This paper was presented at the Leyte Normal University Regional Workshop-Conference on Social Research last October 17, 2007 by the author, Emil B. Justimbaste. This is just a prelude to a book he is presently writing on the same subject.

Introduction
The Tragedy of Dulag
Northern Leyte Guerillas
Southern Leyte Guerillas
Miranda
Enter Kandleon
MacArthur Connection
Miranda vs. Kangleon
References

    Northern Leyte guerillas

Let me share a few examples of these guerilla leaders.

A case in point is Antonio Cinco, a rig driver in Tanauan, Leyte before the war. When the Japanese came to Leyte in May 1942, Cinco killed one who tried to commandeer his horse and calesa, then took to the hills. But the Japanese caught him, beat him up and put him in prison. He managed to escape though and once more fled to the hills, forming his own guerilla band operating around Tanauan, Dagami, Tolosa and the unoccupied portions of Burauen, Dulag and La Paz.

Then he began pillaging the countryside, sending his men to the villages for food, clothing, women, money and ammunition, and his men insisted on taking more than they needed. If a civilian refused, his house would be burned and his wife or daughter taken to the hills.⁹

According to one writer, "he was enjoying himself very much. He had more women than any other men I had ever known."¹⁰

Unlike Cinco, however, there was Sgt. Filemon Pabilona in Alangalang, one of those early unsurrendered Army officers who led his unit like a political-military group attempting to integrate guerilla activity with political action. A mere sergeant before the war, he became a figure of authority in his area of operation with professionals - teachers, lawyers and other members of the educated gentry - in his guerilla council in Alangalang.

The council did not make laws or execute policies but seemed to be advisory in character. It provided the guerillas a link to the population in the town center, served as a conduit of their supplies and their eyes and ears on Japanese activities in the towns. A superior officer, Lt. Luciano Bonicillo, former commanding officer of Company "L," of the Leyte Provisional Regiment, acted as Pabilona's adviser, drafting the preamble and constitution that guided the council.

The nearby towns of Barugo, San Miguel and Babatngon followed Alangalang's example, with each of the towns establishing similar guerilla councils, recognizing Pabilona as the guerilla chieftain. He organized "Volunteer Guards" in each town, treating them as his auxiliaries. Consequently, he was favorably looked upon by the civilians both as an intrepid fighter and as a law-abiding man in his dealings with the population. He employed a system of public accountability whereby a reputable attorney from Alangalang, Vicente Ripalda, was told to audit the receipts and expenditures of public funds and examine all records of accountability in the custodies of the four municipalities.¹¹

USAFFE Capt. Glicerio Erfe, of ethnic Ilocano descent, established his base in the nearby mountains around Burauen, La Paz and Dulag after the surrender of his superior officers. He was the highest ranking unsurrendered officer in Leyte before Kangleon's arrival, a fact which he tried to assert in the initial phase of the guerilla movement. A dreamy-eyed soldier who liked to dwell on military concepts and theories and preferred the safety of his guerilla camp to harassing Japanese troops on patrol, he loved to issue orders to his men in the field who did the actual combat operations.

Because he thought the guerillas were too few in number to really defeat the enemy, he organized each municipality into guerilla brigades, with each brigade composed of several regiments set along the regular military lines. Thus, La Paz became the first Guerilla Brigade, Abuyog, 2nd, Dulag 3rd and Burauen, 4th. Changes were introduced sometime in Nov 1942 when Lt. Roberto D. Hinolan, who was in Leyte to gather intelligence for guerilla leader Macario Peralta of Panay, suggested that Erfe organize his forces as the 9th Military Corps of Leyte, the former 9th Military District. After that visit, the 24 military districts organized by Erfe became 24 battalions.

In due time, active guerillas earned brevetted ranks. Mayor Pedro Gallego of Abuyog became a "major general," while former Chief of Police Catalino Landia became the brigade commander with the brevetted rank of brigadier general. They were on top not only of the 2nd Guerilla Brigade but of all the brigades under Erfe, who called himself "colonel of the infantry - military adviser."¹²

Because of his superior rank, Erfe assumed that all those operating in the Dulag-Abuyog-Burauen-La Paz areas were under his jurisdiction. He tended to regard these groups as part of the province-wide confederation which other leaders like Balderian, who had a different guerilla mindset, did not really heed. Erfe tried to back up his claims by assigning station numbers to the different outposts, calling for reports and prescribing their submission to his headquarters. Indeed, on paper, Erfe had an army. But the question was: Did it function as one?

Towards the end of 1942, Erfe had drawn up an operational plan to launch a simultaneous attack against the Japanese with the objective of putting them in one corner of the island, Tacloban. Had the general attack gone off as planned, he might have gained enough prestige to unify the entire guerilla movement before the arrival of Kangleon.

But Erfe had little contact in the south, except with the group of Nuiqui. Even in his own territory, he had very little success with his own men. For one, Catalino Landia, who was with him at the start, eventually deserted him. Erfe would figure in a tiff against Kangleon where he would fare badly.¹³

In Capoocan, Felix Pamanian, a technical sergeant of the USAFFE attached to the Leyte Provincial Government, set up his operations in the mountains after his USAFFE superiors surrendered . He began harassing Japanese patrols and transportation in the area and success of his operations soon reached Capt. Crescencio Corpin who was hiding in Biliran. Corpin was also a USAFFE who fought in Pangasinan with the 91st Division and a Bataan veteran. With Pamanian as his model, Corpin formed his own group in Biliran and eventually joined up with Pamanian until they had a formidable guerilla force operating from Capoocan to Biliran.

In an early unification attempt by Balderian in December 1942, Pamanian's group was designated 95th Infantry, 92nd Div. It was later redesignated 3rd Battalion, 95th Infantry of the Leyte Area Command when Kangleon took over. Pamanian was given the rank of captain still in command of his unit.¹⁴

Dagami was the operational center of Alejandro Balderian, a former lieutenant in the USAFFE. Lear described 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." He fought in Pangasinan with the 91st Division before the USAFFE surrender. 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. Col. Theodore Cornell and was assigned company commander of the Bolo Company stationed in Jaro.¹⁵

After Cornell's surrender, Balderian fled to the interior parts of Jaro and, with an old-time soldier Simeon Dadula, gathering arms and ammunitions from among USAFFE soldiers as well as civilians in the mountains where they dumped their arms. He established his headquarters in Barrio Taltal, Burauen. Then on the first week of June 1942, he convened a secret conference to launch the guerilla movement in Dagami and surrounding municipalities. Among those who attended were former USAFFEE men and more than 200 civilians, pledging to fight against the Japanese, protect life and property, capture Japanese equipment and supplies and uphold the Commonwealth government.¹⁶

He also began reconnoitering and establishing contacts with other guerilla groups in the north and the east of the island, sending initial feelers of unification. His early operations involved harassing enemy troops and cutting off their communication lines. He unleashed a series of military operations in the first week of October 1942 which lasted until September 1944 after Kangleon issued lie-low orders. His aggressive behavior would cause savage retaliations from the Japanese and result in the killing of his parents who were dragged around the town of Dagami tied to a horse until they died.¹⁷

Like Pabilona in Alangalang, Balderian also initiated the formation of civilian groups in an attempt at governance. Unlike Pabilona, however, 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, and his deputies his vice military governors in their respective districts. That was to last until Kangleon came into the scene in early 1943.¹⁸