The Bravo Guerrilla Corps of the Philippines was an organization that supposedly operated in Lipa during the Japanese occupation of the country up to liberation. It was commanded by one Emilio Bravo Macasaet. In this document1, Macasaet wrote to the Commanding General of United States Armed Forces in the Western Pacific, through channels, to officially apply for recognition as an element of the Philippine Army in the service of the United States Armed Forces during the liberation of the Philippines.
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2364 Juan Luna, Int 46
City of Manila, Jan. 29, 1946
The Commanding General
AFWESPAC, APO 708
City of Manila, Philippines.
Sir:
I, Emilio Bravo Macasaet, Chief Commander of Bravo Guerrilla Corps of the Philippines with headquarters at Sitio Look, Barrio Balete, Municipality of Lipa, Province of Batangas, now residing at 2364 Juan Luna Street, Int. 46 Avellana Road, Gagalangin, Tondo, City of Manila, hereby make [an] application for recognition of our military service rendered to the Commonwealth of the Philippines and the Government of the United States of America during the Second World War, 1941-1945.
Statement of Facts
On January 15, 1942, I was fetched by a squad of Japs commanded by Lt. Korobayashi and a Makapili spy from my residence in the barrio and brought to Lipa before Colonel T. Oguri and Lt. Col. Mori. After partaking lunch of sweet meat, rice cakes and tea, Col. Oguri explained the aim of Japan’s co-prosperity sphere. Then, he told me bluntly to cooperate to strengthen their war effort to drive away the white people from the East and rule by ourselves, and invited me to serve as governor of my province, Batangas, which honor, I humbly declined and alleged that I was old and sickly and gave him hint the governor-elect Maximo Malvar, a young blood, should be invited to serve as governor was more logical, but Col. Oguri in rage insisted in his effort to prevail [over] me
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but I was adamant and in a sudden, he slapped me across my face and told me that I was a pro-American and “baka” crazy for democratic principles as he knew that I was a Harvard man and that I was holding [a] commission in the U.S. Army, and trembling, told him that I would not be attending my plantations in the barrio but should be fighting alongside with the USAFFE at Bataan if I were a soldier. Col. Oguri lectured of their good aim for a couple of hours and, to my surprise, begged my pardon and was told to forget the incident for he did not mean to harm me but only he desired to bring home what was best for us Filipinos. Then and there, I swore on the memory of my dead parents that I would fight the Jap invaders by any means, either openly or underground resistance as circumstances warrant, and thus founded my Guerrilla Corps, ever determined and convinced that I could lead men successfully, possessing the spiritual and intellectual qualifications. In this connection, it would not be amiss to mention here that I am ex-constabulary officer and a graduate of the 1910 Class of Constabulary Officers’ School and served in the line under Generals James F. Harbard, Mark L. Hersey and Harry H. Bandhotz, in World War I; as Capt. and Regimental Adjutant on the 7th Infantry Federalized Philippines Guard under Generals Francis Burton Harrison and Jones. I am the holder of degrees, 1919, A.B. from the Ateneo de Manila and 1920, Ll. B. from the Philippine Law School and during my incumbency as Philippine Commercial Attache in the U.S. Department of Commerce at Boston, Mass., from August 22, 1923 until March 31, 1926. I attended Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, Class of 1925, and Graduate Law, Class of 1926.
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Activities During World War II
On January 20, 1942, Lipa town fiesta, I conferred with several of my trusted relatives and explained to them my underground plan, to which they heartily backed me up. I gave them money to purchase all available stocks of American cigarettes and native peanut candies and, with this stock, I left for Manila with my son and an Adjutant Major, Alex A. Macasaet, and talked confidentially with my son-in-law, a medical doctor, Col. Pedro R. Dionisio, M. C.
I appointed Dr. Dionisio’s chaffeur, Martin Venus, who used to be a truck driver, as Staff Sergeant and, with Adjutant Alex, they left for Bataan, bringing along cigarettes and candy with my compliments to General Vicente Lim, PA, to whom my adjutant delivered my confidential message. As the Japs were not yet investing Bataan very seriously, I continued sending smokes and candies and military information to Gen. Vicente Lim, PA and, by the first days of March, my son, after coming from Bataan, told me that Gen. Lim, PA, desired that I send him men to the front, to which I complied very willingly, and on March 16, 1942, I ordered my son and adjutant Major Alex A. Macasaet, Inf; my son-in-law Col. Pedro R. Dionisio, M.C., 1st Lt. Amadeo Hocson, Inf, and two enlisted men Sgt. Rosendo Venus, M.C., and S/Sgt. Martin Venus to report to Gen. Vicente Lim, PA for duty in the Bataan Front.
On Good Friday, April 3, 1942, Sgt. Rosendo Venus, MC returned to Manila with a gunshot in the jaw and reported that their mission met bad luck for on reaching the 22nd hill accompanied by Lt. Col. Leon Reyes, PA, they were ambushed and fired at by certain armed forces, presumably bandits or Jap advance
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patrol and they scattered and, having been wounded and cold not fired his companions [the wording of this section is confusing], he returned to the city where I put him in the Phil. General Hospital, where he died after a week’s hospitalization. His father, Capt. Leoncio Venus, Mrs. Tinay Venus and I quietly took charge of the burial of Sgt. Rosendo Venus, M.C.
During liberation by American armed forces, my Guerrilla units at Palawan, Mindoro, Davao, Nueva Ecija, Tayabas and Batangas took active part with Major Gen. Joe M. Swing’s 11th Airborne Division of the 8th Army Corps of Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger Paratroopers which landed on Jan 28 & 29, 1945 [erroneous; landing was on the 31st] at Nasugbu, Batangas Province, and Tagaytay, Cavite, of Jap snipers and demolition platoons in the different municipalities.
Incomplete officers’ roster in the Appendix “B” is hereto attached and made part of this application for recognition.
All my military paper records, roster of officers, list of enlisted men in the different divisions, regiment, battalion, and company units were burned during the conflagration when my four substantial houses were razed to the ground, together with my college diplomas, Constabulary and Guard Commissions, certificates of shares of stocks holding here and in America and Torrens Tittles to my land holdings and cash and jewelries and only one U.S. Commission of First Lieutenant, Infantry, dated 1918, which was used by one of my daughters as wrapping paper, was saved and used here as appendix “A” of this application for recognition of my Guerrilla Corps by the Governments of the Philippine Commonwealthand the U.S. of America.
After continued entreaties of my wife, Mrs. Maria Abaca de
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Macasaet by shedding her bitter tears, I was prevailed [upon] to write this application of recognition of my Guerrilla Corps in memory of my two sons, Col. Pedro R. Dionisio, MC and my Adjutant Major Alex A. Macasaet, Inf. In this connection, allow me to state the fact that I feel it in one man’s war. My war against the barbarous Jap invaders and this is the reason why I abstained from applying for recognition on the earlier dates.
City of Manila, Philippines.
January 29, 1946
Very respectfully submitted,
[Sgd.] Emilio B. Macasaet
Commander-in-Chief
Philippine Guerrilla Corps
2364 Juan Luna Int 46
Avellana Road
Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila.
Inclosures:
Appendices “A” & “B”
M
January 30 ’46.
Notes and references:
1 “Bravo Guerrilla Corps of the Philippines,” online at the United States National Archives.
