The Heroic Women Civilian Volunteers of Nasugbu in WWII

In 1944, probably in anticipation of the subsequent landing of the United States 8^th Army early the following year, the Hunters/ROTC Guerrillas transferred their headquarters from the town of Infanta in Tayabas (present-day Quezon) to Cutad in the mountainous area of Nasugbu in Batangas. The guerrilla group was one of several operating in Batangas gathering intelligence for the US Army, harassing Japanese troops, keeping peace and order in the towns and dealing with collaborators, among others¹.

These tasks were mostly performed by men. However, in July of 1944, Major Calixto Gasilao, Commanding Officer of the 1^st Battalion of the Hunters/ROTC’s 49^th Regiment, received instructions from one Colonel Ferrer through Lt. Horatio de Leon that he was to “recruit women to help the hard-fighting guerrillas in the mountains.” It is from Gasilao’s narrative that we are able to obtain details about Nasugbu’s Women Civilian Volunteers” who, in Gasilao’s own words, “were never paid a single cent” and “really dedicated themselves” to the task of aiding the guerrillas².

Image credit:  Wayne Violette.  American troops marching into Nasugbu town after the beach landing.

The instructions came all the way from no less than Lt. Colonel Jacinto del Pilar, who belonged to the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1944 (and whose education was, of course, interrupted by the outbreak of the war) and who was, at the time, the Commanding Officer of the 49^th Regiment. Del Pilar envisioned that the women “could give first aid and care for the wounded” and “solicit badly needed medicines, clothes and other supplies” which men would not have been able to do without arousing suspicions.

According to Gasilao, to form the women’s group, he first contacted one Fely Samaniego, who upon being convinced about the objectives of the formation of the group, “volunteered to recruit the rest of the women to form the organization.” In all, 40 women were selected from among the “most loyal elements of the town.” Of these, 35 stayed with the group until it was disbanded in August of 1945.

The group first assembled in August of 1944. In this secret meeting, Gasilao, assisted by de Leon, briefed the women on the purposes of the organization and told them that they were “to undergo a period of training.” From the 1^st of September to the 14^th of the following month, the women received intensive training from one Dr. Agosto Camara – presumably about first aid and patient care – and were also indoctrinated, presumably about the guerrilla organization.

After the training, the women were assigned as a unit to the 1^st Battalion of the Hunters/ROTC and were given “respective duty stations.” Most were sent to first-aid huts in the vicinity of the Balitigue Mountains, where “the wounded were given the best available treatment and the sick cared for.” These huts also served as shelters for fatigued guerrillas regardless of the organization they were affiliated with.

According to Gasilao, the women were “not paid a single cent” but “really dedicated themselves” to the tasks given them often at the cost of neglecting their own families. Those assigned to the huts laundered, sewed and mended guerrillas’ clothes. Those in the town solicited “medicines, food, clothing and other supplies for use of the fighting guerrillas in the mountains.”

They also disseminated propaganda and instructions “to the civilian population from Battalion Headquarters.” Because of their “tactfulness and perseverance,” Gasilao wrote, “no suspicion was aroused in the enemy. They were not discovered nor suspected doing such things contrary to the Japs’ doctrines.” Because of their courage, the guerrillas were “inspired to fight until the end or, in other words, till victory was won for the Allies.”

After the US Army landing on the beachheads of Nasugbu on the 31^st of January 1945, the women were recalled from the mountains and reassigned to the town hospital which was being supplied by the US Army. The hospital was under the supervision by Drs. Celerino Pascual and Camara, the latter being the same doctor who gave the women their training.

All the things that they learned from their training and experience in the mountains, the women put to good use while assigned at the town hospital. Gasilao described their work:

The women helped to run the hospital from February to August, with supplies being provided by the United States Army’s 11^th Airborne Division. Because of the surrender of Japan, and thus the end of World War II, Colonel Eleuterio Adevoso, overall Commander of the Hunters/ROTC Guerrillas, issued the order formally disbanding the Women Civilian Volunteers on 30 August 1945.

LIST OF WOMEN CIVILIAN VOLUNTEERS (by August 1945)

1. Felicitas Samaniego (In-Charge)
2. Nieves Sapico (Assistant)
3. Gloria Samaniego
4. Sofia Sapico
5. Julita Samaniego
6. Illuminada Alvarez
7. Magna Ermita
8. Clara Rustia
9. Elisa Pascual
10. Mercedes Chuidian
11. Santas Garcia
12. Ofelia Rustia
13. Josefina Rustia
14. Teresita Albert
15. Ignacia Albert
16. Adoracion Valladolid
17. Lina Zabarte
18. Leonarda Alvarez
19. Marciana Sapico
20. Josefina Mendoza
21. Angelina Sapico
22. Anita Mesinas
23. Mercedes Ugot
24. Simplicia Concepcion
25. Lagrimas Pascual
26. Jovita Rustia
27. Marcelina Concepcion
28. Fe Samaniego
29. Lourdes Samaniego
30. Amalia Enriquez
31. Filomena Zabarte
32. Honorata Mesinas
33. Maxima Cabingan
34. Antonia Riuvievar
35. Ester Sapico

Notes and references: