IN THE COURSE OF MY life’s journey, I
have met many people who were survivors of different mishaps and catastrophes,
circumstances and deprivations, wars and conflicts, and they lived to tell
their experiences, predicaments and fortunes. While others I came across to,
are witnesses of, or have been recipient of tales from these survivors, it
still are stories worth telling. I am an eager listener and I always remember
the stories very well and added these pieces of information into my “library of
self-preservation”. This blog is, in itself, a repository of pure survival
tales.
One of the saddest misfortunes that
befell during conflicts are the wanton killings of non-combatants, especially
the civilian population, almost always attributed to both sides without
discrimination. It so happened so many times in the past that it is not that
rare anymore. One of these massacres happened on a hinterland community of the
Municipality of Liloan during the last stages of World War II which was
inflicted by units of the Imperial Japanese Army when they made their retreat
to northern Cebu.
After Cebu City was cleared of
Japanese resistance by the US Eighth Army on April 14, 1945, the Japanese-held
lines between the coastal plains and the heights of the Babag Mountain Range were
abandoned by their defenders, who escaped over the mountains, hoping to reach
Bogo where a Japanese troop ship was supposed to be steaming towards it. It was
at this time, a platoon-sized IJA that strayed at Laniguid on a bright full
moon. The Japanese soldiers summoned all the civilians they could find and
begun killing them.
According to the last living witness,
GREGORIA LANCA-AG GEPEGA, female, married, now 94 years old, and a resident of
Barangay Mulao, Liloan; a younger brother of hers accidentally discovered the
Japanese troops. He was immediately detained and everyone were roused out of
their homes, to include evacuees coming from the lowlands of Liloan, who seek
refuge here, to stay away from the fierce battles waged on the coastal highway
and shorelines.
“I
was born on September 28, 1927, here in Mulao, which was then known as Sak-on.
I lived with my parents, my eight brothers and a sister. I finished Grade 2 at
Sak-on Elementary School and I enjoyed my teen years by watching a ‘comparza’,
a form of entertainment, with neighbors. We know there was a war going on but
we did not know what it was like because we were living peacefully here…
“I
do not even know what a Japanese soldier looked like because, despite all the
fearful stories we heard about them, it seemed so distant to us. One day,
people from the lowlands, led by a certain Mr. Buhay, arrived. There was an
open market fair and they took rest under the makeshift huts and benches. We
were so disturbed at the news they brought and it left us wondering what would
become of us if the war should come here…
“Like
most nights, we retired early. There was a full moon and my younger brother
went out to check on his cow. It was quite strange that he took so long to be
out. In fact, he never came back at all. We hit our sleeping mats and began
dozing off when we were awakened by angry noises muttering strange dialects. Loud
bangs pounded our door and the cool breeze of the night entered as we opened it
and it sent a chill upon our spines.”
Laniguid is a hilly part of Liloan
town and is popular with hikers who spend overnight or just a day. Its peak
reaches 500 meters above sea level and a small community still lives on its
foothills. It is part of the village of Mulao. There is a cross on the site of
the massacre where there used to be mass graves. All the remains of the dead
victims were exhumed and given proper burials after the war.
It was on this massacre site where
the villagers and the unlucky visitors from the lowlands were dragged and
lined. The men, young and old, were separated from the women, the girls, and
the nursing infants and small children. The soldiers were talking to the men
but nobody could understand them. Under the ghostly light of a full moon, it would
cast an impression of a grim ending for all.
“My
father and the rest of my brothers were taken away from me by force while
another group of soldiers herded me, my mother and my sister, along with all the
women and their children some distance away. It was the last time I saw my father
and three of my brothers alive and almost everybody that I knew for so long…
“There
was this concubine of a Japanese soldier, named Lourdes, who was from the
lowlands, and who tried to talk the soldiers out from harming us all. She was
with her half-Japanese infant, but the leader grabbed instead her child and
thrust the bayonet through, killing the child. Then she was also stabbed to
death by the same murderer…
“From
afar, I heard cries of pain and shouting for help. Then the Japanese in our own
group began killing us with their bayonets thrusting the tips to whomever was
nearest them. In the half-light, all of us tried to run or shielded those whom
dear to us. I felt a sharp hard object punching painfully on my lower back and
in my armpit. I fell down and the same object is thrust again on my upper back
and I lost consciousness.”
The indiscriminate murder of innocent
civilians took the lives of more than 250 men, women and children. This was the
biggest massacre inflicted by the Japanese in Cebu and it is not
well-publicized. It took the lives of her father, her mother, her only sister
and three of his brothers. By this time of the interview, Gregoria Gepega was
in tears, sobbing, and releasing her painful memories away.
Killing without provocation could have
been attributed to the fear of discovery by the Americans or by Filipino
guerrillas on the routed Japanese troopers. They would probably be suffering
from hunger, thirst, great stress, shock, low morale, frustration, anger and
fear. The least they could do is being discovered by its enemies or even by
innocent locals and that is why they travelled by night during their retreat.
“I
regained consciousness when I felt light through my eyelids. Morning had
arrived. I was alive and I was left for dead, not only by the Japanese, but
also of the surviving villagers. My dead mother was above me. She could have
shielded me while I was going down and that is why I was alive. She has saved
me! I pushed my dear mother gently aside and I crawled out to seek help…
“The
wounds I got were very painful yet I did not have difficulty in breathing.
Immediately, first aid treatment was applied on my wounds when they found me, all
of it folk remedies since our barrio was very far from the town center. I remembered
I took a decoction made from boiling water and a 6-inch nail. Then I passed out
again…
“When
I regained consciousness once more, I was recuperating from my wounds in an
American army field hospital in Jagobiao, Mandaue. I did not have any
recollection of when and who brought me here? A local nurse told me that I
slept for three straight days. I would go on to stay for another month before
they would release me.”
Gregoria would go on to marry her
neighbor and suitor, Benito Gepega, now 94 years old. During the incident in
Laniguid, he was in Balamban with his family, looking after their farm. All
told, there were less than ten survivors and most of them are now dead of old
age. One of the survivors is MIGUEL MALABON, male, married, 76 years old and
the current village chairman of Mulao. He is the nephew of Gregoria Gepega.
He has no recollection whatsoever of
the incident since he was three months old at that time. He was allegedly cradled
by his mother when they were separated from the men. He survived the massacre
when his mother shielded him from the Japanese but his father was not so lucky.
He has a twin brother, which also survived and is now living in Davao.
Days after the massacre, the surviving
neighborhood created a search party led by Perio Goc-ong when they discovered that
there were three Japanese stragglers sighted in their barrio. All three decided
to fight it out to the last man than be taken prisoner. Most of the IJA forces
reached Tabogon, harassed on the rear by guerrilla forces and could go no
further as the Americans blocked their route.
They surrendered to Major General
William H. Arnold of the US Eighth Army, all 9,867 officers, the rank-and-file
and their civilian auxiliaries, to include, perhaps, those responsible for that
massacre in Laniguid. All were transported immediately back to Cebu City and
repatriated under guard to Japan.
Photo
Nr 1 credits to Wikipedia
Photo
Nr 5 credits to Pacificwrecks.com
