Quezon’s flight

Primo Esleyer forwarded a text message last Saturday which I am quoting without the jejemon language. It reads:

“Seems like Mody Sa-onoy is in the dark where President Quezon stayed in Negros Occidental on the way to Australia by submarine – In my father’s house in Hacienda Rosario in Granada, Bacolod City. I was a young boy then but I met Col. Andres Soriano, Col. Manuel Nieto, the three Quezon daughters and Mr. Francisco Delgado. You see my father was the son of former Chief Justice Hon. Simplicio del Rosario, friend of President Quezon. I can recall that clearly. Nag overnight lang sila then proceeded to Australia. Chief Justice or Justice Abad Santos was with them. He was beheaded by the Japanese in Cebu.”

Lito del Rosario also texted to say that I am “lost” as to where Quezon stayed in Negros Occidental. I am not “lost” or in the “dark” about Quezon’s stay in Bacolod and Negros. I have several paragraphs on his trip here in my incoming book, “Against the Rising Sun.” I did not mention Quezon’s stay in Negros Occidental in the columns because that was not the topic which focused only on the question where Quezon stayed in Negros Oriental, not Occidental or Bacolod.  

Quezon stayed in several houses in Bacolod since he was in Negros February 23 to March 26, over a month and he did not stay in del Rosario’s house alone. Some in his party stayed in other houses also, though coming together during the day time for conferences with local officials. He was in Bacolod over a week and after he left Bacolod, he did not go to Australia immediately because he intended to stay in the Philippines longer to meet with governors and mayors in other islands and then, when necessary, leave the country as suggested by President Roosevelt.  From Bacolod he went to Buenos Aires, and farther on to other places which I will not mention here but are cited in the upcoming book.

Quezon left Corregidor at 11:00 p.m. of February 20 on board a tender Ferry for the submarine Swordfish.  He arrived in San Jose, Antique before dawn two days later.  Without sleep he left for Iloilo by land arriving there at 10:00 a.m. the same day and conferred with Governor Tomas Confesor. At first he was furious because he was told earlier that Confesor had declared martial law. It was not true and Quezon simmered down.

He slept well that night but early morning he boarded Princess of Negros (converted into a presidential yacht) for Bacolod.  He met mayors and other officials by batches and at different places and slept at different houses to prevent Japanese spies from even knowing he was here. The Princess of Negros left for San Carlos after Quezon disembarked in Banago to wait for him.

These conferences were crucial and had many versions which were later used by the collaborators to justify their cooperation with the Japanese. On March 14, the Princess of Negros was spotted by Japanese planes in Refugio Island. Later a Japanese tugboat pulled it away and only when the Japanese found the personal effects of the President did they suspect that Quezon had escaped and was in Negros, but where?

The President planned to go to San Carlos where Princess of Negros waited then to Cebu but while he was in Bais he received the urgent message of MacArthur to leave. Quezon left immediately for Zamboanguita where two PT boats – 35 and 39 – were waiting to bring him to Mindanao and on March 26 he boarded a Flying Fortress, not by submarine, to Australia.

After Quezon left for Zamboanguita, Chief Justice Abad Santos returned to Bacolod where he assumed the Office of the President with the departure from the country of the President and Vice President Sergio Osmeña. This was an interim situation following the succession as provided for in the Constitution. However, before he left, Quezon issued an Executive Order designating the Secretary to the President as acting President in the event of Santos death or arrest. Abad Santos then summoned Quezon’s secretary, Manuel Roxas, to Bacolod and on April 3 in Bacolod, he told Roxas of the EO. Roxas surrendered and later collaborated with the Japanese.

Santos was caught in Cebu but was executed in Malabang, Lanao, not in Cebu, contrary to del Rosario’s claim.  So, you see I am not in the dark or lost in this maze and there are more in the book now being printed.*

back to top