Kalalo's Letter to PHILRYCOM Requesting Reconsideration
The San Jose Guerrilla Unit was an underground organization that opposed the Japanese in the Province of Batangas in World War II. It was commanded by one Pedro Kalalo and was officially recognized with 60 men as an element of the Philippine Army in the service of the United States Armed Forces during the liberation of the country. In this document1, Kalalo wrote to the Commanding General of the Philippines-Ryukyus Command, through channels, to emotionally request reconsideration presumably of an unfavorable decision against a request to revise the unit’s recognition dates.
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HEADQUARTERS NINTH MILITARY DISTRICT
ARMY OF THE PHILIPPINES
OFFICE OF THE DEPOT COMMANDER
TACLOBAN, LEYTE
|
SUBJECT TO |
: Request for Reconsideration : The Commanding General, PHILRYCOM, APO 707 |
1. Acknowledging receipt of your communication dated 20 June 1947 (GSCPU 091 P.I.).
2. Such [an] act from people whom our unit always look upon and recognize as the champion of fairness, liberty and gratefulness during the war, has caused disgust and disappointments. They have never expected such unbelievable ingratitude from people who had promised a lot when they needed the services of the Filipino Guerrillas, like the rest of the underground movement who sacrificed life and liberty not only of themselves but also of their beloved families. They forsook their homes, and the happy and peaceful blessings of their wives and children just to maintain the dignity and might of America — to hasten victory with less sufferings on the families left behind by the soldiers of that great nation — to spare the lives of the great American soldiers sent the world over, so that your ideals may live forever in the hearts of men and nations.
3. You expect us and the rest of the other guerrilla organizations near Manila, the center of the then-might of Japan, to live and be administered like your regular forces, with complete records and data of its existence. You do not know that the Japanese always raided the guerrillas in Batangas Province with the help of their Filipino spies. They had no time to preserve their respective records. Even our dead and dying comrades were left behind at the mercy of [the] Japanese soldier, in order to continue the hope of fighting in the future on the same level. The San Jose Guerrilla Unit had fought and bled and can never be denied since its organization way back November 1942. Some members died in the battlefield, believing the sanctity of the cause they were fighting for.
4. Just because the war is over, you crush the ideals of those great Americans who gave and fed hope to us in our needs. It is true that the leaders of other guerrilla units are not “whites” so that it seems to me that you deem and think, there is no need to give them what is rightfully theirs. That we do not know and realize that we
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have been duped — without our knowledge and realization of what America owes us. Your office does not realize that you are forfeiting the loyalty and faith of a people nurtured in your ideals. We helped fight your war in no small way, and what do we get in return? A kick and humiliation.
5. Our unit is so unjustly treated by your office. You made a hasty conclusion in our case, because we are all Filipinos and not led by Americans. You have not realized what would be the reaction of these people.
6. In spite of this action of your office, we still hope in your justness, and pin our faith in seeing that our unit will be given its just due. We are not asking so much, nor demand a favor, but only a right borne and what is due us and which is now overlooked and trampled upon.
7. It is requested that a reconsideration be granted by your office with regards to our case, and that any action taken on the premises, the undersigned be informed.
Depot Commander