S. Captain Alfred Bruce as part of the Philippine resistance in Central Luzon.
Nonetheless, Japanese crackdowns on these guerrillas in Luzon were widespread and brutal. The Imperial Japanese Army, Kenpeitai and Filipino collaborators hunted down resistance fighters and anyone associated with them. One example happened to resistance leader Wenceslao Vinzons, leader of the successful guerrilla movement in Bicol. After being betrayed to the Japanese by a Japanese collaborator, Vinzons was tortured to give up information on his resistance movement. Vinzons however refused to cooperate, and he and his family, consisting of his father Gabino, his wife Liwayway, sister Milagros and children Aurora and Alexander, were bayoneted to death.
Hukbalahap resistance
As originally constituted in March 1942, the Hukbalahap was to be part of a broad united front resistance to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. This original intent is reflected in its name: "Hukbong Bayan Laban sa mga Hapon", which was "People's Army Against the Japanese" when translated into English. The adopted slogan was "Anti-Japanese Above All". The Huk Military Committee was at the apex of Huk structure and was charged to direct the guerrilla campaign and to lead the revolution that would seize power after the war. Luis Taruc, a communist leader and peasant-organizer from a barrio in Pampanga, was elected as head of the committee and became the first Huk commander called "El Supremo". Casto Alejandrino became his second-in-command.
The Huks began their anti-Japanese campaign as five 100-man units. They obtained needed arms and ammunition from Philippine army stragglers, who were escapees from the Battle of Bataan and deserters from the Philippine Constabulary, in exchange of civilian clothes. The Huk recruitment campaign progressed more slowly than Taruc had expected, due to competition with U.S. Army Forces Far East (USAFFE) guerrilla units in enlisting new soldiers. The U.S. units already had recognition among the islands, had trained military leaders, and an organized command and logistical system. Despite being restrained by the American sponsored guerrilla units, the Huks nevertheless took to the battlefield with only 500 men and much fewer weapons. Several setbacks at the hands of the Japanese and with less than enthusiastic support from USAFFE units did not hinder the Huks growth in size and efficiency throughout the war, developing into a well-trained, highly organized force with some 15,000 armed fighters by war's end. Though the Huks' primary enemy was the Japanese, they also occasionally clashed with non-Huk guerrillas. One estimate alleges that the Huks killed 20,000 non-Japanese collaborators during the occupation.
Ethnic Chinese resistance
Unique to other guerrillas in the Philippines were the Wha-Chi; a resistance unit composed of Filipino-Chinese and Chinese immigrants. They were established from the Chinese General Labour Union of the Philippines and the Philippine branch of the Chinese Communist Party and reached a strength of 700 men. The movement served under the Huks until around 1943, when they started operating independently. They were also aided by the American guerrilla forces.
Resistance in Visayas
Various guerrilla groups also sprang out throughout the central islands of Visayas. Like those in Luzon, many of these Filipino guerrillas were trained by the Americans to fight in case the Japanese set their sights on the Visayas. These soldiers continued to fight even as the Americans surrendered the islands to the Japanese.
One significant achievement for the resistance in Visayas was the capture of the "Koga Papers" by Cebuano guerrillas led by Lt. Col. James M. Cushing on April 1, 1944. Named after Admiral Mineichi Koga, these papers contained vital battle plans and defensive strategies of the Japanese Navy (code-named the "Z Plan"), information on the overall strength of the Japanese fleet and naval air units, and most importantly the fact that the Japanese had already deduced MacArthur's initial plans to invade the Philippines through Mindanao. These papers came into Filipino possession when Koga's seaplane, en route to Davao, crashed on the Cebu coast at San Fernando in the early hours of April 1, killing him and others. After Koga's body (and many surviving Japanese) washed ashore, the guerrillas captured 12 high-ranking officers, including Vice Admiral Shigeru Fukodome, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet. On April 3, Cebuano fishermen found the papers inside a floating briefcase, then handed them over to the guerrillas, whereupon the Japanese ruthlessly hunted down both the documents and their captured officers, burning villages and detaining civilians in the process. They ultimately forced the guerrillas to release their captives in order to stop the aggression, but Cushing managed to summon a submarine which transported the documents to Allied headquarters in Australia. The contents of the papers were a factor in MacArthur's decision to move his planned invasion site from Mindanao to Leyte, and also aided the Allies in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.