Chapter 5 – Luz Banzon Magsaysay

War time

By mid-1940, Adolf Hitler of Germany had already overran Europe. The Japanese, on the other side of the globe, joined the Axis powers in September 1940 and by April 1941, was ready to expand her empire further southward after signing a  neutrality pact with Soviet Russia. Democratic failure had led to the closing of the US market to Japan and the increase of economic support to China.

Then without warning, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. It was followed by similar attacks in the Philippines starting on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, 1941.

The advent of World War II stunned the Magsaysays who were still residing in San Antonio. They immediately assumed that Zambales would be an early enemy target because of the presence of an American naval base in nearby Olongapo City, and an American airfield at Iba. Clark airfield in Pampanga was also just minutes away by air across the Zambales mountains. At the same time, the 31st  Division of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) was  camped in San Marcelino, another  probable enemy target.

USAFFE division

The Army division in Zambales, also called the 31st Division, was under the command of American General Clifford Bluemel. It was organized in San Marcelino on November 18, 1941, barely a month before the war erupted. It was composed of the  32nd and the 33rd Infantry Regiments, together with their medical battalion, motor transport, service and division headquarters.

From the very start, the 31st Division was beset with tremendous problems typical of the newly-organized components of USAFFE. It was acutely short of personnel and organizational equipment. As more units joined the division, procurement of food became difficult because  Zambales could not provide the needed supplies. Some of the fresh trainees had never fired their .30-caliber Einfield rifles of World War I vintage; the field artillery units had received even less training and were still unfamiliar with their guns; the engineer and signal units were likewise ill-prepared.

On the day before the Japanese attack in Northern Luzon, Zambales Governor Francisco Anonas summoned all the municipal mayors to Iba for a conference while units of the Volunteer Guards organized to help the military and the Philippine Constabulary maintain peace among the civilian populace.

Towards noon of December 8, American fighter planes were ordered to cover Zambales, Clark Airfield, Bataan and Manila and meet an approaching enemy formation over the China Sea. From Iba, the  3rd  Pursuit Squadron took off to intecept the enemy. A short while  later, two formations of Japanese bombers and 34 Zerosattacked Clark Airfield in Pampanga with devastating effect against the feeble opposition.

As the 12 planes of the 3rd Pursuit Squadron circled to land in Iba, 54 Japanese naval bombers  supported by 50 Zeros attacked the capital town of Zambales. They scored heavily and ruined the miltary installations in the province. Ten of the 12 USAFFE planes were lost after the dogfight.

On the first day of  war, the USAFFE Air Force had been reduced by half. Japanese fleets also showed up from Subic Bay and attacked the Subic naval base and the city of Olongapo. By December 15, 1941, only a few remnants of the American Army and Naval power remained. A week later, orders from General Douglas MacArthur were sent to all USAFFEE troops in Luzon to withdraw to Bataan for a last stand.

Evacuation

Using all land transportation in Zambales, the 31st Division began executing MacArthur’s orders. Available TRY-TRAN trucks and buses in San Antonio were subsequently commandeered by the 31st Division, even as the Magsaysays were aready preparing to leave for Castillejos. Ramon himself was ordered by the military to remain at the bus terminal and service the USAFFE division and the Philippine Constabulary evacuating to Bataan. Other TRY-TRAN trucks were also used to evacuate early military casualties tothe provincial hospital in Iba.

Tensely, Luz and the three Magsaysay children packed up for evacuation to Castillejos where they expected to meet the rest of the Magsaysay clan. On the road, they saw people praying on bended knees as they awaited transportation while thinking the day of judgment was at hand. Luz  and the  children stayed in their parental farmhouse in Baring, Castillejos.

Ramon,meanwhile, continued to run the San Antonio branch terminal which was given by the military a new name: TRY-TRAN Cove. Ramon was put in charge. The few employees who remained with him were paid with TRY-TRAN money in his possession. Through the radio, Ramon was able to follow continuously the crescendo of the Japanese air attacks and advance landings all intended to cripple the defenses on the islands. He shuttled back and forth between his family in Baring and TRY-TRAN Cove until the anti-Japanese operation and troop placements in Bataan were completed. He was now free to join the clan in Castillejos. Before leaving, he burned the remaining gasoline supply and had the chassis of five brand new trucks buried inside the company compound. Afterwards, he proceeded to Castillejos to be with his family.

Bataan siege

While shifting hideouts in the interiors of Castillejos, Ramon kept abreast of the war through the “Voice of Freedom” radio that recently became operational in Corregidor. For weeks, fear and despair gripped the Magsaysays as they huddled in their cramped hut within hearing distance of exploding bombs and booming guns in Bataan and Olongapo. Fortunately for them, though, they had food more than enough for everyone, unlike thousands of their countrymen.

As Japanese patrols rolled over the Zambales road from their garrison in Olongapo, the Magsaysay would disperse from one evacuation site to the next. Primitive travel was extremely difficult, but the needed food always followed them. A crude message relay system kept them informed of enemy movements in the southern part of the province.

All this time, the Japanese siege in Bataan tormented Luz to no end. She was deeply worried about the safety of her own parents and siblings still in the province. Sometime in late December 1941, her father Jose Mameng, through a courier, had pressed the Magsaysay family to go to Bataan where he thought would be safe because of the Filipino and American troops already gathered there. After logically interpreting the tense situation in reverse, Luz and Ramon urged the Banzon family to come to Zambales instead.

Starting in mid-January, 1942, the Banzons of Bataan and the Magsaysays of Zambales would not hear from each other for a long time. It also never entered Luz’s mind that she would never see her father again, for he died later of lingering illness in Hagonoy, Bulacan, where the Banzon family and many residents of Bataan evacuated just as the fightings in the peninsula and Corregidor island raged on. She only learned of her father’ death a few months after Corregidor had fallen to the enemy on May 6, 1942).

Luz had earlier learned that their six-room family residence in Balanga was among the structures that burned down to the ground as the Japanese entered the capital town in late January 1942.

Guerrilla

Without the knowledge of Luz and other relatives in Castillejos, Ramon Magsaysay joined the nucleus of a guerrilla organization in the Zambales mountains while the battles were still going on in Bataan. As part of the on-going defense of the peninsula, General Douglas MacArthur had ordered USAFFE Lieutenant Colonel Claude A. Thorp, an Army officer left behind in Zambales, to organize all stragglers and newly-recruited guerrillas in the province to harrass the Japanese from the rear.

It was on March 25, 1942 when Magsaysay joined the guerrilla organization. Thorp recruited Magsaysay after learning that he had initially helped the 31st Division during the early evacuation of the USAFFE troops to Bataan. He was officially appointed as a guerrilla captain in May and assigned as G-1 and G-4 officer. He was assigned on the staff of Captain Ralph McGuire, another USAFFE officer. Magsaysay’s codenamewas “Pi,” but changed to “Chow” later on.

The accidental discovery of Ramon’s connection with the guerrilla movement naturally caused some alarm and difficultes with his wife Luz. She had known about it already before she confronted her husband, not that she would have objected to his decision. She had faith in his judgment. Also, Luz had already grown accostumed to Ramon’s mobility and she would not question his movements now.

At each departure of her husband, Luz would simply pray. Many times, her daughters Teresita and Milagros would join her in praying the rosary to mark Ramon’s leave-taking for undisclosed places and for indefinite periods.

Four months after Ramon signed up as a guerrilla, his brother Jesus followed suit, also on his own volition. This mitigated the fault-finding as to who might have pushed Ramon into, or failed to stop him from, joining the resistance.

Sensibilities had been hurt, and the frayed relations caused Ramon, Luz and their children to separate from the Magsaysay clan for a while.

Marked man

Ramon Magsaysay, in the  course of his involvement in the guerrilla organization, became one of the many guerrillas wanted by the Japanese after the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor on April 9 and May 6, 1942. respectively. An urgent assignment drove him to Manila. He stayed in their house on Arellano Street and lived there in anonymity. He continued working for Colonel Claude A. Thorp and Captain Ralph McGuire who gave him the mission to contact Mrs. Claude Thorp and Mrs. Ralph McGuire who were internees at the University of Santo Tomas camp. He also secured food and other supplies for them as well as the other interned Americans inside the old Dominican university.

Jesus Magsaysay, on the other hand, cooperated with some sector commanders in Zambales in obtaining food in Castillejos and San Marcelino, and in moving supplies and relaying intelligence reports to the Western Luzon Guerrilla Forces (WLGF) headquarters. Jesus and Sixto Cacho, a family friend and neighbor in Castillejos, also made occassional trips to Manila and  liaisoned with Ramon.

In August 1942, Ramon took his wife Luz and their three children to Manila and lived together in their old house on Arellano Street. To help them subsist, he leased their small diesel rice mill in Castillejos to his brothers Jesus and Jose who operated it for him. With Ramon’s share of the profits from the operation of the rice mill and the rice produced from the land assigned to him by his father Exequiel, Ramon and his family managed to lead a frugal life in the city.

But like virtual fugitives, the Magsaysays along with hundreds of families who sought relative peace and safety in the city had to change their residence every so often to avoid detection. One time, they lived with Ricardo Labrador, then with Luz’ sister Encarnacion (Mrs. Luis Serrano) who  told her in details the fate of her father, Jose Mameng, who succumbed to death while in Hagonoy, Bulacan.

For longer stretches, the Magsaysays also stayed in rented houses or apartments in Tennessee St. (Singalong), and in Dominga Street, in the southeastern district of the city. A stubborn provincal fiscal who rented the Magsaysay house on Arellano Street earlier would not budge despite Ramon’s repeated demands that he vacate the place.

In their rented home in Singalong, the only place where Luz would enjoy the illusion of security, she took care of her family, praying fervently for their lives to be spared and for the war to end. Unable to pay for the services of a maid, she had to do all the cooking, sewing, cleaning and laundering. She also walked the streets of the city for her marketing chores.

There was little money for shopping so Luz spent most of her time in her haven with Ramon Jr., her constant companion in the house. Within a year, Teresita and Milagros went to grade school at the nearby St. Scholastica College.

The Magsaysays were able to survive decently in the city. But they longed for the life they had in Castillejos for they knew that their relatives could get all the food they needed from the farm. With no means of livelihood, Ramon and Luz were distressed whenever their supplies ran low. The insecurity of living in Manila was really bad enough without the threat of being unable to fill the family’s basic needs.

Guerrilla stint

RamonMagsaysay continued to meet his guerrilla contacts in Manila, usually inside the comfort room of the El Bazaar Siglo XX located near the TRY-TRAN office in Azcarraga. Here, they talked,compared notes and had supplies loaded on the freight truck for Zambales. To avoid suspicion, goods have to be taken in two or three trips to the station. The whole operation had to be done by Magsaysay alone. The truck driver already knew what to do with the “special cargo” upon arrival in Zambales.

In one of Magsaysay’s trip to the Yangco Estate building, he was telling his friends the latest war news over cups of adulterated coffee when a group of Japanese, all in civilian clothes, arrived. Reading from a list, the lead Japanese asked Magsaysay’s group about certain persons on the list. The Japanese said they were merely interested in doing business with the listed persons,

Seeing his name on top of the list, Magsaysay quickly denied knowledge about the listed persons. The Japanese agreed and went away. Two days later, two of the persons on the list were arrested and taken to the Airport Studio where they were interrogated and tortured.

One day, Jesus arrived in Manila and told Ramon that Captain Ralph McGuire was  killed in an ambush near his command post in Villar town. One of the Filipino spies who participated in the ambush cut off McGuire’s head and took it to Iba and exhibited the “prize” from town to town to terrorize the people.

The Japanese, according to Jesus, also stepped up their drive for the arrest or surrender of all known guerrilas in Zambales. Captain McGuire’s death, meanwhile, removed the only visible purpose of the sacrifice which living in Manila meant to Magsaysay and his family. For awhile, it seemed that the only reason left for staying in the city was the dubious security from the Japanese who were hounding him and the other guerrillas in Zambales.

In no time, Ramon met his new chief, Colonel Gyles Merrill, also of the Western Luzon Guerrilla Forces, who visited him in Manila. He was relieved to find that his new boss was a  worthy successor of the late Captain McGuire.

Toughest period

The second year (1943) of the Magsaysays in Manila was spent on Dominga Street. It was their toughest period of the war because of the on-going runaway inflation and the pent-up frustrations of the Japanese.

Ramon had long been worried about being jobless but he did not want to be employed anywhere, not even at the TRY-TRAN, because of his new mission– smuggling of supplies and sending intelligence reports to Colonel Gyles Merrill, who was stationed in Zambales.

During his stay in Manila with Luz and the children,  Don Pepito Corpuz gave him a  fifty-peso-per-month job at TRY-TRAN practically for doing nothing. His conscience, however, bothered him and he promtply gave it up. Their plight became pathetic as troubles held up their supply line from the province. They were forced to sell their better clothes and their household belongings piece by piece. Ramon also had to do odd jobs just to survive.

In June 1943, Don Jose “Pepito” Corpuz was arrested at the TRY-TRAN bus terminal by the Japanese and was sent to Fort Santiago. Japanese espionage and intelligence had  led to the arrest of Corpuz for his alleged subversive acts. Ramon was visibly worried but still decided to carry on the fight rather than surrender. He then turned over the guerrilla roster in his custody to an uncle for safekeeping.

In 1944, despite inauguration of a new republic, the Japanese became brutally desperate. In the morning of January 28, Japanese MPs surrounded the Cosmopolitan Church  where the Magsaysays were hearing Mass. Ramon narrowly cheated death by escaping from the soldiers. A big number of men found inside the church were arrested.

MacArthur returns                      

American General Douglas MacArthur kept his promise to return to the Philippines. On October 20, 1944, one of the greatest American armadas in history steamed into Leyte Gulf. In arcs of fire through the early dawn, the big guns of the United States fleet fired at the Japanese gathered in the province. They started by pulverizing every beach on the eastcoast of Leyte, fromTacloban to Hinundayan town to the south.

Then the American Armada, consisting of 800 warships — escort carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, fire support ships, tankers, troop transports and landing crafts initiated the largest beach landing in the history of warfare in the world.  Some 174,000 American soldiers participated in the said landings.

To take Leyte, American and Allied forces mounted the largest amphibious operation to date in the Pacific. General Douglas MacArthur was the supreme commander of sea, air, and land forces drawn from both the Southwest Pacific and Central Pacific theaters of operation.

General MacArthur, together with Phlipppine President Sergio Osmeña, General Carlos P. Romulo and other American military officers waded ashore at Red Beach (the 24^th Division’s beachhead) in the town of Palo on the same day.

The invasion of Leyte took longer than expected. General MacArthur was most surprised to learn that about 80,000 dead Japanese had already been accounted for during the entire two months of battles in Leyte province alone. The reports reaching his attention said about 60,000 of the total Japanese fatality tally came from Ormoc town alone.

On December 11, 1944, he told President Sergio Osmeña, still based in Tacloban, of the successful outcome of the Leyte invasion. Immeditely, the assault of Luzon started.

As early November 1944, however, the Magsaysays had already left Manila and returned to Zambales. It was a perilous journey but the family arrived safe and sound.

Jose P. Laurel’sinauguration and declaration of the new Philipine Republic, 1943, the biggest Japanese propaganda in Manila for the whole world to see.

General Douglas MacArthur, right, wades ashore at Red Beach, Palo, Leyte, together with the leaders of the American Liberation forces. Just behind the American general is General Carlos P. Romulo.