Becuse there were no more Japanese to fight, the guerillas enjoyed the situation by going back to farming and for their recreation, by holding parties and dances. there was a semblance of of general peace and the guerillas, Filipinos and americans alike, never had it so good. The Division Commander, Col. Ernest Mclish would even attend parties in barrios. One of the parties he attended was in Banza. There, i met him again and he reminded me about his offer and instructed his aide, Lt. Lorrimer reyes to receive ny papers. i prepared my papers and submitted the same to Lt. Lorrimer reyes but an officer of Mclish's staff took them and volunteered to to take care of everything. i waited in vain for my orders which never received up until the war ended, for reasons I learned about later and are best forgotten.

the guerillas started publishing a newsletter, out of ther news they received through radio so we could follow the movements of american troops from island to island, strating from Fort Moresby towards Bouginville, Rabaul, Tarawara, Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal.

While peace reigned in the whole province of Agusan, we can not escape the fact that life must go on. And now, my family, not consisted of my wife, Helen, but also my mother-in-law , Mrs. Maria Defensor, sisters-in-law, Luz and Ella, and brothers-in-law, Vicente, Jr. and Victor. I was the only man in the family as Vicente, Jr. and Victor were still small boys, ages twelve and ten.

I had to double my efforts for the survival of my now enlarged family. I resumed my buy and sell business and one of the commodities that was available and in big demand was brown (Muscobado) sugar.

On one occassion I bought brown sugar from Gaudencio Jamboy at capudlosan, with ny baroto fully loaded. With brother-in-law Vicente, Jr. we negotiated our way from Capudlosan to Mangabao. unfortunately, because the baroto was overloaded, it tilted a little and water started filling the boat. I tried my best to salvage the sugar but succeeded only in saving half my load. Instead of making a profit in that transaction, I registered a big loss.

Suddenly, on March 31, 1944, Japanese troops landed in Nasipit. The guerillas offered resistance but could not stem the tide of the Japanese advance, considering their larger number. the Japanese believing that Macarthur would land in Davao, started converging in Agusan and places near Davao to be able to put up a strong resistance against the the expected Americans. secondly, they wanted to recover agusan which became a guerilla province after their withdrawal. Whikle the japanese were landing in Nasipit troops from Surigao started marching to join the Agusan forces. because of their number, not one house along the agusan-Surigao Highway from Butuan to Cabadbaran was empty. The japanese soldiers occupied the houses along the way.

The Guerillas on the otherhand, unable to stop the assault, decided tem[porarily to disband. from, Medina, Misamis Oriental general Wendel Fertig went to Talacogon, in the upper streches of Agusan River. Major khalil khodr went to Masundong mountains in Cabadbaran which they renamed Seventh Heaven. Others hid in the mountains along the Agusan River like Bit-os, Amparo, Dulag. Resistance to the numerical superiority of the Japanese was futile. They tried the same in Nasipit but were pushed back. One credit to the guerillas though was their having shot down a Japanese plane at Amparo with a 37 millimeter gun. the hit was Credited to Lt. Suico.

The Japanese patrols now became frequent, perhaps on the account of their bigger number, hence, I had to move from mahay to Banza and from there went deeper to the swamp area of Guiasan. Because of the presence of the Japanese, food became scarcer. The Japanese, then established a military government in Butuan and Agusan and appointed Major Ramon Aguirre ofthe Voluntary Constabulary as Governor., who in later years was to become a general and Area Commander of the IVth Military Area, After his stint as 19th BCT Commander in Korea. Mayor Pedro Torralba again assumed the Mayorship of Butuan whiel Atty. Prinmo L. \ Cabrera was appointed municipal mayor of Cabadbaran. These were the only two towns in Agusan having Kalibapi (Japanese appointed) Mayors. The guerilla appointed officials had to go in hiding and this was true with the Governor Jose Rosales and Mayor Eulogio M. Garcia. My job as municipal secretary also ended. This, time the Japanese initiated their pacification campaign. They propagandized that the americans would no longer return and they issued passes to the civilians. The civilians, on the other hand, while seemingly trying to cooperate with the Japanese still kept their distance and most of them remained in the swamps and hills nearby.

Meanwhile my wife helen, my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law Luz and Ella became expert in mat weaving and making of bacoco, tampipi, and baluyot. They made mats, bags, hats and baskets out of the young buri and nipa palm fronds and on occasions, baloy leaves. we also managed to make soap out of coconut oil, lime, and lye madfe from ashes of coconut fronds. They also baked cakes and cookies out of cassava and saba banana flour. Each sunday, I used to bring this goods which later became popularly known as Helen's goods to Mangabao Tabo-an deep in the awmps and out of the sail. We would buy food stuff and other necessities for my family, like salt, ginamos, rice, fish and meet.

On occasions, we would also try to gather clams (toway) and snails (banisel) and crabs. We were already staying at Banza and later moved to Guiasan so it was easy for us to go to Butuan or Buhang by means of a baroto.

the perrenial problem haunting us those days was food. The baroto I was using for my business and in acquiring food was rotting and needed a replacement. without a baroto, movement will be limited. I, therefore, decided to go to Las Nieves to secure a baroto from the banca makers who were taking their logs from the forest concession of my father, at the same time, procuring rice and corn from the farmers in that locality. I had to secure a pass from the Regimental Headquartes at Amparo since all along the Agusan River from Amparo and up was under the control of guerillas. Major Kodr refused to give me a pass for fear I will get caught by the Japanese and after being tortured would reveal guerilla encampments. I insisted on taking the risk and convinced them that I could take careof myself and after pleading with Kodr and his staff, they finally allowed me to go.

Upon reachin Las Nieves, I immediately contacted several baroto makers who agreed to rush the making of my baroto. I strted procuring corn to be brought down to Guiasan. After two weeks at Las Nieves, while the baroto was still unfinished (bao), I had it loaded with corn and decided to return to Guiasan. The baroto which was big enough to load my family, including our bare necessities would be finished by the baroto makers of Banza. When I was ready to leave, the guerilla command at Las Nieveas would not allow me to proceed until I assured them that I would drop anchor at Mahay.

Paddling downriver, with my banca fully loaded was a difficult and dangerous task. I started at dawn in the hope of reaching Mahay River at dusk. which I did due to continues paddling. At Mahay, I covered the baroto with water lily so that the whole thing would appear like a drifting island of water hyacinths to the Japanese sentinels at checkpoints along the River. I waited for dak before resuming my journey and maneuvered the baroto so that I will not be drifted into the whirl pool at Agao and be within the shooting range of the Japanese outpost there. I managed the banca so well that by the time I reached Buhangin accross the Japanese outpost, I was near its bank and far from the machine gun emplacement at the old hospital. all these maneuver, I performed while lying down in the baroto and guiding the same only with my paddle. At the same time I prayed hard for Gods protection and deliverance. I continued to manage my baroto while lying down in such a way that I continued to float close to the east bank of the Agusan River and farther from the edge of Butuan.

After I reached a point beyond the range of the Japanese machine gun at the post office, I immediately sat up and paddled my banca like hell as if all the devils were after me untilo I entered the Banza River. When I finally reached Guiasan, people would not believe that I went to the Japanese garrison of Butuan in a bao (unfinished baroto) fully loaded with the ears of corn unharmed. The following day, when people of Banza and Guiasan learned of my daring exploit, there was rejoicing among my relatives and friends, who, during the period of my absence, were full of apprehension and anxiety, especially my family, who fully knew of the hazardous and dangerous trip to Las Nieves. they could hardly believe iwould be able to return alive to tell tale.

I promished helen, i would be away for only two weeks since she was about to deliver and may have the baby while I was away. But my absence lenghtened to three weeks and my wife started getting worried about my delay. Meanwhile, two days before my return, my wife, who was heavy with child, worrying about my overdue return decided to leave for Las Nieves, despite the advice from my family, relatives and friends not to go. Suince she coukd not be prevailed upon to stay my mother-in-law requested Juan Conde, our neighbor, to accompany Helen and the two decided to take a baroto to Las Nieves, the very day I arrived. Helen even prepared a white flag to surrender to wave just in case the japanese in their outpost would spot them on their way to Las Nieves. My timely and safe return was providential, otherwise she could have left and died on the way with no one to help her deliver what was going to be a baby boy on "britch" position.

Then, on Nvember 10, 1944, my wife started having labor pains. The only Doctor available was Doctor Galo Franco, The District Health Officer, who was our neighbor. My wife had great difficulty not only because the child was first born but also because it was also britch. Aside from my mother-in-law who was assisting Doctor Franco, there also was Mana Dolores Torralba Hagedorn encouraging and comforting my wife in labor. In fact, she never left Helen's side until the baby was born and her leg which served to help Helen in straining turned black and blue the following day. On the second day of labor, Dr. Franco suddenly collapsed from fatigue. Fortunately, I heard about Dr. Casiano C. Plaza, the Guerilla Regimental Sugeon being home on leave and I asked my brothers-in-law, Vicente and Victor to fetch him from his evacuation place in Bascaa.

Inspite of the fact that he was dead tired from a long hike from Amparo, upon hearing that it was Helen who was having difficulty in childbirth, Dr. Plaza immediately went with Vicente and Victor to our place. He first asked Helen whether she was willing to undergo a surgical job without anesthesia as non was available. Helen gave the assurance that she would try to bear the pain as she still wanted to live. Dr. Plaza then proceeded in maneuvering the child until he could get hold of the feet and little by little started delivering the baby. The child was still-born and only after a continuous whacking in the buttocks did the baby give a loud cry and we knew it was alive.

Due to the difficult delivery, our baby whom we named later as Josefina or "Penny" had a broken thigh, close to her hip bone above the left leg. I had to make splints for her so that her broken leg would mend. The broken limb healed but one leg was shorter than the other. I massaged and stretched into months so that it would stretch into the same length as the other. I only stopped massaging the shorter leg after I saw both were already of the same length.

There was great anxiety in waiting for her leg to move and when it finally did, I had to reach Father Ortega in Banza for a mass offering after Helen's Novena to St. Jude for Penny's full recovery of her leg, when at that very moment the miracle happened. Penny's broken leg began to move! It became the talk of the barrio of Banza and the neighboring sitios well into the end of the war. Better still, Penny did not limp at all. With my mother-in-law's help and care, as she was one of the early registered nurses of the Philippines, both Helen and the child not only recovered but were brought back to good health.

All these dramatic events happened while we stayed in the house of a kind and compassionate couple, Mr. & Mrs. Raganas and their children, Feliciano and Alfonso, without rent for as long as the war would last. Mana Iska Conde Raganas, the mother, we will fondly remember all our lives like a second mother. She taught Helen and the rest how to harvest palay in the rice fields with the native "patok" and how to pound and winnow the grain. She even gave us the rice we later produced to eat without getting her share as was the custom those days. Mana Iska, as we fondly called her was an exceptionally gentle loving soul. She contributed to a certain extent to our survival during those dark days of our country's history. God bless her soul!

She also taught Helen how to ultilize onao or sago into tinumpi, kinabol, inisab, palagsing and landang, which was the substitute for rice and corn when there was none to get. She also shared with us whatever rootcrops her family had like camote, cassava, gabi, ubi, pao, bananas and papayas and whatever they harvested. The couple and their children, I would not hesitate to say, belonged to a rare breed of people, one of whom we could rely on in times of need, true Christians in the full meaning of the word.