The first shots

It is commonly held and even celebrated that the first shot fired by the guerrillas against the Japanese in Negros was in Buenavista, Himamaylan City, in an ambush on August 3, 1942.

In fact, a monument erected by the guerrillas now stands there. It is the site of commemoration, although, as the number of World War II veterans is dwindling, the remembrance had also disappeared. At least, we have not heard of such commemoration anymore.

There is, however, an earlier ambush on June 2, 1942, in Panubigan, Kanlaon City, and another the following month, on July 4, in the sugar hacienda owned by Don Enrique Esteban just outside the town of La Castellana.

These two ambuscades thus belie the claim in Himamaylan. In fact, the ambush in Panubigan is immortalized by the naming of the place as Linuthangan or a place where shots were fired.

When the United States Army in the Far East surrendered in Bataan, most of the soldiers in Negros and in Panay refused to lay down their arms. I think this is the same in other parts of the country as shown by the number of guerrilla outfits that emerged by the time the Americans landed in 1944.

While the American officers and men surrendered on May 20, 1942 in obedience to the order of Gen. Jonathan Wainwright on May 6, four of the five sector commanders in Negros Islands, all Filipino officers, disbanded their troops with instruction to hide their weapons, go home, and wait for the signal to regroup for a guerrilla war.

In the War Plan Orange formulated by the Americans as early as 1926, the American forces in the Philippines, later known in 1941 as the USAFFE, will resort to guerrilla war in case of enemy occupation. Even before the country capitulated, units behind enemy lines were to stage attacks to disrupt enemy operations. When Japan overran Luzon and fighting was still raging in Bataan, guerrilla war had already been initiated.

When the Negros USAFFE was disbanded, most went home. The Filipino sector commanders went into hiding, leaving their soldiers to fend for themselves.

Sgt. Manuel Digon of La Castellana and his squad also went home from their post in Kanlaon. On their way home to La Castellana, they spotted a Japanese patrol and they laid an ambush. There is no report on the Japanese casualties, but Digon and his men immediately withdrew.

On July 4, Don Enrique wanted to be friendly with the Japanese commander in La Castellana, so he prepared lunch for them in his hacienda. The Japanese who arrived in the town that May 21 accepted and a truckload of them crossed the Buhangin River to the hacienda where they had a good meal.

Digon, who was encamped near the town, learned of this lunch meeting and he waited at the return route of the Japanese. Early that afternoon, the Japanese, feeling safe, entered the trap. Only one soldier escaped. His lieutenant was killed.

Digon withdrew but the story did not end there. The Japanese came back with a truckload of soldiers to pursue Digon, but not finding him, the Japanese picked up Don Enrique and his wife and tortured them to reveal the whereabouts of the guerrillas. The Japanese believed the couple led them to the trap.

The Esteban couple, innocent of the ambush, was held captive for days and then executed.

Major Salvador Abcede, who had escaped to the south after disbanding his unit in Magallon, did not know of these ambuscades, neither did Major Ernesto Mata, who also disbanded his troops in Silay, paid them with whatever funds was left and then went to Igmayaan, the evacuation house of Jose Montelibano. He, too, was unaware of these ambuscades.

The Japanese were in constant patrol between Himamaylan and Kabankalan. Corporal Federico Lopez observed the enemy's routine and laxity, thinking the USAFFE had already dispersed. He waited for an opportunity that came evening of August 3.

He positioned 12 men of Company “G” behind coconut trees and waited. When the Japanese passed by, Lopez fired and the unwary Japanese were caught in a crossfire. They tried to flee but 37 of them were killed. One survived and was rescued by another Japanese patrol that arrived and engaged the guerrillas who escaped without casualties.

When the news reached Abcede, he called for a conference in Bi-ao, a mountain barrio where Binalbagan Mayor Augurio Abeto evacuated his government, and where, for some time, Abcede stayed. He prevailed on Abeto to use this barrio as the food basket for at least one battalion of guerrillas.

When news of the ambush spread, Abcede and Mata called their men to arms. The guerrilla war began, mainly by ambuscades, until the Americans ordered an open war on the Japanese in 1944 preparatory to full scale invasion.*

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