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| A guerrilla operating in Capoocan |
Uneasy peace reigned for about a month, and
then it erupted. Not in one blow but pockets of explosions that appeared to be
spontaneous. Gov. Torres, now a puppet governor of the Japanese, captures this
spontaneous movement in his report to his Japanese masters.
“Then came the influx of discontented
elements and ex-USAFFE soldiers from neighboring province, who, because of lack
of food in those places, were now seeking refuge in Leyte where food was easier
to procure…Upon their arrival in Leyte, they began to preach false propaganda.
To a certain extent, the ground was fertile, and without much difficulty, they
succeeded in organizing bands and guerillas.
About the beginning of August,
when we had almost everything normally functioning...troubles began. They began
to cut telegraph and telephone lines, destroy bridges, threaten and intimidate
peace-loving inhabitants and officials cooperating with the Japanese, and
sometimes kidnapping and killing them. Some began to loot stores and bodegas in
remote places, stopped passenger trucks and extorted money from conductors and
passengers. In some municipalities, the treasury and post office were robbed
and stores looted.”[i]
Although Torres seemed to blame external
elements for sowing the discontent, there is little evidence that it was indeed
so. The “discontented elements” were natives of Leyte
themselves who had began to experience the atrocities and barbarism of Japanese
rule under worsening economic conditions. He was also wrong about the time. As
early as June 1942, barely a month after the Japanese set foot on the island,
the crisis was beginning to be felt.
“Business was struggling at its bottom of
collapse. The public was finding it harder to buy things for its needs.”[ii]
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| Male performance formula |
[i] Lear, citing Torres’ letter to Japanese Military Administration for
District of Visayas, dated December 21, 1942, p. 24
[ii] Ibid, Lear citing the report of
Provincial Revenue Agent Sevilla
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