Senior citizens of Dagami, Leyte can still recall the name ‘bungot’ when talking of an intrepid guerrilla leader who waged a relentless campaign against the invading Japanese troops back in 1942. The historian Elmer Lear would describe him as “stocky of build, swarthy, and wearing a conspicuous black handlebar moustache that did not look like the typical Filipino. His portly and somewhat fierce bearing at once singled him out.”[1] To the locals who experienced the brutalities of the last war, that black handlebar moustache became his identity, an integral part of a legend.
A Dagami native, Alejandro Balderian was, a former lieutenant in the USAFFE and a veteran of battles in Pangasinan with the 91st Division before the USAFFE surrendered. Cut off from his unit in Bataan, he wandered around Rizal and later escaped to Leyte. Here, he attached himself to the Leyte Provisional Regiment under Lt. Theodore Cornell and was assigned company commander of the Bolo Company then stationed in Jaro.
After Cornell surrendered, Balderian fled to the interior parts of Jaro and, with an old-time soldier Simeon Dadula, started to gather arms and ammunitions from among USAFFE soldiers as well as civilians in the mountains where many soldiers dumped their guns. He established his headquarters in Barangay Taltal, Burauen. On the first week of June 1942, he convened a secret conference to launch the guerilla movement in Dagami and surrounding municipalities. Attending that conference were former USAFFEE men and more than 200 civilians. They pledged to fight against the Japanese, protect life and property, capture Japanese equipment and supplies and uphold the Commonwealth government.[2]
The day after that pledge, on June 27, 1942, Balderian and his guerrilla attacked unit Japanese patrols at Tibak bridge in Palo.[3] That would serve notice to the Japanese that their lives would not be pleasant in that part of the island because Balderian would be busy in the coming months, despite the organization of the Japanese Bureau of Constabulary (BC) recruited from the residents.
On October 3, his group ambushed 18 Japanese and five BC members at Taltal, Burauen who were reportedly on their way to attack Balderian’s headquarters. Twelve Japanese and two BCs were killed, and the rest were wounded.
On October 25, his group again waylaid the Japanese at the junction of the road going to Pastrana from Dagami, killing eight and wounding five.
On November 4, he started a 14-day siege of the Japanese garrison in Burauen. Some 66 Japanese and 11 BCs were killed, while Balderian lost only four riflemen and two bolo men. The complete annihilation of the camp was prevented only by the timely arrival of Japanese reinforcements.
Two weeks later, on November 19, Balderian again led his group of 155 riflemen against 56 Japanese and 18 puppet policemen at the Dagami garrison, his hometown. After six days of fighting, only one Japanese and five policemen escaped. The rest were killed. Four of his troops were slain.[4]
The attacks prompted brutal retaliations from the harassed Japanese, to be inflicted against helpless civilians. They started with his parents. After their capture, they were tied to a horse and dragged around town until they died. Some witnesses claimed that they were beheaded. The Japanese also captured his pregnant wife and brought her to a prison camp in Tacloban where she gave birth to a baby boy. Balderian never saw the boy because when the guerillas rescued his wife, they could not find the baby.[5]
Balderian was not just a guerrilla fighter but a political leader who saw the need for a strong center of power after the provincial governor Bernardo Torres surrendered following Cornell’s example. Balderian went about creating an alternative to the puppet government of Torres, with his seat in Carigara, Leyte’s old capital. For a while, he became the politico-military governor of the invisible guerilla government, designating his deputies as vice military governors in their respective districts. That was to last until Ruperto Kangleon, the guerrilla leader recognized by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, came into the scene in early 1943.[6]
At the conclusion of the Second World War in Leyte, Balderian and his exploits were largely forgotten as those closer to the powers-that-be got all the accolades and recognition. ‘Bungot’ went back to his hometown, preferring to live in relative obscurity until his death.
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[1] Lear, Elmer N. “The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines – Leyte,” 1941-45, Data Paper No. 42, Southeast Asia Program, Department of Far Eastern Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, June, 1961, p. 51
[2] Ibid, pp. 18-19
[3] Abrenica, Pedro, unpublished MS thesis, “Leyte Area Command: Its Organization and Role in the Resistance Movement in the Philippines”, Adamson University, 1950, p. 13
[4] Ibid, Aberica, p. 20
[5] Baclagon,Uldarico, “Philippine Campaigns,” Leyte-Samar Weekly Express, Oct. 12-18, 1996 , p. S15
[6] Op cit, Lear, p. 52
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