Tingloy, Batangas: Historical Data Part II

There was no treasurer because no quota for contributions was made.

Outbreak of World War II

Monday, December 8, 1941 will forever remain in the memory of the people of Tingloy for it marked the outbreak of World War II in our country and consequently paved the way for the Japanese occupation of the Philippines for a period of four years. Several months before the Japanese bombing of strategic military installations and bases in the Philippines, the simple folks of Tingloy were already made war-conscious. Somehow, they were getting wind of the critical situations in Europe and the peace negotiations going on in Washington between the late President F.D. Roosevelt and the Japanese Peace Ambassador Saburu Karusu. The Tingloy people, so simple in their own ways, got jittery on reading the daily news headlines heralding nothing but war and war clouds hovering dangerously over the Pacific. Emergency evacuation centers were prepared for any eventuality. There were blackout practices in barrios, towns and cities. Young men, trainees, and reservists were drafted and called to render active military service. All those things really made the people of Tingloy believe that war was to break out in any moment. This it did, spreading misery, suffering, and death.

Tingloy then became very well known to people from different places at the outbreak of the war. It had been converted to an emergency port of call and landings due to the many evacuees going to the Visayas and even Mindanao. It became a commercial center, too, since sailboats making trips to the Visayas and the Bicol regions often dropped anchor to dispose their goods and wares. So, in spite of the war and since nearly all the Tingloy people then residing in other places returned to join their home folks. Tingloy was converted [in] a fortnight from a quiet little barrio to a happy, buzzing town. However happy they seemed, there happened so often many mad scrambles and wild scampering to the hills, creeks, and ravines whenever the people heard the advent of a Japanese launch purposely coming to catch chickens, pigs and whatever things that were pleasing to them. When the bowlegged Nippons reached the shore, the whole barrio of Tingloy was like a ghost community sleeping very soundly in broad daylight. So, the khaki-clad Japs were free to ransack whichever corner they pleased for the scared inhabitants never would return from their hiding

places until after their unwelcome guests had gone.

During all those days of worry and uncertainty, the people of Tingloy devoted almost all of their time to the economic exploitation of practically every available lot in the lowlands as well as on the hillsides. Rice and corn where the principal food crops raised, but there was not sufficient supply for the great demand of the natives of Tingloy, plus the great numbers of evacuees who had come over from the mainland of Luzon. Thanks, however, to the cassava which had come to the rescue, otherwise, so many of the people would have died of want and starvation.

The school was never open for classes during the whole period of [the] Japanese occupation. But the school building and the Home Economics Building did not escape foraging done by the squint-eyed Nipponese. The books in store in shelves and aparadors, chairs, tables and desks were destroyed and used for fuel by the invaders. So great was the destruction that when the school was opened on April 15, 1945, only but the remnants of the school supplies and equipment were found.

The Japanese occupation had inflicted great losses on Tingloy in terms of lives and properties. Several batels were used by the Jap Imperial Forces for transporting convoys and supplies. Almost one half of all the boats were lost, wrecked or damaged forever. Other boats docked along Tingloy and Maricaban shores were destroyed during the shelling by the American liberating forces. Many homes suffered partial or total destruction. Several lives were also lost during the Japanese occupation. Some were captured and tortured to death by the cruel Japs.

(1) Tennis Court

Upon the arrival of the American liberating forces, the people of Tingloy joined hands to pool together their resources to effect some rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the community. Through an intensive campaign to raise funds for the barrio fiesta in August, 1945, the amount of more than four thousand pesos was realized. After the celebration

the community realized a balance profit of a little over nine hundred pesos. It was agreed that the amount be spent in building the tennis court in the Tingloy Elementary School campus. The amount was not enough, however, since the cost of the construction of the court reached and amount of one thousand six hundred pesos. To raise the needed amount, some members of the Tingloy Athletic Club, then active during that time, contributed to complete the project construction. So, the tennis court was completed and inaugurated in April, 1946.

Several years later, and added project adjacent to the tennis court was made. It was the erection of the concrete stage donated by Mayor Jose Daite of Bauan. The erection was pushed through the initiative and effort of the youth organization, “Tanglaw ng Kabataan.” This organization was founded as early as 1943 and founded by the late Perpetuo Napenas, Sr. The stage is one of the standing and living accomplishments of the “Tanglaw ng Kabataan.” It is a legacy which is handed down to children and youth of Tingloy now and in the years ahead still to come.

The P.T.A. organization was immediately given life as soon as the school opened in April, 1945. Some of its accomplishments were the erection of two P.T.A. buildings (three rooms), the shop building, and the beginning of the permanent, concrete fence.