12 January 1943
Smacking of medieval warfare and looming unique in the history of the Bukidnon guerrillas, was the protracted siege of Malaybalay undertaken by the Cotabato Bukidnon Force of SALIPADA K. PENDATUN which lasted for some fifty-three days from 12 Jan to 6 March 1943. It was a tale of sheer courage, determination and devotion to duty.
Pendatun fought against the Japanese during the Second World War, forming a group called the Bolo Battalion, which evolved into the larger group, Muslim-Christian Guerrilla Movement and later, the Cotabato-Bukidnon Force.
As a USAFFE officer during World War II, Pendatun organized and commanded the 102nd Regiment under the 101st Division of the Philippine Army/Constabulary from 1942 to 1943. He prevented the total destruction of the regiment during the Japanese invasion of Mindanao in early 1942. As part of the guerrille movement, he launched an assault on Japanese garrison in Pikit in September 1942, and led a raid on the Japanese garrison at Kabacan on October 25, 1942.
He also eliminated the Japanese garrison at Kitaotao, Bukidnon on December 4, 1942 and rescued Filipino prisoners of war at Casisang, Bukidnon on December 24, 1942 and led the two-month siege on a Japanese garrison at Malaybalay, Bukidnon. For his accomplishments, Pendatun was promoted to Brigadier General and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Star, the second highest military decoration given to AFP Personnel.
Major Frank McGEE’s forces occupied strategic places between Dalwangan and Malaybalay. Almost simultaneously, Lieut ARLINDO F. ANGELES’ Engineering Group undertook the destruction of all bridges North of Kalasungay. In the dead of the night of 11 Jan 1943, Kabakan Bridge was blasted. with dynamite, with the deafening detonations of the explosion heard far and wide. It was an announcement to the Japs in Malaybalay that something serious was afoot.
Previous to this, however, the Japs sensing trouble, had begun transferring Prisoners of War from Casisang to Malaybalay and thence to Cagayan.
Note: Had the PENDATUN forces succeeded in gaining full control of the National Highway from Dalwangan to Kalasungay, the Japs in Malaybalay would have been entirely cut off from contact with their garrisons in the North.
By this time, there was absolutely no more Jap garrison South of Malaybalay, except possibly that in Kabacan, Cotabato, 160 kilometers away. Datu UGTOG MATALAM’s forces occupied positions in Upian, Aroman, Cotabato, to cut off any enemy reinforcements from Cotabato – which act of the enemy which was then considered a remote possibility.
The Japs in Malaybalay were determined, however, to keep the Dalwangan-Malaybalay Road open. At 5:00 AM, 12 Jan 1943, Japanese patrols sent to investigate the condition of Kabacan bridge, encountered a platoon underLt ROSALES JUNI. That day, another platoon under Lt LORENZO DEFUNTORUM encountered a light Japanese patrol in the vicinity of Kalasungay. In both encounters, the enemy employed heavy weapons but without effect – there were no casualties on the guerrilla side. That same day, a strong Japanese outpost with heavy weapons, guarded the immediate vicinity of Kabacan while the Kabacan bridge, dynamited by the guerillas the day previous, was being repaired by the Japs.
On 14 Jan 1943, Major McGEE and a few men occupied Dalwangan and captured four Filipino Jap Policemen who first resisted but later gave up, having been convinced that their position was untenable.
Guerrillas Enter Malaybalay
At 4:00 AM, 15 Jan 1943, LEUTERIO and twenty-six enlisted men attacked the Central School Building, Alhambra Cine and Governor ANTONIO RUBIN’s residence.
Simultaneously, Lt SALVADOR GA and nineteen men of MC GEE’s troops attacked the Japs in the Forestry Building. In both attacks the Japs replied with heavy weapons, mortars and machine guns but to no avail. None of the guerrillas were hurt.
At 9:30 on the same day, Lt FELICIANO CASTELO and his men crossed the Sawaga
River and marched towards the PC Barracks occupied by Filipino BC’s under Lt JUAN LAGRAMA, Prisoner of War. LAGRAMA offered to surrender all arms and ammunition in the possession of the BC’s under him. But while the negotiations were going on, ROQUE ASENERO, BC, unnoticed slipped away and informed Cap ALVIAR who in turn informed Capt YOSIOKA, the Jap Commander. Immediately, Lt. CASTELO’s position was shelled and machine gunned.
In that exchange of fire, the BCF’s (Bukidnon-Cotabato Forces) lost five men and seven wounded. Casualty of the enemy was believed high. That act of treachery on the part of a Filipino engendered deep rancor in the hearts of the guerrillas.
Action on the Northern outskirts of Malaybalay was fast and furious. This was the sector alloted to the McGEE forces. While Lt. JUNI and his men were fighting the Japs in Kalasungay, Lt GA and his men with a commanding position in Sumpong Hill ambushed Jap foot soldiers going to the Forestry Building from the Normal School Building. Two rifles were taken from the enemy. Eighteen Japs dead, twelve of which were killed by Corp PAJO. No casualties on the guerrilla side.
Japs Capture A Guerrilla Officer
On 28 Jan 1943, in the vicinity of the Sumpong Hill, JUNI and his company, another platoon led by Lt. FRANCISCO AZOONA and a third group under Lt. CONRADO TADEO, locked horns with a considerable number of Japs. In this encounter a Jap Captain MIRAT was killed. Capt GIL ALTAMIRANO, Executive Officer of McGEE, was captured by the enemy and subsequently tortured to death.
By then Malaybalay was a town of foxholes. Even the Filipinos insiders were in foxholes.
One skeleton battalion under Capt ORBASE succeeded in driving the Japs from the PC Barracks and occupied it as well as the Bukidnon High School Grounds and the area West of the road near Governor RUBIN’s mansion.
Japanese planes bombed and strafed continuously guerrilla positions in Kalasungay, Casisang and Impalambong. Some eighty bombs were dropped by the enemy without any casualties. Based on their proximity, these planes most probably originated from the small auxiliary/dispersal airfields at Malaybalay, Valencia, Maramag, Impasug-ong, Dalwangan, and Kibawe, and the Del Monte Airfield Complex in Tankulan, Maluko (present day Dicklum, Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon).
In various assaults made by BCF men, the guerrillas suffered four casualties.
Catapult Captured Bombs
In the later part of February, action was intense. The guerrillas were using bombs retrieved from the Maramag Landing Field. These were thrown to the enemy positions by means of catapults. The depletion of the Japanese forces began to show. This was confirmed by prisoners escaping from the town to the protection of the guerrillas. They revealed that the beleaguer-
ed Japs were thinking of surrendering if the expected aid from the North did not come on time.
On 23 Feb the biggest number of prisoners escaped from Malaybalay and included Lt Col LUIS M. DELGADO, Capt GRISPINO DE CASTRO, Lt ALFREDO BUSTAMANTE, ALFREDO BAKING, MALACAS MEDINA, FRANKLIN LABAON, F. ABUNDA, SAYUSAY and many enlisted men. Most of the officers and EM were ill. Some of these were later to join the guerrillas and play an important part in future history.
An answer to the frantic call for help of the Malaybalay garrison came in the form of about thirty-five Japs from the North, who were engaged incessantly by the guerrillas while enroute. More followed and three hundred of them finally entered Malaybalay at 5:00 PM, 6 March.
Due to shortage of ammunition, the guerrilla forces withdrew eight kilometers south of Malaybalay and maintained a front line extending from Bugcaon to Linabo.
The original strength of Japs in Malaybalay was more than 250. They were well entrenched, employing heavy and automatic weapons with a great amount of shells and other ammunition. They were aided by BC’s loyal to Japs.
Malabalay was not taken. But the very audacity of the attack and the protracted siege the guerrillas undertook struck a new note of fear into the heart of the enemy. Moreover, the action strengthened the confidence of’ the troops in their capabilities and opened the eyes of the Filipino defeatists. The possibilities for future moves were astounding and definitely encouraging.
The now Lt-Col FRANK D. McGEE, a West Point graduate, and unsurrendered USAFFE officer, was the strategist of the guerrillas in the Malaybalay operations. To him was largely due the credit of planning and putting into effect almost all the important strategy employed by the BCF in the Malaybalay siege.
Source: History of the Mindanao Guerrillas by the American Guerrillas of Mindanao (AGOM). Unpublished Manuscript.
