BEYOND COURAGE: The Story of Adelaida Villareyes of Bruce Guerilla of Bamban
by Rhonie Dela Cruz
In Bamban, the tale of a woman named Adelaida Villareyes stood in the annals of the history of resistance. A native of the town, Daling, as she was used to know, was a an epitome of sweet but a true freedom fighter, hardened in battles but soft in compassion.
Daling was one of the original members of Bamban guerilla outfit, the 101st Squadron under the command of Captain Alfred D. Bruce, which was under the umbrella of then Lt. Col. Claude A. Thorpe’s Luzon Guerilla Force (LGF) operating in the mountainous boundary of Pampanga, Tarlac, and Zambales. At the tender age of twenty three, she was already associated with the Bruce Guerilla. Captain Bruce’ staff in Bamban were Lt. James H. Hart, Eugene P. Zinghiem, Daling, Fortunato V. Anunciacion, Serafin N. Punsalan, and Melencio R. Wage. Daling became the supply officer of the unit, a task that was as dangerous as carrying rifles, bullets, and grenades.
The story of resistance in Bamban started already as the Japanese reconnaissance troops in bicycle entered Bamban on the early hours of New Year in 1942, which were annihilated in a heroic encounter with the Filipino soldiers of the 21st Division, Philippine Army. By February 1942, the Japanese Kempei-tai in Bamban conducted punitive actions against the local guerillas with the killing by firing squad of four men at the back of the municipal hall in the presence of more than 150 residents of the town.
By 1943, the hunt for the local guerillas and their American leaders became an obsession of the Japanese Kempei-tai. Daling, in a baptism of fire, encountered her most terrifying test of courage when on the early 5 o’clock morning of September 1943 she was in Sitio Tapuak, Sacobia, Bamban with Captain Bruce, Lt. James H. Hart, Eugene P. Zinghiem, and 2nd Lt. Jose Raagas. In their small nipa hut hideout in the Tapuak hills, the Japanese Kempei-tai consists of twenty Japanese soldiers, ten Constabulary men, and four local spies swept in a lighting raid against the rainy and foggy morning. Her testimony narrated, “ I was supply officer and I was nursing them (Bruce and staff). That morning, we were sleeping soundly and we had a little dog named Daisy. This dog started making noise inside the mosquito net and we all woke up. Then, we heard the noise of so many people coming and they opened fire so we finally dropped to the ground to get away because the place was surrounded by Japanese, constabulary men and spies.” In the ensuing fight, Lt. James Hart was killed while trying to shoot as many Japanese as he could.
Eugene P. Zinghiem, an American civilian personnel who was sick with malaria, was captured. Captain Bruce and 2nd Lt. Raagas escaped and ran away to the top of the hill. “They grabbed me and took me where Zinghiem was and tied me. He was tied up when I got there like I was, hands behind back.”
From Tapuak Hills, although wounded, she was forced to walk to the Central Luzon Milling Company in Bamban, which was the Kempei-tai headquarters. At the sugar central, Daling saw the torture and murder of other captured guerillas of Bamban. She was interrogated and as any captured guerilla, tortured so as to get information on the whereabouts of the Americans and Filipino guerillas. Femininity did not render the guerilla fighter to reveal the location of her comrades in their mountain hideout. The next day, she was taken to Camp O’Donnell in Capas for more interrogations and sent back to Bamban. The torture continues for the next six days in Bamban. “I saw guerillas being tortured everyday just to make them tell if they knew more guerillas and whatever they wanted to find out. I saw them, and the Japanese dipped them into the swimming pool there, and they sat on their stomachs.”
She was later taken to Magalang prison camp. At the Magalang prison, she suffered breakdown, hunger, and torture but not her indomitable spirit. She endured a captivity of more than three months, starting from September 3 to December 7, 1943. After her released, she went back into Captain Bruce’ guerilla lair in the Bamban mountains, keeping a hand on the wounded guerillas, nursing them in battles and in their camp, getting supplies from the locals, and running away with them.
Bruce Guerilla played a major part in the local intelligence of Gen. MacArthur’s South West Pacific Area command and later in the liberation and the Bamban-Stotsenburg campaign in 1945. Daling survived the war with the rank of captain, serial number 0-45323, and the number five in the official rooster of the Bamban Battalion - Bruce Guerilla, Tarlac South Military District. She was the only woman among the local freedom fighters (Bruce Guerilla) of the Second World War. About five years ago, she died, leaving an unknown legacy of her fighting spirit for freedom and resistance against foreign aggression in our local history.
Note:
Sources:
- Record of the Supreme Court, Case No. G.R. L-880, December 17, 1947.
- Report No. 139, General Headquarters, United States Army Forces, Pacific War Crimes Branch, “The Murder and Torture of Filipino Civilians by Members of the Japanese Military Police at Bamban, Tarlac, Luzon, P.I., in February 1942 and in October and December 1944.”
- Rooster of Bamban Battalion, Bruce Guerilla, Luzon Guerrilla Force, South Tarlac Military District as provided by the office of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines, Bamban Chapter.
- Various interviews conducted on surviving members of the Bruce Guerilla, in Bamban, Tarlac.
- Official documents of Macario W. Dela Cruz, 101st Squadron (Bamban Battalion), Bruce Guerilla.
