AS A closing issue of our columns celebrating the heroes of our country particularly during the month of August, we start today our memorable experiences on the heroism of many Negrenses who courageously joined the Negros Resistance Movement during the World War II Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945.
This historic period revealed the tragic destruction of various nations subjugated by the global ambitions of the Axis Powers led by Japan and Germany.
For Negros Occidental, as with the rest of the Philippines, the peaceful morning of December 8, 1941 brought shocking news of the treacherous attack by the Japanese forces of the American base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA. The churches on this feast day of Immaculate Concepcion were filled by church goers anxious of the coming uncertain days with the start of WWII in the Philippines. Negros Occidental was also unprepared for the news and its negative implications.
At this time, the nation was still under the American colonial administration of the Philippine Commonwealth.
Naturally, Filipinos expected that the invasion by Japan of U.S. bases in the Philippines were the next targets.
Unfortunately, neither the national government nor the provinces were prepared for this unwelcome event.
Many Filipinos today are familiar with the series of events that led to the Japanese forces' arrival in the Philippines by early 1942. For Negros Occidental, the Japanese arrived and immediately occupied the province on May 21, 1942 and established their main headquarters in the Provincial Capitol Building in Bacolod City.
On a personal note, this writer witnessed in his youthful years the takeover by Japanese soldiers of the then Municipality of Silay whose mayor at this time was his father, Roque G. Hofileña, Sr. As the youngest child of 15 children of the mayor, this writer hardly understood the bewildering situation in his hometown. Apart from the oppressive image of the Japanese soldiers moving around, the mayor endeavored together with the other officials and employees of Silay to adjust to the stern Japanese occupation. After a few months of this difficult situation, Mayor Hofileña eventually decided that he could not adjust as a collaborator of the occupying Japanese forces.
In the later months of 1942, the mayor and his officials, employees together with his family decided to establish a resistance government in the mountains of Silay. This fateful move was also reinforced by the call of the newly appointed governor of the Free Government of Negros Island and Siquior, Governor Alfredo Montelibano, Sr. who had already established earlier his headquarters in the mountain areas of Barrio Igmayan, Murcia. On instructions of President Manuel Quezon who was already in the United States, Montelibano quickly organized the entire structure and operations of the resistance government including all the mayors and his own provincial office supported by his military assistants, Cols. Salvador Abcede, Uldarico Baclagon and Ernesto Mata.
To make a long story short, the Resistance Government made it difficult for the Japanese occupation forces to completely control the islands of Negros and Siquior. Nevertheless, the Resistance Movement and the thousands of Negrenses who joined the movement in the mountains experienced the sacrifices of enemy attacks, lack of armaments, lack of food, medicine and other necessities, and the primitive conditions inside the forest areas. Nonetheless, the Negros Resistance courageously fought the enemy despite the overwhelming odds. This situation was described by the resistance propaganda team and among their efforts were the inspiring songs led by the plaintive song “From Up the Mountains” composed by Cristobal P. Hofileña.
Looking ahead, the struggles of the Negrenses seemed so far from the eventual surrender of the Japanese forces on August 30, 1945 in Barrio Sta. Rosa, Murcia.