What is a Citizen Soldier?

[Filomeno Akinas]

A citizen soldier means the citizen is a soldier and, visa versa, the soldier is a citizen.  A citizen soldier is contrasted with the mercenary who fights for pay or a professional soldier whose whole life is in the military service.  The citizen soldier has a civilian pursuit.  He serves on rotation in the armed forces to maintain his fitness for instant service.  He may be serving on weekends and annually serve in mobilization exercises for a few weeks.  He maintains his military qualifications based on specialization and grade.  

Doing his military service is part of the price he must pay for the freedom he enjoys.  He is civilian who is a soldier part of the time, or, in Israel, a soldier who is a civilian part of the time.

The original Roman state was a republic.  Citizens, distinct from slaves, had rights and had a say in the affairs of the state.  Their army was composed of citizens.

The republic was transformed to a dictatorship when the consul, later caesar, in power manipulated things such that the council (senate, etc) became a stamp pad.  Later the Praetorian Guards, handpicked to protect the emperor, put the next caesar in power by coup d'etat.  Then Rome became an empire and the emperor was worshipped as a god to enforce unity.

So we now contrast the Praetorian Guards who see only their own interest, pecuniary and the almost absolute power that goes with that, vs the citizen soldiery whose interest is the preservation of a state which protects his freedoms (especially of conscience, to do good).  The Citizen Army is a guarantee of freedom such that, for example the United States Constitution guarantees the right of citizens to bear arms.  

Napoleon Bonaparte was supported by a massive citizen army.  That was how France faced the whole of Europe alone.  He lost his best troops by falling into the temptation to invade Russia.  Out of 500,000 troops who marched with him towards Moscow, only 5,000 returned with him.  Because of the universal participation of the French people with his wars, until now he is revered in France.  

For this purpose, he devised tactics and techniques suitable to the ways of the civilian, such as the quick step and the deep columns.  Civilians walked with quicker cadence than the slow step used up to that time to maintain formations in the open battle terrain.  The deep columns allowed the Bonapartist army to penetrate the enemy formation because the French column had greater mass.  Bonaparte had a deeper bench and took advantage of the wider range of talents available from the entire manpower pool.  There was also the advantage of the transfer learning from civilian life to the military application so that the soldiers were better at improvisation.  Also, the querying mind of the civilian challenged the leaders to work on the motivation of their troops.  So they persisted when the military logic said that the odds were against them.

That shows the value of preserving your human resources.  The best leaders did not sacrifice their troops in combat for useless ends.

A citizen soldier does not want war.  He wants to get it over with to get back to enjoying his citizenship.  The citizen is the most privileged in a republic.  The elected leaders are his servants.  Let me qualify that a republic is strongest when it allows everyone to do God's will, to follow his formed conscience.

Sam Houston used the delaying action at Alamo to form a citizen army of 2,000 men.  Even after the fall of Alamo to the 15,000 professional army of General Sta Ana, he continued to evade in order to train and bind together his small army.  Then after a few months (about 3-4 months after Alamo's fall), he met Sta Ana and killed 1,500 men.  Sta Ana fell back severely hurt to Mexico and never came back to threaten Texas again.

When Texas became an independent state from Mexico, the first president was Sam Houston.  He concentrated in building up administration and left the government with a large treasury.

The next president was an adventurist and launched military expeditions.  Texas met a lot of military reverses.  When Sam Houston was elected once more to the presidency, again he restored amicable relationship with his neighbors and bolstered the effectiveness of government.  After him, there was no longer any doubt that Texas as an autonomous state was a reality.  He used his skills to preserve peace, from a position of strength – of character, reputation, wisdom.

Gen Dwight Eisenhower served as president for eight years and at that time, the United States preserved its strength.  As Clauswitz stated, military action is only a continuation of political ends.  The strength of an armed forces is best preserved and most credible as a deterrent to aggression when it is not used to aggress.  It's no longer mighty when it aggresses because it invites a reaction equal to it.  The peace must be won immediately by creating good will.

We have seen the downfall of mighty empires when military power is glorified and morality based on natural law is belittled.  Examples are replete.  Sparta collapsed when the slaves ran away and formed their own state.  They warred with Sparta using the methods learned from the Spartans.  Athens survived longer than Sparta because public morals were preserved longer.  When might is considered right, then that is the beginning of the end.

Arrogance could be seen in the Egyptian Pharaoh vis-a-vis Moses and the Israelites.  Ramses IV was the most powerful and richest pharaoh ever in Egyptian history.

It was the arrogance of Pharaoh that caused the total destruction of Egypt - the loss of crops, the death of all first borns, the complete loss of his best troops.  At that time, the most advanced military technology was the chariot. He lost all his chariots and, I suppose, his best officers soldiers as well, drowned at the Red Sea.  Victory was so near.  The fleeing Israelites were helpless but he forgot that Yahweh was on the other side.  His pride could not accept another entity greater than himself.

If you look at the example of Switzerland, it was hemmed in by Germany, France, Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy.  Its current territory was part of different states as power shifted in the region.  

We remember William Tell, the hero of the Swiss to gain independence.  The core of the present state were the three mountain cantons in the Swiss Alps.  The citizens there lived a simple life planting their own food.  So, they could feed themselves.  They valued their freedom and when they prepared themselves intensively by training their children and by having a system of mobilization and support, the three cantons strengthened its own identity.  Then the neighboring cantons sought to be supported.  By degrees, they became very strong.

They had one problem though.  They needed to maintain their economy.  What they had was military skill.  So they were hired out as mercenaries for the neighboring states.  (Reminds me of the Filipino OCW’s – nurses, seaman, caregivers, domestic helpers.) This caused big problems because Swiss citizens were serving as the elite guards of the heads of the states at war with each other.  So it came to pass that three times, Switzerland was on the brink of civil war because of conflicting loyalties in the quarrels of Europe.  They massed their citizen soldiers to settle in the way they knew how. Fortunately, wise elder men came together at the field of battle and discussed and came out with written agreements that they committed themselves to.  This body of three agreements became the written constitution of Switzerland.  One decision was to refuse thereafter to serve as mercenary soldiers of any state except the Vatican.  Today, we are familiar with the strict neutrality of Switzerland that preserved it from the wars as early as the 18th century.

Now, every Swiss citizen of military age has his military equipment at home.  Each one has a mountain bike with which at a moment's notice, he can cycle to his military station.  Whereas the basketball court is common in the Philippines, the firing range is within a short walk away throughout Switzerland.  Everyone is a sharpshooter.

Their military defense is not dependent on oil or electricity.  They are prepared to go to rifle defense and hand-to-hand combat.  Any invader who intends to succeed will have to satisfy himself with only the land without any citizen alive because the Swiss prefer death to submission to a foreign tyrant.  

In WWII, Germany respected the neutrality of Switzerland and many refugees crossed over to Switzerland.  Once across, the pursuing German soldiers did not fire even to the other side because the Swiss on their part were ready to return fire.  That also explains that usually it is the Swiss who enforce inspections for the codes and rules of land warfare and that of the Red Cross among states at war. Switzerland has become the safest sanctuary for gold and other valuables, by reason of its citizen soldiers’ strong commitment to a free country and a readiness to serve in war and peace.

[Filomeno Akinas]

The Americans gathered by word of mouth to repel the British regular infantry troops that were landed soon after the Boston Tea Party.  At the Battle of Bunker Hill, they killed 700 red coats to a loss of maybe 30 of them.  They used the tactics they were familiar with to put meat on the table through hunting and to cope with Indian attacks, i.e. hit and run.  They did the unmanly thing of staying at prone position while the British officers stayed on horseback and the British soldier marched ramrod straight.  They attire blended with the natural environment, the better as not to alarm the deer while the British prided themselves in disdaining bullets.

It so happened that the American colonials used long bore rifles like the Kentucky rifles that had long ranges from 100 meters and up and had large calibers, almost .50 inch.  With this they could even knock out buffalos.  The British relied on massed volley and maintaining formations by quickly replacing the ranks of fallen soldiers and maintaining the volume of fire.  It normally took 3 minutes to load and fire.  The American loaded in prone position.  If he were in a prepared position, he had several long rifles.  When cornered, he had the knife and the tomohawk.  The British attached bayonets at the end of their rifles and attacked in mass formations.  

So even if the British took a heavy beating from a distance, by closing in fast, they could compensate by defeat in detail for an adversary that refused to give ground.  However, the colonials had so much land to give except that the British could burn down their homes and they could go freely anywhere.  The colonials could not hold ground.

Soon, more and more British troops and mercenaries were being landed to restore the honor of the Crown.  The names of the conspirators against the Crown were posted with invitation to accept the friendship of the Crown with commensurate rewards or to be declared as enemies with death penalty assured.

The "conspirators" met at Philadelphia.  They had the option to surrender and forget their complaints against the crown which included among others the de facto revocation of the charters they obtained when they founded the colonies in the Americas.  They considered themselves loyal subjects of the king and they could not understand that the Crown has refused to protect them but instead has judged them without any representation on their part.  "Redress of Grievances" they demanded but instead Hessians (German mercenary troops) made game out of killing them.  

Patrick Henry gave his speech - "Give me liberty or give me death." There was no choice.  The 13 states had to hang together or be hanged separately.  Col George Washington stayed mum the whole time during the proceedings and dreaded the moment when everyone turned to him to offer him the position of Commander in chief of the Continental Army.  The army was non-existent.  There was no money for it.  There was no organization.  Except that small bands of men were already preparing to defend their villages and individual homes.

Col Washington's experience was as chief of the scouts of the British Army in the war with France for the possession of Canada.  He always looked up to the British as his superiors.  He worried that he did not know how to weld together a force that could stand up to the best infantry of Europe.

So he initially relied on regular officers who joined him.  That dependence was rudely brought to an end with Major General Gates ran away from the field of battle.  Desperately he dashed forward to stop the rout and steady the men to withdraw in an orderly manner.  Thus, he saved his army from complete destruction.

Thereafter, by forced marches, he kept the British guessing as to his location.  He was called the Fox.  Nobody knew his intentions.  As he weaved in and out and appeared at odd places, the colonials were cheered on that there was a force that was their own that was being maintained in the field.

Then came the low point, when the colonials were nearly exhausted and second thoughts lurked about.  A harsh winter came.  Many of the citizen soldiers returned to their homes to harvest the crop and secure their families. There was uncertainty as to the steadiness of the aspiration of the colonials for independence.  Supplies were not forthcoming.  There was uncertainty on the reinforcements of more British troops from England.

At Valley Forge, Washington had 4,000 men left.  He was not certain if at spring any of the soldier who have gone home would ever return to him.  Most of the soldiers had no shoes.  They just made strips of linen and tied these around their feet.  Their uniforms looked more like rags.  They were only identifiable to each other by the familiarity of the soldiers among themselves in nights and days of marching, foraging and evasion.  

The benefit of a harsh winter was that the British army also did not want to operate and they hunkered down fattened with supplies.  They did not expect the continental army to survive that winter living in tents under deep snow while they were staying in sturdy houses commandeered from the colonials.

Washington had a chance to take stock of his situation and form a doctrine which he shaped with his core officers.  A Prussian soldier, Von Steuben, asked for two soldiers per company for him to train in the techniques of the Prussians.  So he drilled them.  After a month, they could shoot off a volley every minute instead of every 3 minutes.  They could march in close formation and change formation smoothly under severe pressure because they were closely drilled.  Then the soldiers trained the companies to which they belonged.

When the snow thawed, Washington was ready.  He hit the British at a town where their stores were (Trenton?).  He got crates of rifles, powder and shot, uniforms, bayonets, food, military accessories and even cannons and made off with them before the British headquarters realized the full significance of that attack.  They dyed the red coats to blue and for the first time, the Continental Army looked seemly in uniform.  

At another battle, the army crossed Delaware River in boats to capture an island which maintained a blockade across the river with big iron chain.  It was bayonet work throughout.  The officers made sure that none of the rifles were loaded to ensure secrecy - no accidental firing.  The pickets fired uncertainly but obviously they did not know the direction of the attack.  The colonials attacked with bayonets and the other British units did not know the extent of the attack until the colonials were upon them too.  It was a complete victory for the Continental Army.

Then, the British army was shortening its lines.  They were turning shaky.  This was no longer a ragtag army.  This was a disciplined, experienced army with good officers and disciplined trained soldiery.  

This time Washington drove back the British formations in set battles.  Now he had artillery too.  Volunteer soldiers from all over Europe trained the colonials in every specialization.

When the French expeditionary force arrived with 30,000 French troops sent by the French King, Lord Cornwallis could no longer be resupplied by the British Navy.  His force was confined at Yorktown and was besieged by cannon.  The Continental Army moved closer to their positions by putting up ramparts.  The military engineers put up artificial hills and mounted cannons on top of them to be able to reach any part of the Yorktown encampment.

The end was near.  Lord Cornwallis ordered the white flag to go up the pole.  He just wanted to save his soldiers from starvation and certain death.

After the revolutionary war, the Continental Army disbanded.  One reason was the so-called United States had no organized government and refused taxation because of their bad experience with the Crown.  However, that would be another story.
(To be continued)

[Filomeno Akinas]

Now, let us turn the situation of the Jews in the aftermath of German occupation of Poland, Austria, France, Benelux countries, Scandinavian countries.  By stages, the Nazis marginalized the Jews.  They required Jews to wear a star of David patch prominently on their clothes. Then the Nazis confined them to ghettos.  Then they instructed the Jews in the ghettos to prepare for relocation.  And Jews were trucked to railway stations and packed in cattle cars to the concentration camps.

The challenge to the Nazis was how to efficiently get rid of them (along with the Gypsies and many Slavic people like Poles and Russians) without any sense of alarm on their part.  So the Holocaust picked up speed.

At Warsaw, there was a ghetto with 50,000 Jews.  Rumors flew that the Jews were being exterminated but no one had any certainty of it.  It was too astounding to believe that such would happen.  When a few miraculously escaped from the concentration camps and told their stories, it caught the attention of a young couple who just dreamt of a long married life together.  The 25 year old young man (the name now escapes me) was a poet.  Later he said that if he knew that these things would happen, he should have prepared for it with all energy instead of writing poems.  

Young Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto huddled without the knowledge of their elders to consider their options.  Someone came up with the idea of "molotov" cocktails.  They needed guns too and most especially bullets.  The German troops had so far not encountered any resistance from the Jews.  They were typically meek and obeyed to avoid trouble with the authorities.  So, a handful of brave souls picked of handguns and bullets from drunken German soldiers.

Then the dreaded announcement came. Everyone should pack one suitcase each and make ready for transfer to another place.  These few hundred young Jewish men and women went into action. A convoy of German soldiers nonchalantly motored into a designated killing zone and the young fighters ambushed them.  They grabbed the equipment of the fallen soldiers.  The Germans panicked and sent troops piece meal without any plan and these also fell in ambuscades.  By the time, the German high command realized that things were bad for them, the young people of the Warsaw Rising have accumulated guns and equipment and gained confidence in facing off the Germans.  They saw them run in fear.

This time, two Panzer divisions and half an infantry division were dispatched to Warsaw to reduce the ghetto by pulling them taken out of the Russian front. Block by block, the Germans blew up the buildings and burned the tunnels. After 3 and a half months of fighting, the ghetto was reduced and only 200 survivors were able to escape out of 50,000.  

The young leader got the help of the king of the thieves who ruled the labyrinthine underground sewage system of Warsaw.  The headquarters was set up at the "palace" of the Thief King.  The 200 escaped through the tunnels leading out of Warsaw.  From there, 90 made their way to Palestine to become the core of the Haganah, the precursor of the Israel Defense Force (IDF).  

David Ben Gurion nurtured the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).  In addition to the territorial forces composed of various small bands like the Stern Gang (Menachem Begin) and Irgun Levi, he formed a mobile force that was ready to defend the entire territory and rise above parochiality, the Palmach.  Virtually, all the subsequent generals and general staff rose from the Palmach.  

The military doctrine leading from Haganah (under the United Nations Mandate over Palestine) to the IDF as it arose at the declaration of independence in May 1949 was forged amidst the clash between the veterans of the Jewish Brigade (that served during World War I against the Ottomans) and those born of spontaneous guerrilla warfare.  The Jewish Brigade believed in conventional warfare, openly bearing arms and wearing uniforms with distinct ranking system.  They belittled the guerrillas who came in different forms and sizes that they were almost nondescript, ideal for losing themselves among the populace.  The guerrillas instinctively refused to be openly identified.  The Jewish Brigade veterans considered that as cowardice.  However, the guerrillas had much combat experience in reconnaissance and small unit actions.  Many of them were survivors of unplanned clashes where they saw their childhood friends, neighbors, classmates, and relatives killed.  They have learned the weaknesses of regular soldiers who move by the number and distinctly predictable.  The one big disadvantage of the irregulars (guerrillas) was the need for a way to unite their actions to a grand strategy and make the transition to conventional war to finally consolidate territory.  

David Ben Gurion saw that any successful army must be able to have effective command and staff system, to see the strategy as well as the tactics, the large picture and the small actions.  The system must be capable of engaging in massive operations (in terms of range, simultaneity, sophistication and integration of various arms and services) without exhaustion. This army system must obey the political authority which has the main responsibility of developing grand strategy and dictate the political objectives.  There was also the choice of the experiences of the Germans (Prussian), the British and the Americans.  He tried various military consultants but none of them could meld the disparate factions and opinions and blend, at the same time, with Jews of various origins.  Can the doctrine stand the test of battle?  Will it match with the temper and bent of those who will put it into practice?  Will it respect the natural rights of the citizens and value the democratic procedures of the state?  action of Gurion was to look for someone to train his officers to operate with command and staff system, sufficient to engage in massive operations with continuity.  After much searching, his core group came to the ideal candidate upon whose acceptance everything hang as on a hinge.  

Gurion’s emissaries approached the recently retired US Army Colonel David “Mickey” Marcus.  Mickey studied at West Point with the Talmud and the service regulation code always at his study table. Upon graduating from the military academy, he studied law and joined the staff of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, the new mayor of New York City.  La Guardia was bent on cleaning up the corruption in Tammany Hall.  Not only did Mickey gather evidences, he personally arrested the big bosses by pinning them down with Judo holds.  (He was boxing champion in West Point and had always been a combat Judo practitioner.)

When the war clouds looming, he volunteered for military service and was part of the Louisiana maneuvers of 1941 which presaged the mass-training of millions of troops later.  He trained rangers destined for Europe and the Pacific.  Then general picked for the new special staff Military Government handpicked him for his second-in-command as SHAPE forces were about to land on Continental Europe.  
Mickey was recommended three times for star rank but the Table of Distribution and Allowances (TDA) did not provide for a rank of Brigadier General for his position in the new staff function of Military Government.

Being a fast study, as D-Day for Normandy invasion approached, he cleared his desk of military projects and arranged to jump with the pathfinder airborne troops who paved the way for the main body of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions without having any preparatory parachute training.  Upon hitting the ground, he led dispersed troops in small unit actions eliminating enemy positions in the broken up terrain of Normandy until search parties found him with orders to bring him back to headquarters intact.  He was too valuable to lose in combat.  He was almost irreplaceable because his genius integrated political, social and spiritual considerations to the military exigencies.

With a feeling of destiny, he accepted the mission to Palestine. He consulted his wife who quickly assented knowing that to tie down his husband would be a sentence of death.  Mickey had always dreamt of helping bringing about the revival of the Kingdom of Israel.  

Gurion introduced him to his key people ranging from tough 60 year old Warsaw veterans who insisted in showing the young people how to do it in the field to young 20 year olds who eventually became the generals of the IDF.  That included Moshe Dayan, Yitzak Rabin, Yigal Allon, Yigal Yadin - about 200 brilliant young men of heroic mold like new Gideons.  These young and old veterans were skeptical.

But upon reaching Palestine, he insisted on his first night to go on patrol with them.  He surprised them that despite his senior age (40's) he stepped lightly not making any sound that would have given the patrol away.  They usually convinced foreign military advisers to stay at headquarters but his smile already told them that staying behind was out of the question.  

In this manner, in a short time, he knew the qualities of every jewel whose development Ben Gurion reserved for his personal direction.  Then he pushed them to work with a system that ensured continuous action without exhausting his people.

He called the operations headquarters as an surgical operating theatre where the commander was under the knife having to do everything himself short of washing the dishes and sweeping the floor.  He taught them small unit tactics, leadership, use of combined arms. He innovated by using the jeeps as a substitute for cavalry having Cal .50 machineguns mounted on them. He had heavy trucks plated with double wall of wooden planks with gravel filled between them.  This was the armor to counter the armor of the Egyptian army and the professionally trained and armed Arab Legion under British General Glub Pasha.  
He considered how to defeat the Taggart Fort which dotted Palestine.  These were turned over to the Arab Legion upon the departure of the British forces at the end of the Mandate.  

He wrote continuously the new field manuals of IDF.  When his right hand was swollen, he shifted to his left hand.  A group of typists transcribed his writings to readable form for immediate reproduction and dissemination to the various units and headquarters.  

As the date of the end of the mandate approached, Ben Gurion offered to him the overall command of the Israeli forces to be able to direct all the fronts - Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian.  He became the first Jewish general (Aluf) since the Maccabees.

One of the challenges was to integrate the new arrivals from all over the world.  The Jewish manpower was so small compared to the threat.  Out of refugees from the concentration camps, the Seventh (Avati) Brigade was formed.  It was the language barrier that turned out to be fatal for him later.

To reinforce the static defense of communities, teachers in charge drilled the school children in marksmanship and simple tactics.  Children from 10 years old and up manned the foxholes and fired as directed by their home room teachers at the designated killing zones. Men and the older boys were assigned with antitank weapons to neutralize the tanks with the last resort of molotov cocktails and tank traps at their positions.  


The “soldiers” rehearsed defense drills with broomsticks and then dummy rifles.  They practiced bayonet fighting all with simulation of fixing bayonets and with dummy targets.  The few available weapons were moved at night around the settlements so they could learn to handle the real thing.  Still was no ammunition yet for target practice.

As small shipments of rifles and ammunition trickled in, Ben Gurion directed that ammunition be allocated as follows. Let us say for 60 rounds per rifle - 40 rounds for target practice and 20 rounds for the actual.  It was important that every round count. In the first few days of receiving rifles and ammo, they went on live target practice, quick corrective training and then deployed for combat or to gain combat experience. (Units were rotated in the “front” to experience being under fire and especially night patrols - reconnaissance and raids.)

At the eve of the end of the United Nations mandate, arms were brought in by C-47's and ships landed with heavy equipment like tanks, Bofors 20 mm cannons, light artillery and crates of new rifles and lots of grenades and ammunitions.  These had to be degreased and grouped and rushed to the fronts.  

The Israelis made the Davidka mortar which at first created more noise than damage.  The piper cub planes dropped bottles with whistles to simulate the Stuka dive bombers of the Germans and scare the other side.  

At midnight at the eve of the end of the Mandate in May 1949, the Egyptian Air Force bombed Tel Aviv. At dawn, seven Arab armies crossed the borders and Arab irregulars went into action.  

Moshe Dayan led the jeep cavalry force and the heavy truck "armor" and defeated the Egyptian armor.  By maneuvers, they fired the 20-mm Bofor guns point blank at the backs of the tanks where the armor was thinnest.  They sent columns which intentionally caused the sand to swirl high in the sky to depict heavy armor columns on the attack.  

The toughest nut to crack was Arab Legion of Jordan.  British Major Gen Glub formed and led it assisted by British officers.  It had lots of armor and artillery.  It had sophisticated communications.  They occupied the Taggart Fort. Their deployment was excellent by any military reckoning and they commanded the most dangerous avenue of approach that can cut Israel in half by attacking Israel at its narrowest part.  Needless to say, the other Arab armied operated with the Arab Legion like that of Saudi Arabia and many irregulars.

The key now was to stabilize the Syrian and Egyptian fronts and then focus everything that could spared thereafter to the Jordanian front where the life-and-death issue was immediate.

In less than two weeks, half of Jerusalem was captured and that boosted the morale of the Israeli forces.  Many Taggart forts were captured.  However, the key Taggart forts the capture of which would have made the front line positions of the Arab Legion untenable were held to the end.  The tragedy was that a battalion assigned the make the coup de grace in an expansive coordinated attack refused to move and made excuses. Everyone knew each other in the battalion and felt every death as a personal loss.  The commander lost sight that great sacrifices were made to enable him to capture the heart of enemy objective.  He saw only that he needed to apologize to the parents for every casualty his unit suffered.  

Most of the objectives were captured before the ceasefire called by the United Nations six weeks from the start of hostilities and David Marcus, ever a poet, went for a walk having informed the guard on duty.  The next guard was fresh from the concentration camp and newly inducted into the Seventh Brigade.  When he saw Marcus wave at him as he returned to Jewish line, he saw a potential enemy and fired one shot which found his heart.  He was the last Jewish casualty in the War for Independence.

Thanks too to Orde Wingate who taught the young fighters back in the 1930's.  This bible reading British officer felt called by destiny to help the Jews.  He was not known to sleep.  His rest was reading the Bible by the fire.  In World War II, he organized and led the Chindits in Burma.

Ben Gurion fought for the integrity of the IDF, considering it the soul of the new State of Israel.  The IDF was the melting pot of the Jews coming from all over the world and it was where Israel was being forged by the Sabra.  He/she is the Jew born and/or growing up in Israel as distinguished from their parents born and nurtured of the Diaspora.  So when he was no longer in government, he condemned the Laval affair where the Prime Minister ordered an illegal operation and then covered up the stench by blaming some officers (something like Iran-Contra Scandal).  He emphasized that any form of dishonesty on the part of the leaders will destroy the effectiveness of the IDF which is founded on a strong moral foundation.

To the very end, David Ben Gurion, the George Washington of Israel, prayed and pleaded for the preservation of the spirit of the IDF and fought against its use for personal glory or for wars of revenge.  Ben Gurion sought the friendship of the neighboring Arab countries as contrasted with the vindictive spirit of Ariel "Arik" Sharon who desires the complete subjugation of the neighboring Arabs.  It was in Gurion's spirit that Yitzhak Rabin preached non-violence to bring about peace and was assassinated by an Israeli right extremist who desired revenge on the Arabs.

Every Israeli soldier is basically an infantry man and inured to forced long marches in the desert.  He was taught combat innovation.  He went to combat within a unit of people he grew up with from childhood in a settlement so that they fought fiercely.  

Volunteers served in armor, paratroops, commandos, air force pilots. Everyone underwent military training.  Those qualified were ordered to take officer training but they chose whether to be commissioned or not. Since it is assumed that there may be high attrition in combat, there was much cross training.  As it turned out most of the casualties in armor were the tank commanders who poked their heads out of the commander cupola to better assess the situation.  The casualties in all units were mostly the officers who led by example.  At the Raid at Entebbe Airport for example, the sole casualty of the ground raiding party was its leader, Jonathan “Yoni” Netanyahu, whose younger brother, Benjamin Netanyahu, was elected Prime Minister of Israel.  

Let me add that in the consideration for the Philippine Home Defense Program, our program was better than the Israeli system.  Our prototype was MCMTC then with the Rainbow Rangers as the Palmach.

[Filomeno Akinas]

THE KATIPUNAN   

One may ask why for a Filipino, the mention of Katipunan still brings out goose bumps even know.  This is more true when you go out to the provinces especially the remote areas.  The farther you go out from Manila, the greater the reaction.
One out of 4 men at that time of the revolution signed up for the Katipunan.  When the number reached 200,000 (out of a population of 6,000,000), the instructions to the councils was just to swear them in.

If you remember, the swearing in was concluded with a pledge signed in one's own blood.  Some of these documents were virtual letters.  Our forefathers were prolific letter writers.  

Have any of you seen the Philippine Insurgent Records (PIR).  Immediately after the Fil-American War, all the documents captured from the Philippine Army were put in crates and immediately shipped out from the so-called Philippine Islands so that the Filipinos would forget of that great struggle.  

Then the Americans brought in teachers by the ship USS Thomas to institute Public Education to remove our memory as a people.  That was always a mystery to me at that time that our grandfathers were anti-American while our parents were pro-American.  I learned about the Philippine Revolution and the Fil-American War from the old people starting at 2 years old when I still did not know how to read because nobody wanted to teach me.  They did not suppose that I was teachable at that age.  

The old people wept freely telling me, "Don't forget us."  I realized later that they fought the Americans in that war.  

Just as an example of the extent of the revolution, at Pateros, 2,000 men attacked from two or three barrios.  They were swinging their bolos in the air at dawn and wore red pants.  The Spanish officer at the Church steeple was awed by the flashing glints of steel.  There were only six of them defending the Church.

As they shot the "rebels" dead, they could not help admire their willingness to die. Some captured Indios looked at them even with disdain despite the certain death by firing squad.  At the point of dying, they smiled.  This Spanish officer decided to surrender to the Gen Francisco Makabulos and his company of Indios joined him and they became a unit of the Philippine Army.

At this point, let us make a distinction between the Katipunan and the Philippine Army of Emilio Aguinaldo.  

The Katipunan was universal, all the way to Muslim Mindanao.  Andres Bonifacio, as generalissimo, made a grand strategy to end the revolution swiftly.  He appointed four major generals, one of them Aguinaldo to take charge of the Cavite forces.  Upon the signal of general uprising, all the sectors had their instructions.  These plans had been rehearsed among the major commanders.
This was the plan. The three sectors headed by major generals would launch general attacks to pin down all the Spanish troops in their sectors.  Then Andres Bonifacio would attack the polvorin at San Juan which also controlled the water reservoir that fed Intramuros.  The polvorin had the armory and gun powder.  That would cause the authorities at Intramuros to send all the troops in Intramuros to save it.  The loss of the polvorin would mean that they lose thousands of rifles, powder and shot and that there would be no more fresh water supply to Intramuros.
Then Aguinaldo would march to Intramuros bereft of troops except for hastily-armed Spanish civilians.  That would have ended the Spanish rule in two weeks time.
The Katipunan was discovered when a disgruntled printing press foreman revealed to the Spanish owner about the plot.  He in turn informed the Spanish authorities.  They opened the cabinets on a working holiday and found the artifacts for the blood oath and a master list of members and supporters.  There followed the massive arrests of prominent citizens.  The Katipunan members ran to the assembly areas from the house of Apolonio Samson at Kangkong, to Balintawak, to Pugad Lawin and to the big estate of Melchora Aquino (aka Tandang Sora) at Culiat.  These were planned series of assembly areas.  They tore their cedulas to signify that they are breaking their allegiance to the Spanish Crown.

At Balintawak, a Spanish patrol detected unusual movements and reported an insurrection afoot but the military headquarters took the report lightly.  After 48 hours of continuous assembly and marching, about a thousand of them had their first hot meal at Tandang Sora's estate.  

Let me add this.  There was an ongoing typhoon at that time.

Meanwhile, bolos and bamboo spears with fire-hardened points, bamboo bows and arrows were delivered there to arm all of them.

Bonifacio gave the signal for the general uprising.  This was relayed by telegraph and by runners.  

He had one problem.  They did not have enough firearms.  The planned attack on the polvorin was delayed by 5 hours because of the typhoon and not enough firearms.  The attack scheduled for 11 pm to 12 midnight finally transpired at 4:00 am.

As expected, the remaining troops of Intramuros were sent out to reinforce the polvorin.  There were no more troops in Intramuros.  The Spanish authorities were in such great alarm.

Aguinaldo kept still.  He claimed that he was waiting for the fireworks from Bagumbayan (Luneta) to signal that indeed there is already general uprising.  He already captured the Cavite Arsenal.  The entire Cavite was already in his hands.  The Spanish marines at Cavite marched earlier to reinforce Intramuros.  Still, he did not move.

Bonifacio was sending messages asking him what was wrong.  Is he in trouble?  He writes instructions to the other sectors to press on the attack and pin down the Spanish Army to pave the way for Aguinaldo.  Finally, Bonifacio crossed with 40 men to Cavite to find out how else he could support Aguinaldo.

There was an elaborate plot to eliminate Bonifacio and his brothers. When at Indang, Aguinaldo soldiers led by three generals including the chinese general, Ignacio Paua, came to arrest him, Bonifacio ordered the soldiers with him not to fire.  "Walang papatay nang kapatid na Tagalog."  Bonifacio was shot in the shoulder and pierced with a saber by Paua.  Still, as he fell, repeatedly stated that no one should fire at the other side. Many Filipino soldiers fell dead or wounded on his side. None raised his rifle.

Upon the execution of the three brothers at Mount Buntis, several other Katipunan officers were executed and the Katipunan went underground.  More than half of the Philippine Army went home.  There are extant photos of them getting aboard trains to go home.  That left Aguinaldo with the Caviteños and exceptional soldiers and leaders from other provinces who decided to stick it out with him.

With the loss of the great bulk of the troops with him and the death of the military engineer, Edilberto Evangelista, who built the Filipino fortifications at Noveleta and Binakayan where many Spanish marines were killed, Aguinaldo had to withdraw.  He crossed Malapad na Bato into Pasig and finally holed up at Biak na Bato (at present San Miguel, Bulacan) where negotiations for the Pact of Biak na Bato was completed.

At the second phase of the revolution, many Spanish army units composed of both indios and insulares Spanish (Spaniards born in the Philippines with or without indio blood) joined the Philippine Army.  Antonio Luna took advantage of this by putting up officer schools and schools of Infantry, signal, etc.  Spanish units were already surrendering to the Philippine Army.

Spain sent casadores (Spanish soldiers in the Expeditionary Force) about 40,000 of them.  However, Spain was worried about the United States and had no love for the Americans.  One battalion of Casadores upon reaching Taal, Batangas learned of the grievances of the natives.  They held a meeting and decided to disband.  80 of them decided to join the Philippine Army and inquired with the natives how to go about it.

So you see, many casadores settled in the Philippines.  During the Fil-American war, many Spanish soldiers were with the Philippine Army.

(The Luna Brigade (of 5,000) pushed back later the Americans at Caloocan in frontal warfare which worried the Americans at that time.)

Many identified leaders of the Katipunan were at pains watching at the side line because they learned of Aguinaldo's orders to have them arrested, incarcerated or killed.  While they were not moving, their followers also did not move.  Many of them went back to farming awaiting orders from their Katipunan leaders.

Finally, the Americans landed troops on August 11, 1898 and there was a mock battle wherein the American warships bombarded empty Fort San Pedro (at Malate) to save Spanish face.  Then Spaniards surrendered to the Americans while Aguinaldo's forces were holding the Spaniards to the walls by fortifications around Intramuros.  Then there was uncertainty as to American intentions.

Then the Americans created the incident at (Ermitaño) San Juan Bridge claiming the Filipino sentinels fired at Private William W Grayson (February 4, 1899) on the American side.  The facts were: 1) the Filipino officers were not with their units. They were attending a rigodon with all the generals present. 2) The Filipino detachment at the Filipino side of the bridge were all shot dead. 3) Two weeks before, two guns were moved forward to within three hundred yards from the Filipino line. 4) That night all the American troops were armed and ready in full alert.

Within a few minutes after the so-called shooting, the American field artillery erupted and all the American front line troops went on the offensive burning all the houses along the way.  According to the American correspondents, the Filipinos fought fiercely but they were thrown back from their fixed positions and lost their ammunition stocks. Eventually, the Filipinos were using bows and arrows.  

The Filipino children (boys and girls) were attacking the Americans.  The Americans would grab the children by the legs and bashed their heads against the walls. The babies they tossed up in the air and pierced with their bayonets. j

The Filipino officers rushed to their units to find out that they were all running to the rear.  The Brigade at San Juan Bridge was able to regroup at San Francisco Del Monte at the vicinity of the San Pedro de Bautista Church holding the high ground.  The Filipinos fought with their bolos.

So the Americans fired at everything before them.  The American high command cut off all telegraph lines and disconnected the underwater cable so that the American war correspondents could not feed the newspapers in the United States.  Instead the American released canned messages in the United States which were prepared before the hostilities started.

Many correspondents left hurriedly by steamboat to the United States and wrote books there to expose the awful carnage and massacre but the Americans were either distracted or got so fired up at the idea of Empire.  President McKinley spoke passionately about Manifest Destiny that God told him that the United States was tasked to civilize the primitive Filipino people and teach them democracy.

(Of course, what we know afterwards was that after the Cholera epidemic of 1902, it was estimated that there were 500,000 less Indios than before the hostilities.  More Filipinos died in the Fil-American war than during the Philippine Revolution.)

Up to the outbreak of World War II in the Philippines, it was considered an act of sedition to even mention what happened at the Fil-American War.  The United States relied on attrition of survivors to erase the memory of what they did.   They promised to help us achieve our independence from Spain but they were actually planning to acquire the Philippines as the first colony of the American Empire.  The policy papers later declassified stated that the United States thereafter would never relinquish the Philippines because of its strategic location and also because of its unbelievable natural wealth - oil, gold, uranium, etc.  It was a means of projecting US Naval power.  

Even at the negotiations leading to the Philippine Commonwealth, the United States removed the Marianas (which includes Guam) from the territory of the Philippines.  The Treaty of Paris included the Marianas in the definition of the territory sold by Spain to the United States.  Even upon the end of the war, they wanted to retain Clark Field and Subic as US Territory and for a long time, no Philippine aircraft was allowed to fly over a big airspace of the Philippines because it is controlled by the United States.

Aguinaldo objected to the proposal of Luna to shift right away to guerrilla warfare to give a chance for the experienced troops to establish their guerrilla bases and to bury their heavy equipment like the cannons.  Aguinaldo worried that Luna could replace him anytime.  He did not like the so many Spanish officers who were already with Luna.

When the Americans broke the defense lines before Malolos, Bulacan, the Philippine Army was moving pell-mell with their back to the Cordilleras.  Luna was securing the treasury.  The Filipinos were donating their gold, silver, coins and valuables to support the Philippine government. Aguinaldo called Luna for a quick conference at Cabanatuan.  Luna with his aide Col Paco Roman hastily went to Cabanatuan on horseback leaving the rest of his troops at Tarlac. Upon entering the court yard, the Kawit Battalion led by Maj Agapito Bonzon was waiting for him.  They killed the two by bayonet thrusts.  Immediately, Aguinaldo was ecstatic and called some friends to him without telling them the reason for his elation.

When Cabanatuan had to be abandoned, while evading in the highlands of the Cordilleras, Aguinaldo issued a manifesto to recognize the Katipunan and calling on them to continue the fight for Philippine Freedom.  Only then did the Katipunan go into action using guerrilla warfare.  They were no longer outlawed.

In the meantime, the Philippine Army broke up into fragments and lost their heavy equipment. Aguinaldo was issuing conflicting orders on the territories for guerrilla areas of operations.  He had second thoughts and replaced the Katipunan chieftains with his loyalists.  So, the Filipino troops - Philippine Army and Katipunan went into clashes. Katipunan withdrew to avoid conflict.  The Katipunan was left in the field when Aguinaldo was captured in March 1901.

From Malacañang, Aguinaldo issued a statement urging the remaining Philippine Army engaged in guerrilla warfare to surrender and to end the lopsided struggle.  Manuel Quezon then operating in Bataan verified this by visiting him at Malacañang and Aguinaldo confirmed his statement.  

The Katipunan ignored the order to surrender and continued the struggle up to 1907. General Miguel Malvar surrendered April 1902. The last Philippine Army general to fall was San Luciano San Miguel who died at the Battle of Corral na Bato on March 27, 1903.  

Thereafter, only the Katipunan was left at the field.  Macario Sakay, a Katipunan general, operated from a mountain base near Mt Daraitan at Sierra Madre Range.  The Americans never located his base.  However, the Americans issued a truce wherein they may negotiate and Macario Sakay was given safe pass to meet.

Macario Sakay, a typical Filipino who at that time believed in palabra de honor, came down with his general staff.  Then they were invited to a dance at Cavite.  In the middle of the party, the civilians withdrew and a Company of AMerican soldiers with fixed bayonets surrounded Sakay and party and arrested them as bandits.  Sakay objected that there is a safe pass.  The company commander read to him that the safe pass is only for Manila and not its environs.

We now know that Sakay and his officers were hanged as bandits and they were so portrayed throughout the American era.  Go to Rizal province at the mountains and the folks still revere Sakay as an undefeated general in combat.  He was defeated finally by the treachery of a dishonorable enemy.

You may wonder how the guerrilla army sustained themselves.  It was balinghoy (cassava or kamoteng kahoy) which fed them and the evacuees.  Filipino chemists and herbalists came to the fore to fill up the needs of the Filipinos.  It was at a time of struggle that Filipino martial arts was revived.  Filipino leaders usually were hunters and loved to practice military arts like swordsmanship, shooting, eskrima.  They revered those who fought before for Filipino freedom.  They boasted of their ancestors who fought in uneven struggle.  It is in the blood, it is in the oral tradition, it is found in the artifacts.  The old people before passing on try to tell their story so that they will not be forgotten.  That a great price was paid for freedom and not to sell it for a pot of porridge like Esau.
When the Americans were sustaining more casualties from guerrillas, they early made a decision to pay Filipinos to kill and capture the Filipino leaders.  Col Funston had the Macabebe Scouts with him when he captured Aguinaldo at Palanan.  They pretended to be Filipino reinforcements.  

After the assassination of Gen Antonio Luna, Maj Agapito Bonzon contacted the Americans and offered his services.  Then he became one of the first officers of the Philippine Constabulary.  

Soon after Aguinaldo’s capture, General Licerio Geronimo contacted the Americans to join the Philippine Constabulary.  (Geronimo led the Filipino troops at the Battle of San Mateo where Gen Lawton, the conqueror of Apache chieftain Geroniimo was killed.)

Daniel Tirona who served Aguinaldo by playing various key roles in the frame-up of Andres Bonifacio including challenging his qualifications at the Tejeros Convention surrendered to the Americans without firing a shot.  He was given many rifles and the best cannons which were never fired at the Americans.

This Philippine Constabulary put up a school called the Philippine Constabulary Academy at Baguio.  In 1929, this became the Philippine Military Academy.
Patriotic military officers like Gen Vicente Lim wrote insistently to President Manuel Luis Quezon that the Philippine Army must be based on a new set of officers that do not practice hazing.  These voluminous letters were published by his descendants in a book with the title "To Inspire and To Lead".  Gen Lim wrote a thesis while he was at West Point that the defense of the Philippines must be founded on a Citizen Army that would immediately shift to guerrilla warfare.

Gen Vicente Lim was incarcerated at Fort Santiago but managed to escape. As he was about to board a batel at Batangas, he was recaptured because of a Filipino spying for the Japanese.  He was immediately beheaded because the Japanese that his entire life was preparation for guerrilla warfare and that if he succeeded to leave Luzon and roam Visayas and Mindanao he would be able to take general command of Guerrilla Warfare in the Philippines.

Gen Douglas MacArthur, whose highly-cultured father Major Gen Arthur MacArthur pacified the Philippines by befriending the Filipinos, believed in the Filipino's natural capacities for guerrilla warfare as he himself was ambushed several times as a second lieutenant in the Philippines.  When Gen MacArthur proposed to the war planners guerrilla warfare, his staff led by then Col Dwight Eisenhower objected because they feared that the Commonwealth Philippine Army might turn against the United States Army.  

Upon Gen MacArthur’s escape from the Philippines to Australia, he planned to order a general breakout from Bataan.  However, General George Marshall preempted him by handing the overall command to Gen Jonathan Wainwright over the USAFFE and removing this from MacArthur.  The Japanese got an intercept of the radio order and used this as a basis to legally force Wainwright to order the surrender of all troops in the Philippines.  If Wainwright had only the command of the forces in Bataan, he could have objected that he had no legal authority because the forces outside of Bataan were not under him.  

Douglas MacArthur learned as a military observer with his father at the 1903-1905 Russo Japanese War that the Japanese took no prisoners.  As it turned out 50,000 Filipino and American soldiers died at the Death March and Capas Concentration Camp.  
We now have accounts of soldiers who escaped at the time of the Fall of Bataan, and they did it easily because most of the Japanese soldiers were sick with malaria.  There was a time when there were only 900 effective soldiers, the rest so sick they were bed-ridden.  Homma had to wait for reinforcements from Malaya (now Malaysia), thus delaying the Japanese timetable.  The new troops resumed the attack.  The Japanese also transferred hundreds of high caliber, high-trajectory mortars to hit the rear areas of Bataan and pulverize Corregidor.  

According to the Bataan veterans I interviewed, there were only Filipino soldiers at the front line with 1st Phil Corps and 2nd Phil Corps abreast.  The front line divisions were the 41st Inf Division of Gen Vicente Lim (with assembly area at Tagaytay) and the 21st Inf Divisions.  The Japanese rounded up about 500 officers and NCO's of 21st Inf Division and tied their hands and feet and to each other.  Then they were lined up along a cliff and bayonetted.  This was their revenge for the so many Japanese dead.

I interviewed many people in Bacolor, Pampanga who told me that there was one Japanese guard every 300 meters and the town folk prepared to facilitate the escape of Bataan soldiers but the soldiers refused to break ranks because of the order to surrender - especially the Americans.

This was how they did it. The woman wearing saya at that time formed a line.  Someone would dart out and pull a prisoner and throw him towards the women.  The women would push the prisoner under their saya so that they could be pulled out behind.  Then someone would pull the prisoner to run through the Cine Cleta (Anacleta Miranda, my great grandmother) out to the Central School (Elementary School).  Then they cross the sugar railroad car tracks to the sugarcane fields where they are hidden and changed clothes.  Then they are loaded in gareta beneath piles of sugar cane and brought to the remote barrios to recover their strength and thence by escape and evasion network to the mountains.  That was how the late Mayor Ramon Bagatsing was saved.  Up to their dying days they regretted that 19 out 20 refused to break ranks.

The townfolks made rounded panotsa which they threw from the roof tops into the hands of the prisoners.  They rolled them also along the highway.  

Many authors admitted that the United States Army learned guerrilla warfare from the Filipinos and I know that they had been consulting Filipinos on their writing their doctrine on guerrilla warfare.

Time and time again I've proven to myself that most Filipinos in the rural areas not affected by the television and cable TV cherish their freedom especially that of religion and would choose death to surrender.  The question is whether the new technology will convince the Filipino to sell his soul and give up his freedoms, surrender his country’s sovereignty and be a citizen of the world.  I say, the Filipino as in the past will find himself and just like those before who gave their lives for dreams stronger than death, he will rediscover his heritage put himself on the line for the same!

[Filomeno Akinas]

Lieutenant Colonel Macario Peralta Jr, although an Ilocano, was assigned J3 to 61st Infantry Division mobilized from Panay Islands.  Before the landing of any Japanese troops, 61st Inf Division received an order by radio to surrender from Gen Wainwright.  A Japanese plane landed with a Japanese representative and an American officer to sit down with the American commanding officer to explain the situation.  The Japanese threatened to take no prisoners and instead kill all the Filipino and American soldiers in Bataan unless Gen Wainwright orders the surrender of all the forces in the Philippine Islands.

The Filipino officers of 61st met together and refused to surrender. Then Lieutenant Colonel Peralta (Corps Commander of UP ROTC 1934) spoke with Col Albert Christie who understood the Filipino sentiment.  “I considered General Sharp’s letter as one coming from a prisoner and of no binding effect, notwithstanding Sharp’s statemen therein to the contrary… I told him that I would rather face court martial after the war than surrender to the Japanese.” The Colonel envied them for having that option but as for him (already past 60 years old) he had to surrender to ensure the safety of the civilian populace and to obtain good treatment for the surrenderees in Bataan.  

When the troops in the field were told to surrender, by that time, the refusal of Peralta and his group to obey the surrender order spread like wildfire throughout the island and sparked the widespread attitudes of the great majority of the officers and soldiers not to surrender and be taken prisoners of war.

So, the Filipinos hid their weapons and returned to their homes to await the recall for guerrilla warfare while about Col Christie surrendered with all the 30 American officers and a handful of Filipino staff and line officers and were interned at concentration camps for the rest of the war years.

When the Japanese troops set up their garrisons all over the Panay Island, they went about abusing the people.  Sooner than expected, the key unsurrendered officers urged Peralta to accelerate the organization for guerrilla warfare.  

The closest officer to Peralta was Colonel Leopoldo O Relunia, another Vanguard 1935, who was his second in command throughout the war. (He died about 1998 and left his widow who is now 87 years old.  Her only daughter is staying in the United States.)

Peralta set quotas on the combat units but first did area organization by setting military sectors which generated at first a company each.  He gave priority to the organization of the various headquarters and the division base, especially engineering, medical, finance, supply and transport (manpack and animal).  Pre-war governor Tomas Confesor was installed as governor of the entire island of Panay.  Sub-governors were set up for Iloilo, Aklan (including Capiz, Cornelio Villareal), and Antique).  

In the formation of the 6th military district, Peralta organized the VIth Corps Headquarters with other units organized to cover the Visayas, Southern Tagalog (Mindoro, Palawan, Romblon) and Bicol Region.

However, at the landing of AIB team led by Jesus Villamor, the hero who shot down 2 Japanese zeros using the antiquated P29 fighter plane, MacArthur ordered him desist from forming the 6th MD but to confine himself to the Panay Island.
They set up coast watchers to watch the movements of Japanese air and naval formations.

The first radio contact outside the Philippines was established by Peralta's communication unit by getting a response from California.  By heroic effort they were able to assemble a radio even to the extent of getting electron tubes from Manila.  The last link for authentication was the place where President Manuel L Quezon last met with Gov Tomas Confesor.  After three months of search, casually, the communication officer Francia (who retired as a general of the Philippine Army Signal Corps) casually asked a visitor if he recalled it.  The visitor said "Panubigan - I was there."  They radioed by CW (Morse Code) and immediately got the key to decode the encrypted message previously sent.  It was an official recognition of their unit with instructions to prepare for submarine landings to get further instructions.

The first landing brought the AIB team with legal money to finance the command, signal instructions, medicine (sulfa antibiotics, bandages, quinine to combat malaria), paper to print paper money, valuable radio equipment, some weapons (TSMG's, carbines, hand grenades and a few thousands of ammunition), 'I shall return' matches (for propaganda).  

There were critical information that Southwest Pacific command needed.  Peralta was ordered to lie low so as not to provoke Japanese depredations on the civilian populace.  The provincial guards of Tomas Confesor taunted the guerrillas (Usaffe) for tago ng tago and they challenged them to show that they were soldiers.  The troops were simply following orders. Peralta now concentrated in schooling the officers because they needed many new officers.  There were too few regular officers.  So he set up an officer candidate school, and schooling for the various grades.  Col Relunia mainly conducted the school.  Many officers came from the civilian professionals, PMT and ROTC.  Some rose from the ranks from among the ordinary folks especially those with natural leadership quality and were exemplary in combat.  Peralta perfected the supply system.

There was complete cooperation with the civilian populace who turned over the rice harvests to the military logistics officer in exchange for military scrips and later guerrilla money printed with authority from President Manuel Quezon.
A board to oversee the printing of money was composed of the provincial treasurer and two other officers.  The guerrilla command maintained several printing presses in the mountain.

On the submarine landing, there was complete secrecy so that there was even jealousy when officers and companies were pulled out from the provincial military units for deployment to secure the landing area.  Japanese who attempted to penetrate were wiped out literally.  No one was allowed to escape.  (One prominent company commander was that of Kilo company, 3rd Bn, 65th Infantry Regiment, Silverio L Cadiao,  whose granddaughter served for a while as our housemaid.  When he died, they opened his baul which was full of guns and ammunition.)

The subsequent landings were of more weapons to equip the entire division and some for transhipments to other guerrilla units outside of Panay Island.

Peralta set up an intelligence system that covered the entire Visayas, Bicol, Southern Tagalog and northern Mindanao.  He had a fleet of sail boats operating out of northeastern Panay.  They ferried supplies and personnel evading the Japanese navy by island hopping.  

During the rice harvest season, the guerrillas drove away the Japanese and ambushed the parties coming out of garrisons.  In that way 90% of the harvest ended with the guerrillas.  Never throughout the war years was there a shortage of food for the people, the government and the military command.

In Aklan, the Japanese finally pulled out to their base at Capiz (now Roxas City) at the northern tip of present Capiz province as it was constantly attacked.  They never returned.  The rest of the war, Aklan was virtually free of Japanese except for occasional air raids from that base.  

Peralta rotated the units and officers going to attacks to give them better combat experience, to keep trimming down the enemy strength, and keep them edgy.  

When General MacArthur ordered general offensive, Peralta went on coordinated attacks to liberate Panay.  The Japanese were confined to three places - Kalibo, Iloilo City and environs, and the northern base in Capiz each with air fields.  
By the time an American division landed in Southern Iloilo, all the Japanese units have been isolated.  The Japanese troops at Southern Leyte sought to contact the Americans before they were totally liquidated by the guerrillas.  There was a pathetic scene where 150 Japanese were isolated in a ground depression. With them were cruel Japanese interrogators, the guerrillas handed their carbines to the civilians with which to do target practice.

The story of collaborators, spies and Japanese remnants being liquidated has been familiar with me from childhood.  Among the latest was the account of my father-in-law who was code named "Balinghoy".  The guerrilla command gave him the mission of planting cassava in the mountains.  He was taught the secret of continuous production of kamoteng kahoy and with it they fed the civilian populace.  

When he encountered a dead civilian whose body was still warm, he felt the urgency to kill the Japanese before they kill more.  They caught up with a straggler Japanese.  They killed him while he was crying (I guess for his mother).  He never told me that story himself but he like other guerrilla veterans I've taught, kept quiet at the mention of collaborators and spies and the execution of captured Japanese.

Alfredo Francisco (aka Fred Montilla) could not believe the callousness of the Filipinos.  They turned over captive Japanese to children to play with until they were dead.  Another told me that they cut off the ears and nose, tore out the eyes, buried them in sand and put big red aunts on them (Hamtik).  The veterans mentioned that if the Japanese had been gentle, the Filipinos, being Catholics, would have been forgiving towards them as they forgave the Americans for the Fil-American War.

A former guerrilla at Sta Mesa, Manila told me a truck load of Japanese prisoners were escorted by two American GI's  - a driver and a guard at the back.  They invited them to take a hot meal.  When they entered the house, the guerrillas poured gasoline on the truck and threw a lighted match.  

Another at Angono told me that the Japanese prisoners were enclosed by sawali wall.  They shaped long bamboo spears and would run at the wall with them when the guards were asleep and heard the cries of those pierced.

In Pampanga I was told that there was a race as to who could kill the Makapilis first and the canals were filled with dead collaborators.  Many collaborators escaped to Tondo and lived there incognito.  In later years, he saw some of them there but did not give their presence away anymore.  

When Iloilo City was liberated, many rich people who refused to help the guerrillas and instead consorted with the Japanese to protect their businesses welcomed the Americans and promptly ignored the guerrillas.  In his memoirs, Peralta said that would happen again in the future.  He wanted the story to be known so that the next generations will not naively face their wars like many of his generation did.  

He gathered his veterans in 1974 and said while he was sick of cancer that their legacy was to tell the young people what really happened without hiding anything.  
 
The story was painful to read because there was much betrayal from ambitious people who chose to hedge their bets by working both sides (Japanese and American).  That after every war, the true collaborators always got away with it.  

I started reading about the Panay Guerrillas from about grade 2.  Do you know that in veteran affairs, until now, the most united is still Region 6?  There is a tradition to their unity except for those who aspire to wealthy.  (Did Jesus Christ not say the same in the Gospels?)

What gave the Filipinos the means to survive was the popularity of boy scouting and girl scouting before war.  They emphasized field craft. The Commonwealth Act No 1 was the National Defense Act wherein it is stated that every citizen has a duty to defend the Republic.  The school curriculum incorporated nationalism and the small things that contribute to the strength of the country - courtesy, love of elders, family, school, superiors, love of God.  If you read the letters and dedications on photos, the expressions of love and concern were profuse, embarrassingly so.  There were many social and economic clubs like National Economic Protectionism Association. There were cottage industries such as food preservation.  People made their own cloth (jusi, piña).  Self-sufficiency was emphasized.  Admittedly, the people were developing a taste for imported goods but surge of patriotism with the Commonwealth was such that so much energy was released.  There was a flowering of culture.  

Knowledge of herbs was still very much alive then.  Prominent citizens frequent the herbolarios.  Philippine food technology was at a high level and nutrition was taken seriously for a healthy citizenry.  

The PMT and the ROTC were taken seriously although the big problem was the lack of trained personnel.  When they mobilized in Davao City, there was 1 officer and 1 Noncom for every company of 110 men.  The public school teachers were commissioned as Third Lieutenants and their top officers were the principals.  Some of these principals went on to retire as Brigadier Generals like Gen Aquino  who led the 15th BCT , one of the five Battalion Combat Teams (BCT's) sent to Korean War.  

When war clouds loomed, the ROTC alumni, teachers and volunteers gathered at UP Padre Faura.  There was a Saturday session and Sunday session.  They wanted to stay encamped for continuous training but they ran out of money with which to buy food.

When the government announced that units were being formed and that war has come, so many volunteered but they were told to go home because the quotas were already filled up.  Ships carrying equipment and weapons came belatedly.  There was no more time to distribute them.  The UP ROTC marched to the Manila Port Area. Pictures showed them wearing short pants.  The Field Artillery unit was assigned to the Coastal Artillery at Corregidor.  

Upon the departure of the last ship from Manila Port on Dec 24, the port area was torched.  At UP DMST, they had crates of .45 revolvers with long barrels and they had to be destroyed.  

Marcos Agustin was assigned to throw 150 pcs of brand new M1 garands to the Pasig River.  After destroying many "modern weapons", he got sick of it a stole an armored car with a 20 mm cannon and a machine gun and attacked the Japanese forces entering Manila.  There was a running gun battle until he ditched the armored car at the foothills leading up to Antipolo when he ran out of ammunition.

News got around about his action. Before the war he was a hunter at the Sierra Madre mountain range and boasted that no one could beat him in marksmanship.  The Japanese also identified him and issued shoot to kill orders for him.
When he marched towards the mountain ranges he knew, news got around, and hundreds of exhausted men pleaded to join him.  Thus started the Marking Guerrillas.  It would not have happened at all without Ligaya "Yaying" Panlilio, a writer, agent of Gen Wilhouby, MacArthur's G2.  Marking wanted to do nothing else than kill Japanese.  Yaying forced him to stay put to train and direct the hundreds of young men who joined him.  Their relationship was love-hate.  A time came when the Japanese mounted serious efforts to eliminate his unit and proceeded towards Infanta-Real. The Dumagats saved them by feeding them and setting up camp for them.

Yaying learned the hide way how to deal with spies.  In the absence of Marking, a Filipino spy was captured.  She was determined to save his life.  The spy knelt before her and told her that it was his father who was the spy, not he.  Yaying was horrified at the selfishness of this man who would cause the death of his father to save his own life.  She drew the .32 pistol which Marking gave him and shot the spy.  (Reference: The Crucible)

Incidentally, Macario Peralta was the youngest regular full colonel when MacArthur's headquarters issued orders to affirm him as a regular full colonel, the youngest at 29 years old for the Philippine Army.  This was in early 1943.  
When Diosdado Macapagal was elected President of the Republic of the Philippines, he appointed Gen Macario Peralta as the Secretary of National Defense.  That was in 1960 to 1964.  Peralta's aide-de-camp was Captain Benjamin R Vallejo.  Then Peralta came out with the review of the National Defense Doctrines towards the Home Defense Concept founded on Guerrilla Warfare.  No more Bataan's, no more Corregidor's, no more haphazard Unconventional Warfare.  
In 1967, the Philippines claimed Sabah for the Sultanate of Jolo. British East India Company stopped paying the annual lease rental and Malaysia was declared to include Sabah as one of its states. Sabah was a possession of the Sultanate and was leased to British East India Company. There are many proofs of this as contained in the autobiography of Senator Arturo Tolentino and Malaysia refused to submit the case to the International Court of Justice.

British forces were deployed in Malaysia including the Gurkhas, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.  The Americans were indifferent.  The Philippines was on its own.  

The Philippine Defense Forces was organized to defend Mindanao.  The British infiltrated the Jabidah project.  There was counter destabilization which culminated in the MNLF.  Filipino troops encountered the Muslim troops led by leaders trained in Sabah by British and Malaysian officers.  

The ROTC of those days were wondering how they could be counted.  Thus was born the UP Sunday Soldiers on its first training on Sep 15, 1968 to start the realization of Home Defense leading to the integrated training of all reserves in the Metropolitan Military Training Command.  In SY 1973-74, CAT was launched in all high schools including girls.  High school students were trained on M1 and M16, marksmanship, map reading and went on bivouac and familiarization firing at Fort Bonifacio before graduation.

We had a ready mobilizable brigade that was ready a matter of hours all composed of ROTC volunteers.  ROTC commissioning was streamlined.  Instead of the six months probationary second lieutenant training, there was a 60-day CMT 43 finishing which, the ROTC Advance Course Graduate could already got commissioned in the reserves or regular forces.  

All the doctrines had been written by then.  The Americans asked permission to obtain copies of these documents.  The Homeland Forces of South Korea was copied from our Home Defense.  The Tokyo Metropolitan Command studied our system.  The Thai Armed Forces studied our system.

In 1983, when BGen Benjamin Vallejo retired, all his programs were emasculated.  The mobilization stocks were sold off in a week's time.  The armories of the ROTC units were removed within a week of the February revolution and never returned.  The books written by Gen Vallejo were banned.  The ROTC records were ordered destroyed.  The ROTC commissioning was strangled.  Officers who tried to push Vallejo's concepts were investigated on charges of subversion and dispersed.  Many of them left the AFP.  

Now Filipinos are asking what happened.  Pray, pray, pray! The truth shall set us free!

[Adroth]

In 1983, when BGen Benjamin Vallejo retired, all his programs were emasculated.  The mobilization stocks were sold off in a week's time.  The armories of the ROTC units were removed within a week of the February revolution and never returned.  The books written by Gen Vallejo were banned.

Do you still have copies of these books sir?

[Pauper]

Glubb Pasha. I thought he was not officially British military before 1941. He was more of a paramilitary operative with blessings from the empire, a protege of Lawrence of Arabia. He was a progenator of the Arab Dessert patrol (later Arab Legion), which assisted a british brigade of less than 1000 men in taking Baghdad from 2 rebellious divisions of the Iraqi Army in early stages of WW2.

[RDC]

While it's good to remember the sacrifices of the Revolution, we should keep in mind that historians are biased lot. This stuff practically smacks of propaganda.

I have read the ACTUAL Philippine Insurgent Records (at least what is there in the National Archives) and I suggest you read those instead of relying on secondary sources.

History is NOT written by the victors. HISTORY TEXTBOOKS are.

I've learned a whole bunch of things that even so-called "Philippine nationalists" refuse to mention...

For example...

"Spanish abuses" were mostly propaganda, rather than factual events. Rizal hated the Church because of a land dispute with them.

The Katipunan had plans to execute all Spanish priests and set up an independent nationalist church.

Filipino soldiers chose to ignore these orders and even executed their own political officers to help priests escape.

The Katipunan was NOT pan-Filipino. It was limited to the eight provinces that the rays of the sun on the flag represent today.

Even then, most Filipino people in Manila chose to side with the Spanish. The Katipunan was a professional revolutionary outfit much like the Bolsheviks.

The Moros had no contact with the Katipunan and when later approached by the Revolutionary government... REFUSED to join.

The people in Panay and Negros each formed independent governments on their own and refused to accept officials from either the Katipunan or Malolos.

Both governments in Negros claimed to be the official government.

Iloilo declared itself the Federal Republic of the Visayas.

Bonifacio was in a position to rescue Jose Rizal, but refused to. Rizal was better off as a martyr rather than Bonifacio's political opponent.

Bonifacio never appointed Aguinaldo because the Katipunan was arranged as a cell system (before they decided on universal conscription.)

Antonio Luna was so hated by his own troops that they used to call him "General Articulo Uno" since he threatened them with immediete execution so many times.

Antonio Luna even abandoned the field of battle in order to pursue a duel WITH ANOTHER FILIPINO COMMANDER!  

Mabini himself was embarrased to have supported Luna earlier on.

Bonifacio deliberately included false evidence incriminating innocent people in the plot IN ORDER TO ESCAPE. He is more guilty of their deaths than the Spanish authorities that arrested and killed them.

The Spanish regarded Aguinaldo as the leader of the Insurrection due to his skill in battle and all correspondences were addressed to him EVEN BEFORE the Tejeros convention.

Bonifacio didn't like being ignored by the Spanish and attended Tejeros to consolidate his claim.

Bonifacio lost in four seperate elections before receiving the post of Department of Interior PRIMARILY because he never reached his objectives in Manila.

Cavite was attacked FIRST and Aguinaldo pinned the Spanish garrison down until the Spanish decided to RETREAT to Intramuros. They didn't leave to reinforce Intramuros.

When they questioned his qualifications (like they did ALL the other candidates for each post, even Aguinaldo) Bonifacio got mad and declared the convention illegal even after agreeing to abide by its agreements.

Bonifacio had his own assassination agenda after the Tejeros convention didn't go his way and began recruiting soldiers to assasinate the entire convention (not Aguinaldo).

Aguinaldo was NOT at the Tejeros convention because he was on the field of battle and didn't learn about his appointment as President until a month later.

Bonifacio was ordered to be taken in for questioning for allegations that he was planning to set up a rival government and SURRENDER TO THE SPANISH.

After the court-martial sentenced the Bonifacio brothers to death, Aguinaldo commuted the sentence to "life-imprisonment" then reduced it to three years.

All the hate propaganda against Aguinaldo came from Mabini who was originally part of the Magdiwang faction. Imagine Cory vs. Doy to get an idea.

[Adroth]

While it's good to remember the sacrifices of the Revolution, we should keep in mind that historians are biased lot. This stuff practically smacks of propaganda.

One man's propagandist is another man's historian.

The truth is somewhere in between, and then . . . only a specific portion of the truth.

[Filomeno Akinas]

You may visit the Philippine Political History Museum which opened about Dec 2002.  A lot of things have been unearthed in the decade before the centennial of the revolution.  I myself have read the books written by Aguinaldo apologists.
Many of the materials discovered from old bauls were so detailed that the historians were at a quandary as to how to handle them.  
Look at the researches of Zeus Salazar, former chairman of the UP Department of History.  
How much have you interviewed the veterans.  At 2 years old and since, I've met so many veterans of the Fil-American war and they told their stories in tears.
The houseboy of Tandang Sora died last January 2004 at 115 years old.  A dear friend of mine interviewed him.
In the old century old houses in Pampanga, I did not see any picture of Emilio Aguinaldo but every one of them had a picture of Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio.  The other pictures I saw were those of Emilio Jacinto, Marcelo del Pilar, and Gregorio del Pilar.
Some of the letters of Andres Bonifacio including battle orders surfaced and they did not speak of a military strategic ignoramus.  Aguinaldo had the advantage that he was considered the best friend of the Spanish government in Cavite and he induced the Spanish troops to leave to reinforce Intramuros.  Then he seized the arsenal.
The house of Andres Bonifacio burned down a few days after the discovery of the Katipunan.  Therein was a large collection of books.  He read in English, Spanish, French and Latin.
Without the Katipunan, there would have been no machinery for widespread support for the revolution.  Look at the picture files wherein soldiers quit upon receiving news of the execution of Bonifacio.  
What is not commonly known was that Andres Bonifacio was not shot at Mt Buntis but hacked to small pieces and fed to dogs, a masonic execution.  He was executed on order of the Grand Lodge.  Many of our heroes did not attain to the higher degrees of masonry which already included the Satanic rites.
Bonifacio was a threat because he believed in God not the Great Architect of the Universe or Lucifer.
When you say propaganda, do you mean a lie?  The Truth shall set us free!  Lies keep us divided.  The whole truth unites.  
I remember that your version was written by the extensive writings of an author, whose name escapes me now, who used to be a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines - that Bonifacio wanted to kill the priests, etc.  It was Aguinaldo who appointed the priest Aglipay to form an nationalist Church, not Bonifacio.
The issue was the Filipinization of the diocesan clergy, not cutting off from the Bishop of Rome.
Did you read all of the PIR or jump to conclusions from just browsing at parts of them?  I did not learn just by reading but by heart to heart talks with guerrilla veterans, studying the terrain and training guerrillas myself.  It is only now that I write publicly about these things.  
Reflect and learn, not just to argue call another a humbug or a propagandist.  If someone speaks up, do you jump in and call that other a liar and a propagandist?  
I would like to answer your points one by one.  Hope to have time to do that!  But I will send this for now.

[Filomeno Akinas]

(it's good to remember the sacrifices of the Revolution, we should keep in mind that historians are biased lot. This stuff practically smacks of propaganda.)  The line "smacks of a propaganda" is an accusation of a dishonest slanting of "facts" to mislead.

(I have read the ACTUAL Philippine Insurgent Records (at least what is there in the National Archives) and I suggest you read those instead of relying on secondary sources.)  You can not read the entire PIR except perhaps if you do not sleep for the next ten years doing just that.  

(History is NOT written by the victors. HISTORY TEXTBOOKS are.)  The victors today may be the losers tomorrow.  See what happened to the People's Republic of China and we've not seen the end of it.

(I've learned a whole bunch of things that even so-called "Philippine nationalists" refuse to mention... ) Did you learn these from PIR?

For example...

("Spanish abuses" were mostly propaganda, rather than factual events. Rizal hated the Church because of a land dispute with them.)  I agree that there were exaggerations.  But the specific complaint was the concentration of power in the hands of certain religious orders at that time for lack of Spanish officials in the archipelago.  The initial direction of the Propaganda Movement was for reforms and to be accepted as Spanish citizens.  However, there were "Bolshevists" who wanted a revolution in order to remove the power of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.  You will see this more clearly when you study the history of Western Europe at that time.  The events in Spain itself explains what happened here.  There was civil strife in Spain.  By turns, the Free Thinkers took control of government and suppressed the Catholic Church by closing down schools, churches, convents by confiscation.  Laws were issued to limit the scope of the Catholic Church.  In Rizal's Fili, we see the work of Simon as paralleling the work of masonry in inducing a break from the Catholic Church.  

(The Katipunan had plans to execute all Spanish priests and set up an independent nationalist church.)  It was Aguinaldo who appointed Aglipay to head the nationalist church.  Check the history of the Philippine Independent Church.

(Filipino soldiers chose to ignore these orders and even executed their own political officers to help priests escape.)  It was the Aguinaldista's who were quick to execute fellow Filipinos.  Those soldiers may have been ordered by Aguinaldista's.

(The Katipunan was NOT pan-Filipino. It was limited to the eight provinces that the rays of the sun on the flag represent today. )  There is no longer any controversy that it was pan-archipelago.  Look up the writings of Dr Zeus Salazar.  Many historians agree with him now.

(Even then, most Filipino people in Manila chose to side with the Spanish. The Katipunan was a professional revolutionary outfit much like the Bolsheviks.)  Many insulares eventually joined the revolution, albeit reluctantly initially.  The Spanish units were already surrendering to the Philippine Army at the second phase of the revolution with America on the horizon.  The Katipunan had a deep grass root support and was initially incognito.  But when blood was spilled, the menfolk sought out the Katipunan to join.  In the midst of the battles, the blood oath was suspended for just oral oaths because they could no longer be properly handled.  However, Aguinaldo outlawed the Katipunan.  Those Katipuneros who stayed with the Philippine Army had to suppress their affiliation with the Katipunan.

(The Moros had no contact with the Katipunan and when later approached by the Revolutionary government... REFUSED to join. )  Again, look at the Philippine Political History Museum where there is a large chart of battles all over the country starting August 1896.

(The people in Panay and Negros each formed independent governments on their own and refused to accept officials from either the Katipunan or Malolos.)  True.  These were setup by the upper class but there was a common sentiment brought about by the failure of the Propaganda Movement to bring about reforms.  They key was Manila.  Aguinaldo planned well with the masons to frame up Bonifacio and eliminate him and there was not sufficient time to unite the whole.

(Both governments in Negros claimed to be the official government. Iloilo declared itself the Federal Republic of the Visayas.)

(Bonifacio was in a position to rescue Jose Rizal, but refused to. Rizal was better off as a martyr rather than Bonifacio's political opponent.)  Poor humble folks never saw a conflict between Rizal and the Great Plebeian.  Picturing Bonifacio as ambitious has been a oft-repeated lie by the Aguinaldista's.

(Bonifacio never appointed Aguinaldo because the Katipunan was arranged as a cell system (before they decided on universal conscription.) )  Look up the latest writings of historians.  There was a Grand Strategy.  The recently unearthed documents in the handwriting of Andres Bonifacio showed his concern to pin down troops so Aguinaldo could deliver the coup d'grace.

(Antonio Luna was so hated by his own troops that they used to call him "General Articulo Uno" since he threatened them with immediete execution so many times.)  Have you read the articles of war?  Many articles such as cowardice in the face of the enemy and sleeping while on sentinel post are punishable by death by musketry in times of war.  Otherwise, you can not hold before the enemy.  If they hated him so much, how come the Luna Brigade repelled the Americans at Caloocan in set battle?  It was so easy to run away in the midst of battle but they stood at their posts.  Only Antonio Luna and Edilberto Evangelista among the patriots studied military science in academies for thorough preparation for war.

(Antonio Luna even abandoned the field of battle in order to pursue a duel WITH ANOTHER FILIPINO COMMANDER! )  He pursued Gen Maximiniano Hizon who withdraw three battalions and two batteries of artillery from the defense line at Malolos.  The purpose was not to abandon the line.

(Mabini himself was embarrased to have supported Luna earlier on.)  He may be embarrassed because of the severe animosity of the people around Aguinaldo against any believer of Luna.  So many referred to the Cavitismo of Aguinaldo when he played favorites towards his inner clique.

(Bonifacio deliberately included false evidence incriminating innocent people in the plot IN ORDER TO ESCAPE. He is more guilty of their deaths than the Spanish authorities that arrested and killed them. )  Do you mean that he planted false clues to cause the Spanish authorities to arrest prominent people unsympathetic to his cause?  Immediately after the discovery of the Katipunan, he was so busy gathering together his troops and issuing orders.

(The Spanish regarded Aguinaldo as the leader of the Insurrection due to his skill in battle and all correspondences were addressed to him EVEN BEFORE the Tejeros convention.)  Remember that his victories happened before the execution of the Bonifacio brothers.  After that, he was in retreat.  The Katipunan continued to fight until 1913 but were branded as bandits.  Thereafter, they continued the struggle by forming various social groups in theaters, political parties, schools (for example, Don Modesto Joaquin).  After the surrender of Gen Malvar, the struggle was taken over by the Katipunan and WWII guerrillas had their antecedents in the Katipunan.

(Bonifacio didn't like being ignored by the Spanish and attended Tejeros to consolidate his claim.)  Bonifacio was not seeking the recognition of the Spaniards.  Who escorted him in the carriage shouting "Viva El Rey" while he countered with "Mabuhay ang Katagalugan"?  It was an elaborate set-up to picture him as ambitious.

(Bonifacio lost in four seperate elections before receiving the post of Department of Interior PRIMARILY because he never reached his objectives in Manila.)  Or is it because the convention was packed with Aguinaldista's.

(Cavite was attacked FIRST and Aguinaldo pinned the Spanish garrison down until the Spanish decided to RETREAT to Intramuros. They didn't leave to reinforce Intramuros.)  The Spanish troops were dispersed by fighting all over the archipelago.  The last units manning Intramuros were sent at dawn to save the Polvorin on August 30.  Thereafter, Spain hastily sent cazadores to the Philippines.  By that time, Bonifacio was already caught in a series of maneuvers by Aguinaldo's henchmen.  Aguinaldo held the line until the news reached the troops that Andres Bonifacio was executed.  Then they threw down their arms and arranged to leave for home.  

The garrison troops at the Cavite Arsenal reinforced Intramuros upon the report of insurrection.  At the second part of the Revolution, the Spanish troops retreated to Intramuros.  Those in the provinces surrendered to the Philippine Army.

(When they questioned his qualifications (like they did ALL the other candidates for each post, even Aguinaldo) Bonifacio got mad and declared the convention illegal even after agreeing to abide by its agreements. ) Bonifacio agreed to the elections.  Finally, he was elected as secretary of interior and then Daniel Tirona rose to question his qualifications.  It was clearly a set up.  The founder of the Katipunan is not even qualified as secretary of interior?  You are so fond of diplomas, my friend?

(Bonifacio had his own assassination agenda after the Tejeros convention didn't go his way and began recruiting soldiers to assasinate the entire convention (not Aguinaldo). )  That is an outright lie!

(Aguinaldo was NOT at the Tejeros convention because he was on the field of battle and didn't learn about his appointment as President until a month later.)  He was in his home ground.  Many historians now say that Andres Bonifacio should not have gone to Cavite at all.  He did not have too.  He did not take his followers with him.  You know what the historians asked me?  Will their findings trigger a civil war?  
When the "Monumento" was unveilled at Caloocan, so many veterans were there.  Did such a display of loyalty ever shown for Aguinaldo, the assasin?  He had him killed and then killed him a second time by spreading lies about him.  Do you know that the same officers who executed the Bonifacio brothers, raped Andres Bonifacio's wife?  Do you know that there were repeated attempts to steal the bones of Bonifacio at the National Museum before World War II because the chopped bones would have revealed the manner of his death?  Josephine Bracken quit the camp of Aguinaldo because she said the Aguinaldo brothers were always huddled on how they could benefit from the struggle.  She said this to her only daughter who thereafter bore many children.  The grandchildren later revealed the stories told by Josephine to her daughter to historians.

How about that Big Estate that was rented out for pittance to him by the Commonwealth government in recognition of his services, he never paid a single centavo of rental.  Make Aguinaldo a National Hero.  There is no ground swell for that.  He was cornered in Palanan because of his punitive measures for indigenous troops who disarmed and captured Spanish troops by virtue of their being Katipunan rather than officially part of his army.  When he was already in retreat, this groups hounded him as he moved north.  That was how many of his officers disappeared as he retreated to Isabela.

(Bonifacio was ordered to be taken in for questioning for allegations that he was planning to set up a rival government and SURRENDER TO THE SPANISH.)  There is a basis for the common association with Bonifacio of the cry "Sugod mga kapatid!"  Do you shout that to surrender?

(After the court-martial sentenced the Bonifacio brothers to death, Aguinaldo commuted the sentence to "life-imprisonment" then reduced it to three years.)  It is said that Pio del Pilar, Artemio Ricarte, and some others urged him to execute Bonifacio right away because he had such a big following.  

(All the hate propaganda against Aguinaldo came from Mabini who was originally part of the Magdiwang faction. Imagine Cory vs. Doy to get an idea.)  Mabini was above that.  Many of the writings of Mabini are still in the original Spanish.  Mabini was a noble man who would always desire unity.  That is why he consented to advise Aguinaldo through it all, despite his personal bents.

[RDC]

To Filomeno Akinas:

My sincere apologies for immedietely lumping your Katipunan post with the usual "propaganda" the textbook companies churn out.

I kinda saw red when I read your post saying:

The Katipunan was universal, all the way to Muslim Mindanao.

and admittedly stopped reading further. My reason was that I have Maguindanaon friends and they tell me that their grandparents had never heard of the Katipunan until after the Americans took over and I read that about half the Malolos Congress consisted of appointees who had never even seen the places they claimed they were representing. In Brian Linn's "The Philippine War 1899-1902," I find out that the Visayas (or just Ilo-ilo) was trying to establish its own Republic and that Malolos represenatives and Iloilo representatives were at each other's throats for control. This was Fil vs. Fil, not Fil vs. Spain.

I still remember the first day I got interested in Filipiniana. I was at Shanri-La waiting for my wife and gaggle her friends to finish shopping. (Why it takes a woman to spend four hours buying perfume is beyond me. Personally, I can't tell the difference between Chanel No. 5 and Toilet Duck.)

I stopped into Old Manila and looked over the second-hand books on display and began to browse. What caought my eye was a reprint of an NHI publication called "The Laws of the First Philippine Republic (The Laws of Malolos) 1898-1899" compiled by Sulpicio Guevara.

It was the first time I read the actual "Acta de la proclamación de independencia del pueblo Filipina" and "Constitución Política de 1899." I had heard about these documents in school so many years ago, but the actual words of the documents were nowhere in my textbooks.

I was shocked to find that the the red white and blue on the flag wasn't to symbolise purity, peace and valor... but THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!    This sure wasn't what I was taught in school!

So I got that book along with Maximo Kalaw's "The Development of Philippine Politics". Powerful stuff! (Even got myself copies of Zaide and Pablo Fernandez' "History of the Church in the Philippines (1521-1898)".

From then on, I tried to find out exactly what happened "way back when." I talked to old people, I went to the National Library and read whatever they would let me. (Some of the people there couldn't beleive a non-student, non-historian, non-writer, non-scholar would take the time out of real life to read all this stuff!    )

There is just so much out there. I could read forever and still find new things. And everytime I did, I would compare it with my old school texts.

I noticed several things:

1. Everyone had something to say and much of the time contradicted what others had to say on the subject. (So much so, that I'm thinking alternate realities as a good possibility.)

2. Too many things don't show up in what kids learn like Bonifacio going the way of dog food.

3. The government approved texts show a nice clear linear chain of events where Filipinos are practically demigods and the Spanish are subhuman trollspawn in league with Lucifer.

4. During the "Ultra-nationalist" period (my personal defintion) when they changed everything to Tagalog, renamed all the streets, changed Manila to Maynilad... all the history books started to look the same. Hence, my accusation of "propaganda." (Sorry again.)

The line "smacks of a propaganda" is an accusation of a dishonest slanting of "facts" to mislead.

Like I said, I got trigger-happy. I hate the idea that children today know nothing except the clean sanitized "George Washington-cherry tree" variety.

Deliberate slanting of facts? I've seen too much of it, like the "Bonifacio was an uneducated squatter" and "Aguinaldo murdered Bonifacio" and "General Luna on a white horse" drek. I promise to re-read your post again.  

You can not read the entire PIR except perhaps if you do not sleep for the next ten years doing just that.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I did! Nobody would be dumb enough to believe a claim like that!    Besides, the old coot down at the Library refuses to let me see the good stuff.

The victors today may be the losers tomorrow. See what happened to the People's Republic of China and we've not seen the end of it.

God bless and keep the PRC.... FAR AWAY FROM US!

I agree that there were exaggerations. But the specific complaint was the concentration of power in the hands of certain religious orders at that time for lack of Spanish officials in the archipelago.

That was one. Another was over control of the land. Who really owned what? Even the Katipunan had their own propaganda saying that the friars "stole" the land from the Filipinos.

And again... my schoolbooks say nothing.

The initial direction of the Propaganda Movement was for reforms and to be accepted as Spanish citizens.

Yup. The whole controversy was whether or not Las Yslas Filipinas was a Province of Spain (and therefore part of the Spanish body politic) or it was a territorial possession (and therefore under New Spain). We seesawed back and forth from both status.

However, there were "Bolshevists" who wanted a revolution in order to remove the power of the Catholic Church in the Philippines. You will see this more clearly when you study the history of Western Europe at that time. The events in Spain itself explains what happened here. There was civil strife in Spain. By turns, the Free Thinkers took control of government and suppressed the Catholic Church by closing down schools, churches, convents by confiscation. Laws were issued to limit the scope of the Catholic Church. In Rizal's Fili, we see the work of Simon as paralleling the work of masonry in inducing a break from the Catholic Church.

I recall reading Catholic sources saying that much of the revolts of the colonies against Spain were the work of the American Freemasons. Cuba was a big target. I think Jefferson was eyeing it rather than let it fall to the British.

The Masons hate the Catholic Church. The first attack is to destroy the monarchy which owes its' authority to God (Romans 13:1-7) and therefore is duty bound to protect God's Church. Kill off the monarchy and the Church loses it's protection and the libertines can make laws confiscating Church property and killing off the priests. Check out the whole Aglipayan sect. It's practically oozing Freemasonry. It was this Church that was originally planned to replace the Catholic Church. The whole "Ask the Pope for Filipino bishops" thing was just a pretense.

It was Aguinaldo who appointed Aglipay to head the nationalist church. Check the history of the Philippine Independent Church.

I know about the ties between Aglipay and Aguinaldo, but I PERSONALLY think he was following an established "script" that originated from the Masonic nature of the Katipunan and the foreign Masonic plot against Spain. It was after all, tremendously anti-Catholic in nature. You can't claim to be pro-Catholic while planning to kill off Catholic priests.

It was the Aguinaldista's who were quick to execute fellow Filipinos. Those soldiers may have been ordered by Aguinaldista's.

I'd say it was a mishmash. Aside from the transitional provision in the MAlolos Constitution, I have yet to find an official directive ordering a "Final Solution." The incident I mentioned was more a case of non-local officers ordering local conscripts to execute the town's priest who had had a hand in raising and educating them. (Kinda like some out of town jerk giving you a gun to shoot your favorite Ninong. Guess who gets his brains splattered all over the floor!) <--- this anecdote was from a personal diary. The soldier also wrote to say that after they killed their officer, they helped the priest escape to safe lines.

There is no longer any controversy that it was pan-archipelago. Look up the writings of Dr Zeus Salazar. Many historians agree with him now.

Salazar? I'll check him out. What books do you suggest? So why are my Maguindanaoan friends adamant that they never were part of anything?

Are they telling the truth? Are they bullshitting me? Or are they telling me what they think is the truth? The Morolandia nutcases also have their own propaganda which gets passed around.

Many insulares eventually joined the revolution, albeit reluctantly initially. The Spanish units were already surrendering to the Philippine Army at the second phase of the revolution with America on the horizon. The Katipunan had a deep grass root support and was initially incognito. But when blood was spilled, the menfolk sought out the Katipunan to join. In the midst of the battles, the blood oath was suspended for just oral oaths because they could no longer be properly handled. However, Aguinaldo outlawed the Katipunan. Those Katipuneros who stayed with the Philippine Army had to suppress their affiliation with the Katipunan.

And a lot of them stayed reluctantly. I think most were there because "you killed my brother, now I kill you." If you read the list of names of "Irreconcilables" exiled to Guam by the Americans, you find a list of practically the same people who started the Katipunan and the Revolution.

Again, look at the Philippine Political History Museum where there is a large chart of battles all over the country starting August 1896.

Where's the Museum again? I think I want to drag my friend there. Hopefully, it's not like that WOW Philippines travesty in Intramuros.

Poor humble folks never saw a conflict between Rizal and the Great Plebeian. Picturing Bonifacio as ambitious has been a oft-repeated lie by the Aguinaldista's.

Don't you find it strange that Rizal was already in exile on August 29, 1896 when all hell broke lose? And was only executed in December? Don't tell me there was no opportunity to keep him alive since he was so important to the movement.

(My school textbooks say that Rizal was executed first then the Katipunan revolted.)  

As for conflict, didn't Rizal disavow having anything to do with the Katipunan even though Bonifacio made him their figurehead?

Have you read the articles of war? Many articles such as cowardice in the face of the enemy and sleeping while on sentinel post are punishable by death by musketry in times of war. Otherwise, you can not hold before the enemy. If they hated him so much, how come the Luna Brigade repelled the Americans at Caloocan in set battle? It was so easy to run away in the midst of battle but they stood at their posts. Only Antonio Luna and Edilberto Evangelista among the patriots studied military science in academies for thorough preparation for war.

I'm not saying that he was incompetent. Luna studied in Belgium, I think. I'm saying he was an impulsive hothead. He may have been a dick, but he was "their dick." Kinda hard to get the impulse to frag someone when he's the only one keeping you alive. You may need him, but you sure won't like him.

Do you mean that he planted false clues to cause the Spanish authorities to arrest prominent people unsympathetic to his cause?

Yup. Murder by proxy is still murder. If his cause was so illuminating, people would have jumped at the chance to be independent. But most people (sane ones) prefer to work things out rather than shoot things out.

Remember that his victories happened before the execution of the Bonifacio brothers. After that, he was in retreat. The Katipunan continued to fight until 1913 but were branded as bandits. Thereafter, they continued the struggle by forming various social groups in theaters, political parties, schools (for example, Don Modesto Joaquin). After the surrender of Gen Malvar, the struggle was taken over by the Katipunan and WWII guerrillas had their antecedents in the Katipunan.

The Katipunan until 1913? I always thought they were just stragglers from the Army of Liberation. Was there a real movement after Aguinaldo was captured? How about today? Is the Katipunan still around? Is it still Masonic?

Bonifacio was not seeking the recognition of the Spaniards. Who escorted him in the carriage shouting "Viva El Rey" while he countered with "Mabuhay ang Katagalugan"? It was an elaborate set-up to picture him as ambitious.

Hmmm... i'll have to look into this one.

Or is it because the convention was packed with Aguinaldista's.

Part of it, I guess. I remember Ambeth Ocampo writing that the ballots were pre-written or something.

The Spanish troops were dispersed by fighting all over the archipelago. The last units manning Intramuros were sent at dawn to save the Polvorin on August 30. Thereafter, Spain hastily sent cazadores to the Philippines. By that time, Bonifacio was already caught in a series of maneuvers by Aguinaldo's henchmen. Aguinaldo held the line until the news reached the troops that Andres Bonifacio was executed. Then they threw down their arms and arranged to leave for home.

I know there wasn't much of a garrison here, until the revolt when the Gov-Gen received new troops from Spain and (I think) the Spanish foreign legion. Most of the Spanish troops were reinforcing Cuba.

Bonifacio agreed to the elections. Finally, he was elected as secretary of interior and then Daniel Tirona rose to question his qualifications. It was clearly a set up. The founder of the Katipunan is not even qualified as secretary of interior?

It may have been a set-up, but Bonifacio already had the position. He didn't need to go nuts and fall into Tirona's plan.

You are so fond of diplomas, my friend?

Ha! Not a chance! I think too many Filipinos today are educated far beyond their intelligence. While they have the degrees, the letters, the titles... unfortunately they haven't been actually educated... just trained to memorize enough to answer testpapers. Why do you think I'm homeschooling my children?

Bonifacio had his own assassination agenda after the Tejeros convention didn't go his way and began recruiting soldiers to assasinate the entire convention (not Aguinaldo). ) That is an outright lie!

Send me the relevant info. I got this from an admittedly Aguinaldista account.

He was in his home ground. Many historians now say that Andres Bonifacio should not have gone to Cavite at all. He did not have too. He did not take his followers with him. You know what the historians asked me? Will their findings trigger a civil war?

He may have been on his home ground, but he wansn't directing the action (though others like Tirona may have).

A civil war? Here now among historians or a "could have been" between Magdalo and Magdiwang.  

Do you know that the same officers who executed the Bonifacio brothers, raped Andres Bonifacio's wife?

I know there was a court martial in Malolos because of it and that delayed the proceedings for Bonifacio's execution.

Do you know that there were repeated attempts to steal the bones of Bonifacio at the National Museum before World War II because the chopped bones would have revealed the manner of his death?

I always thought Bonifacio's bones were never recovered. Was there a forensic analysis ever performed? I'm assuming Bonifacio's bones are safe and those involved are dead. Tell me more about the theft attempts.

Josephine Bracken quit the camp of Aguinaldo because she said the Aguinaldo brothers were always huddled on how they could benefit from the struggle. She said this to her only daughter who thereafter bore many children. The grandchildren later revealed the stories told by Josephine to her daughter to historians.

Send me the source book title. This is good stuff! BTW, did Rizal really renounce Freemasonry on his death bed? Or was it a fraud?

There is a basis for the common association with Bonifacio of the cry "Sugod mga kapatid!" Do you shout that to surrender?

These allegations happened AFTER Tejeros, supposedly so that Bonifacio could take back control of the movement from the Magdalo usurpers.

Mabini was above that. Many of the writings of Mabini are still in the original Spanish. Mabini was a noble man who would always desire unity. That is why he consented to advise Aguinaldo through it all, despite his personal bents.

I've read some of it. This unity guy was a Freemason from the start, opposed the curtailing of Aguinaldo's powers, seemed to have no problem following Aguinaldo from out of Bonifacio's camp, and never said a word about the machinations of Aguinaldo. If Mabini was as respected as that, couldn't one word from him exposed Aguinaldo? Or was he choosing the coward's way out?

What's your take on Calderon? He's my favourite personality in the whole Malolos Congress. (My pet project is comparing his Constitution and the ideas behind it with what we have right now.)

Do you think we would be better off today with the 1899 Constitucion Politica? It was practically a copy of Costa Rica's Constitution, and look at them today. Stable. Union of Church and State. No rebels. No druglords. No coups. And they even permanently abolished their armed forces in 1948 and never needed them again.

Kudos on the Citizen Soldier concept. It's the story of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus all over again. It inspired Rome, the United States, and the San Juan Free Militia Moverment. We need that.

Welcome to the forum!    It's nice to see someone who can back his stuff up with facts.

PS. Do you know if there is anyplace I can get a Spanish copy of the "Acta de la proclamación de independencia del pueblo Filipina" ? The one I have looks like a photocopy and is really faint.

The english translations on the Net look like they were translated by an online service... C'mon! YUGO = JOKE? Yugo means yoke!

What do you think of Ambeth Ocampo's "Bones of Contention" lectures on the death of Bonifacio?

[Adroth]

Might be a good idea to revisit the idea behind not depending completely on a professional military force.

[Generalisimo Sakay]

THE KATIPUNAN   

"...............................  

Have any of you seen the Philippine Insurgent Records (PIR).  Immediately after the Fil-American War, all the documents captured from the Philippine Army were put in crates and immediately shipped out from the so-called Philippine Islands so that the Filipinos would forget of that great struggle.  

Then the Americans brought in teachers by the ship USS Thomas to institute Public Education to remove our memory as a people.  That was always a mystery to me at that time that our grandfathers were anti-American while our parents were pro-American.  I learned about the Philippine Revolution and the Fil-American War from the old people starting at 2 years old when I still did not know how to read because nobody wanted to teach me.  They did not suppose that I was teachable at that age.  

The old people wept freely telling me, "Don't forget us."  I realized later that they fought the Americans in that war.  

............................Thereafter, only the Katipunan was left at the field.  Macario Sakay, a Katipunan general, operated from a mountain base near Mt Daraitan at Sierra Madre Range.  The Americans never located his base.  However, the Americans issued a truce wherein they may negotiate and Macario Sakay was given safe pass to meet.

Macario Sakay, a typical Filipino who at that time believed in palabra de honor, came down with his general staff.  Then they were invited to a dance at Cavite.  In the middle of the party, the civilians withdrew and a Company of AMerican soldiers with fixed bayonets surrounded Sakay and party and arrested them as bandits.  Sakay objected that there is a safe pass.  The company commander read to him that the safe pass is only for Manila and not its environs.

We now know that Sakay and his officers were hanged as bandits and they were so portrayed throughout the American era.  Go to Rizal province at the mountains and the folks still revere Sakay as an undefeated general in combat.  He was defeated finally by the treachery of a dishonorable enemy........"

Now is the time to remember them.... 

The Katipunan Citizen Soldier, spirit shines in our heart
let us learn and grow from their experiences... that politics and vested interest only brings downfall of a our country.... 

[Fern374702]

In modern Day germany.... their active and reserve military personels never thiks they are a hardcore soldier..... they say they are all a CITIZEN IN UNIFORM

<very civilized mentality ^_^>