THE JAPANESE
OCCUPATION AND ITS
AFTER-EFFECTS
By: Peter Gardon Gowing
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WORLD WAR II
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When World War II broke out in December 1941,
there were about 700,000 Moros in the Southern
Philippines Mindanao and Sulu were strategically
located for the thrust of japanese forces deeper
into Southest Asia.
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Accordingly, Davao and Jolo were invaded right away to
provide air bases for the advance on the Borneo and the
Celebes.
Cotabato and Lanao were invaded in 1942. The occupation of
Moroland was effectively limited to the coastal towns, with
interior garrisons scattered along the main roads.
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United States Army forces in the FarEast (USAFFE) in the
region offered such resistant as they could under the
circumtances of an empowering enemy onslaught, both before
after and after they were ordered to surrender by General
Wainwright.
Moros served in these forces: and when geurilla units were
organized in their traditional homeland, Moros became part of
them as well.
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The japanese occupation forces little understood the actual
situation of the Moros in the Philippine nation and also failed to
tale advantage of Moro disaffections.
Instead, they treated Moros much the same as the rest of the
Philippine population. Their invasion and early occupation were
accompanied by brutality and terrorism, designed to cow the
population into obedience, if not cooperation, in the fastest
possible time.
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Any bad memories the Moros had of American or Christian
Filipino behavior were offset by the trash behavior of the
Japanese, who thereby unnecessarily alienated a people who
might have been persuaded to look upon them as liberators.
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To be sure, there were some Moro leaders who thought it the
better part of wisdom to cooperate with the Japanese, but for the
most part their cooperation, like that of Filipinos in other places,
was by way of making the best of a bad situation especially if it
could ease the suffering of their people.
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This was the position, for example, of the Sultan of Ramain,
Alaoya Alonto, who only a month before the outbreak of the
war had been elected to the Senate in the Commonwealth new
bicameral legislature. In a mid-1943 letter to the Americari
colonal commanding guerrillas on Mindanao, the Sultan wrote
(quoted in Thomas, 1977:12):
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Before the surrender... I assured the late General Fort all the
cooperation that could possibly come from me, and even after
the surrender I wanted to carry on the fight with my people who
had been faithful to me and loyal to our cause and I have
resolved then to stay in the forest which I could possibly do
even for years.
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But with the Japanese threats to burn houses and harass my
people, after a thorough and mature daliberation, I had no
alternative except to surrender to protect life and property from
lawlessness and cruelty of our enemy. As a Senator-elect, it is
my paramount duty and a sacred one above everything else to
render my people such service which service I have been
executing day in and day out since that fateful day of my
surrender for the sake of the civilian population especially
women and children.
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In that spirit, the Sultan cooperated with the Japanese without
injuring the Allied cause. On the one hand, he sold rice to the
enemy but then tipped off the guerrillas who, as they had the
chance, intercepted some of the shipments. The sultan Borna
Sultan made no denunciatory statements against the United
States, but he did go to occupation Manila to sign the 1943
Constitution as a Member of the Preparatory Commission
garrisons for Philippine Independence (ibid.).
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Datu Ombra Amilbangsa, Datu Salih Ututalum and Datu Guamu
Rasul of Sulu, and Datu Sinsuat Balabaran and Datu
Memandang Piang of Cotabato, were among some of the other
Moro leaders who thought it in the best interests of their people
to go along with Japanese policies. That their people understood
their intentions, and did not hold their wartime colaboration
against them, is demonstrated by the fact that some of them
were elected to responsible government offices after the war.
This general pattern was seen throughout the nation.
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The Japanese eventually tried to appeal to the Moros as "brother
Asians" whose moral and religious life had been subjected to
the meddling of Western Christian domination. They also made
an effort to reeducate the younger and rising. generation of
Moro leaders, involving them in seminars and leadership
education programs in Manila and Tokyo. But their efforts were
too little, too late and had to permanent results.
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The best the Japanese achieved was the guarded, unenthusiastic
obedience of Moros living in the occupied towns. This was
particularly the case in the early months of the war when civil
government had broken down and before the establishment of
coordinated guerrilla commands in Lanao and Cotabato. The
collapse of law and order in those months allowed a renewal of
the old patterns of conflict and retribution which served to set
back whatever gains had been made in mutual tolerance
between Muslims and Christians before the war:
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There were tragic incidents of Moro outlaws attacking isolated
Christian settlers, and of Christian Filipinos retaliating on
innocent Moros. Even so, there were instances of More
protecting Christian Filipinos from marauders, and many
instances also of Mustm-Christian cooperation in the face of
common suffering.
The majority of Moros supported the anti-Japanese war effort,
and not a few were pleased at the opportunity to legitimately
show their martial bravery.
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Most Moros lived from the towns and many were active in
resistance to the Japanese. A few
-surprisingly few, actually-were resistant to the Philippine
guerrila forces as well, glad of the chance to reassert an
independence that outsiders had denied them. And, as was the
case in other parts of the Philippines, there were some Moros
who exploited the chaos and suffering of others and turned to
outlawry, out of everybody’s law. Here and there in Moroland,
bonafide guerillas were in control in sulu, guerillas operated in
the interior of Tawi-Tawi island and in a few places in Jolo
Island. In Cotabato, guerilla forces were organized by Datu
Salipada Pendatun and his brother-in-law Datu Utdog Matalam.
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Salipada Pendatun and his brother-n-law Datu Udtog Matalam
They were made up of both Muslims and Christians and
controlled the vast interior parts of the province, while the
Japanese controlled only Cotabato town and the agricultural
colonies around Koronadal and Allah Valley in the southeastern
section. In Inao, a functioning "Free Lanao" civil government
exercised greater authority, and over more people and territory,
than did the Japanese-controlled government As in Cotabato, the
Lanao guerrillas were both Muslims and Christians, with the
Maranaos resorting to their much tested ambush and "hit-and-
run" lactics.
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They were made up of both Muslims and Christians and
controlled the vast interior parts of the province, while the
Japanese controlled only Cotabato town and the agricultural
colonies around Koronadal and Allah Valley in the southeastern
section, In Lanao, a functioning "Free Lanao" civil government
exercised greater authority, and over more people and territory,
than did the Japanese-controlled government. As in Cotabato,
the Lanao guerrillas were both Muslims and Christians, with the
Maranaos resorting to their much tested ambush and "hit-and-
run" tactics.
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Early in the occupation, 129 Japanese soldiers were slain in an
ambush by Maranao guerrillas at Tamparan on the east side of
Lake Lanao. The Japanese retaliated by bombing the
surrounding area for 26 straight days, but the Maranao dug fox
holes and lew lives were lost (ibid., p. 11).
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The guerrillas were supplied with emergency scrip and large
quantities of amis and ammunition by American submarines
based in Australia. The quantity of arms increased towards the
end of the war, and this fact strengthened the guerrilla cause
among the Moros. A special Japanese counter-guerrilla task
force repoded in June 1944 (quoted in ibid., p. 16):
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The MORO tribes, especially the LANAO MOROS, are
extremely exclusive and are difficult to pacify. It must be noted,
however, that the AMERICANS have gradually been successful
in pacifying these MOROS by supplying them with large sums
of emergency paper currency and large amounts of weapons and
ammunition. The MOROS are now entrusted with front-line
security and active attacks on our units.
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The Japanese occupation of Moroland had at least three
important after- effect on the relationship of the Moros to the
Philippine nation in the postwar period. First, while in some
instances the war exacerbated Muslim-Christian animosity, in
other instances it welded Muslims-Christian alliances which
continued after the war. Many Muslims found satisfaction in
fighting side by the side with Christian against a common
invader, and so participating in the defense of the Philippines.
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In that mood, President Sergio Osmeña (who had succeeded to
the Presidency of the Commonwealth Government when
Manuel Quezon died in 1944) appointed Muslim guerrilla
leaders to political office after liberation. Datu Salipada
Pendatun was appointed Governor of Cotabato and Datu
Manalao Mindalano was placed on the executive committee of
the Philippine Veterans Legion in Manila. The 1946 national
election found Moro Leaders running successfully for both
houses of Congress under the aegis of the two major political
parties, the Nacionalistas and the liberals.
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Pendatun won a seat in the Senate and Mindanao of Lanao.
Datu Gumbay Piang of Cotabato, and Datu Ombra Amilbangsa
of Sulu won seats in the House of Representatives. Soon
thereafter President Manuel Roxas appointed three Muslim
Filipinos governors of the Moroland provinces. This
participation of Moros in governmental at the provincial levels,
together with their spirited involvement in partisan politics soon
brought important economic benefits to moroland though not
eaquality in the nations economy.
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Second, the war-damage (reparations) payments and backpay
award. to the many Moros officially recognized as former
guerrillas resulted in a signific increase of monied wealth in
Moroland. This is turn helped finance a resurgence of Islam in
postwar Moroland as more money was available to fund
increasing numbers of pilgrims on the Hajj, build mosques and
madrasas, and support large public religious ceremonies and
other prestige events.
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Moreover the greater circulation of cash prompted Moro interest
in salaried positions and raised Moro aspirations and
expectations for goods and services not available in their
traditional barter economy. These two factors-resurgent Islam
and the shifting basis of Moro economy from barter to cash-
helped to fuel post-World War II Moro dissatisfaction with their
place in the Philippine Republic. Resurgent Is'am served to
reaffirm their Moro selfhood and sense of nationality vis-a-vis
the Christian majority population, making their subordinate
status intolerable.
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The shift to preference for a cash economy brought home to
Moros that they had less cash than they were second- class
citizens economically without a just share in the economic
patrimony of even their own homeland, let alone that of the
nation.
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The shift to preference for a cash economy brought home to
Moros that they had less cash than they were second- class
citizens economically without a just share in the economic
patrimony of even their own homeland, let alone that of the
nation.
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Moreover the greater circulation of cash prompted Moro
interest in salaried positions and raised Moro aspirations and
expectations for goods and services not available in their
traditional barter economy. These two factors-resurgent Islam
and the shifting basis of Moro economy from barter to cash-
helped to fuel post-World War II Moro dissatisfaction with their
place in the Philippine Republic.
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Resurgent Is'am served to reaffirm their Moro selfhood and
sense of nationality vis-a-vis the Christian majority population,
making their subordinate status intolerable. The shift to
preference for a cash economy brought home to Moros that they
had less cash than they were second- class citizens economically
without a just share in the economic patrimony of even their
own homeland, let alone that of the nation.
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The third after-effect of the Japanese occupation on Moro
relations with the Philippine nation was the widespread
distribution of arms and ammunition. After the long and painful
process of disarming the Moros during the American and
Commonwealth regimes, World V. II provided the occasion for
their becoming armed again. It was difficult to persuade the
Moro guerrillas (and their relatives) to part with their arms after
the war and many simply refused to do so, while many others
conveniently "lost" their weapons.
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The result was that Moros in the postwar period had the
wherewithal to offer something more than mild protest against
the governmental policies, programs, and icials they disliked.
Source: Muslim Filipinos: Heritage and Horizon by Peter
Gordon Gowing; Quezon City. 1980
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