In the meantime in Monkayo, Davao,
Miranda’s nemesis, Lt. Col. Ruperto Kangleon, future leader of Leyte’s guerilla
organization, would follow the path of surrender, taking some of his men with
him. This was according to Celso T. Bolloso and Arturo Labrador, two of the
survivors of the Japanese POW internment camp in Butuan where Kangleon and his
men were brought. Along the way, many of his men deserted and joined the
cultural minorities in the mountains of Mawab and Monkayo.[i]
At the Butuan camp, his closeness to the
Japanese authorities would soon become evident when he was given more freedom
to roam around. Upon the prodding of Japanese officials, Kangleon would retrace
his path from Davao to urge the unsurrendered soldiers to give up. Virgilio I.
Abuloc, a surviving veteran from Cabadbaran, Agusan del Norte, still remembers
Kangleon, accompanied by Lts. Benjamin Famador and a certain Napole, going
around Mindanao promoting the Japanese pacification campaigns. [ii]
He was also turned into a Japanese Bureau
of Constabulary while in Butuan, recalls Lorenzo Sanchez, brother-in-law of
Romulo Esguerra, the pianist-entertainer of the Japanese at the POW camp.[iii]
Two other officers from Kangleon’s unit who
did not surrender, Maj. Marcos Soliman and Capt. Aristoteles Olayvar, would
journey all the way from Mindanao to Palompon, Leyte. They would soon establish
contact with Miranda in Ormoc and set up a general service school for WLGWF in
Palompon. Though higher in rank, they would both serve under Miranda in the
guerilla organization.
The surrendered soldiers were interned and
placed under investigation. The 15 American soldiers and some 20 civilians were
lodged for two weeks in the constabulary barracks, then for almost three weeks
in the provincial jail. The two groups were separated. While the civilians were
allowed to exercise in the yard, the officers were locked up in their cells.
Most escaped physical torture so long as
they complied with the regulations. But their rations were scanty, and their
dormitories dirty and overcrowded. As for the Americans, they were shipped out
of Leyte as prisoners of war on the first week of January 1943, Cornell and the
other American prisoners were said to
have arrived in Sto. Tomas prison camp in high spirits.[iv].
1st Sgt. Martiniano Bao recalled
that surrendered troops were quartered in the 2nd Cadre Barracks,
the officers occupying the upper story. The enlisted men ate USAFFE rice, and
Sgt. Bao became their mess sergeant. The
officers contributed money to Bao, who was permitted to go to the market to buy
viands. Towards the end of July, the prisoners were transferred to new
makeshift headquarters in the Leyte Provincial High School. The Japanese used
the prisoners to groom their horses, clean the stables, cut grass as horse
feed.[v]
#kangleon
#kangleonsurrender
#leyteguerrillaleader
#kangleonsurrender
#leyteguerrillaleader
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| Wrist blood pressure monitor |
[i] Jose Burgos, Interview of Celso Bolloso and Arturo Labrador
[ii] Jose Burgos, Interview of Virgilio Abuloc
[iii] Affidavit of Lorenzo Sanchez, a retired teacher in Butuan City, a
nephew of Adolfo “Popong” Sanchez
[iv] Ibid
[v] Lear quoting Bao, p. 18
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